Word: simacota
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...horrors, la violencia was sporadic and disorganized. Colombian intelligence experts believe that most of the kidnaping is the work of Castro-Communist terrorists, who see it as a way to spread chaos and buy arms for their Army of Liberation, the guerrilla outfit that invaded the village of Simacota last January. There is certainly money in the racket. In the past year, more than $1,000,000 in ransom was collected in the 130 kidnaping cases reported to police. Much more was probably squeezed from victims too terrified to tell...
Just after dawn one morning, a group of about 100 men invaded the town of Simacota (pop. 5,000), a small farming community in the Andean foothills 225 miles northeast of Bogotá. Wearing khaki uniforms and FALN-type arm bands, the raiders attacked the police post with modern automatic weapons, killing three policemen and a child who wandered into the line of fire. With crisp military precision, they then cut communication lines, looted the government Agrarian Bank of $5,300, snatched the cashbox from the local brewery, and stole arms and ammunition from police headquarters. One of the leaders...
Colombia's President Guillermo Leon Valencia flatly called the raid "Castro-Communist-inspired." Despite the widespread lawlessness in the surrounding countryside, Simacota had never before been troubled by bandits. The uniforms, armbands, methods and message all pointed to Castro...
...early to estimate how big an operation the Castroites have going in Colombia. But recent press reports tell of some 700 Colombians undergoing guerrilla training in Cuba. Bogotá's El Tiempo reported an anonymous call from a woman who warned that the Simacota raid was the first phase of "Operación Esperanza"-Operation Hope. "Soon you will have another surprise," she said. Figuring one such surprise was enough, President Valencia ordered helicopter-equipped anti-guerrilla troops into the hills to hunt down Mariela and her marauders...
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