FARC takes another one on the chin

[Grifman]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/ ... index.html

In a secret operation a U.S. official called "brilliant," the Colombian military infiltrated rebel group FARC and deceived its members into giving up 15 hostages including former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, Colombia's defense ministry said.
Politician Ingrid Betancourt, pictured in 2001, had been in captivity in Colombia for more than six years.

Betancourt, who was reportedly in deteriorating health, was kidnapped in 2002 by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Along with Betancourt, three American contractors and 11 other hostages who were Colombian police were rescued in Wednesday's operation.

Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said the Colombian military had infiltrated the FARC leadership and arranged for the hostages to be taken to the south of the country, where they were to be picked up by helicopters that the rebels believed were controlled by another group.

How embarrassing! This group has killed thousands and the sooner they go out of the narco-terrorism business the better. Columbia has really gotten the upper hand in this thing. Good for them!

[Grifman]

Ha, I read today that both Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez have called for FARC to release all of thier hostages.

Castro

Chavez

How long till FARC folds?

Long live the revolution!

[McBa1n]

haha, the FARC. They probably wouldn't exist if our government didn't 'acknowledge' their existence.

It makes good headlines, though.

[Grundbegriff]

It's that perfidious Deidranna...

[CSL]

It's that perfidious Deidranna...

I thought I killed that bitch.

[Dan_Theman]

It's that perfidious Deidranna...

I thought I killed that bitch.

See, only on OO would someone get that

[Isgrimnur]

This stuff makes Survivor look tame.

The attack on her exalted reputation comes from two of the three US military contractors who were among the 14 other hostages rescued alongside Betancourt. In a new book published in the US yesterday in which they describe five years of jungle captivity at the hands of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, they present Betancourt as a domineering presence who suffered from arrogance and egotism.

The strongest attack contained in Out of Captivity comes from Keith
Stansell, a former marine from Florida. He was head of the mission run by a private company Northrop Grumman to gather intelligence on the Farc's drug running activities that came a cropper in February 2003 when their surveillance plane crash-landed in the middle of a FARC training camp.

In passages of the book written by Stansell, he accuses Betancourt, who was kidnapped by the rebels a year before the Americans, of haughtiness and self-obsession. She would steal food from other hostages, refuse to share the scarce books that the group managed to obtain and even put the Americans' lives in danger by telling the guerrillas - wrongly the men claim - that they were CIA agents.

Stansell, 44, told the Associated Press: "I watched her try to take over the camp with an arrogance that was out of control. Some of the guards treated us better than she did."

Similar complaints have been made by a second of the Americans, Thomas Howes, 55, a co-pilot of the stricken plane. He told a Bogotá radio station that Betancourt was "a person who likes to control and manipulate, for whom being in captivity was very difficult". "She did not like to share food in equal portions and was "interested in herself."
...
As solace, though, she can point to the third US hostage who paints a different picture. The book is constructed as chapters written separately by the three authors, and in his sections Marc Gonsalves, a former intelligence analyst in the US air force who acted on the downed mission as photographer of Farc drugs laboratories, describes how he became close to Betancourt and how that in turn triggered jealousy among other male prisoners.

Though Betancourt was often chained all day, "I never saw her complain or cry about it. She's a tough woman. She used to give those guerrillas a hard time."

[tjg_marantz]

Yeah, cuz after 7(?) years of captivity, you really a person's true colours shine through.

Asshats.

[Dan_Theman]

I'm not quite sure what to make of all that. If you've been through an experience like they were, I could certainly see the interest in writing/partaking in a book.

If you did so and you had spent so many years with other prisoners, I could see the need to describe your interactions with them in order to tell the story in a way that would still be of interest to the public.

If one of those prisoners was high profile, as Betancourt was, then I could see the writer/yourself wanting to focus some more on her to maintain that level of interest.

However, at that point there comes the question of whether brutal honesty is the right policy to follow. Lets say she did all of that - who here can say they wouldn't have done the same or worse? Who are we to judge? However, it's human nature to judge others and because of that I could see a pleasant lie or omission being the right way to go - "She went thrugh complete and utter hell. While we got to know each other as capitives, under those circumstances you can never know anyone else as a person. The one thing I could tell about her was that she held a strong will and determination." That said, if such animosity had built up over the years then I couldn't really hold it against the guys if a little of it eeked out.

Ah, well. I'm glad my fence-riding skills are still fairly sharp.

[Peacedog]

It's that perfidious Deidranna...

She is evil. . .

a driven bitch.

[Rip]

If she were wrongly telling people holding us hostage that I was a CIA operative she better hope that when we got free writing a book was all I had in mind. Maybe a little class in waterboarding would be more relaxing!

[CSL]

It's that perfidious Deidranna...

She is evil. . .

a driven bitch.

Just send her some flowers.

[silverjon]

Scott Farkus?

[GreenGoo]

If she were wrongly telling people holding us hostage that I was a CIA operative she better hope that when we got free writing a book was all I had in mind. Maybe a little class in waterboarding would be more relaxing!

This plus trying to eat all the food (for 7 fucking years) would probably result in her having an "accident" long before those years were up.

[Isgrimnur]

Peace Deal

After 52 years of fighting and nearly four years of grinding negotiations, the Colombian government and the country’s FARC rebel group declared Wednesday that they had reached an agreement to end the longest-running armed conflict in the Americas.
...
The two sides made the announcement in Cuba, where the negotiations began in 2012 and where Fidel Castro launched a communist revolution that inspired guerrilla insurgencies across the hemisphere. Colombia, a nation of 50 million that is among the closest U.S. allies in Latin America, is the one place where war has yet to end.
...
In their statements, the two negotiators described the accord as a road map for the transformation of Colombia, ending a sordid history of political violence and creating a more democratic society in a country long dominated by a well-to-do elite.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos followed the announcement with a nationally televised address, summarizing the deal’s main points for a Colombian public that retains a large measure of skepticism and confusion about the agreement. “Today is the beginning of the end of suffering, pain and tragedy of the war,” he said.
...
More than 220,000 Colombians have been killed in fighting over the past half-century, and nearly 7 million have been driven from their homes. But one major obstacle remains for the peace deal to stick.

Colombian voters must ratify the accord in a vote that Santos said would take place Oct. 2. That plebiscite is shaping up as a showdown between Santos and his biggest political rival.

Santos will be campaigning for the accord’s approval. His nemesis, former president Álvaro Uribe, is leading the drive to sink the deal. He and other critics say it is too favorable to FARC leaders, whose guerrilla war tactics included kidnapping, drug trafficking and killings. Opinion polls have yielded mixed results on whether Colombians are likely to approve the peace deal.

One element of the accord that was made public for the first time Wednesday and that is likely to stir controversy governs the FARC’s return to representative politics. The FARC will be given a limited number of representatives in Congress as part of its transition to a political party. Those representatives will function as spokesmen, with no voting rights, and will be involved exclusively in matters pertaining to the implementation of the peace deal, Santos said. Rebel commanders will eventually be permitted to run for political office as full representatives if they are cleared of war crimes and other criminal charges.

If approved at the ballot box, the peace agreement would become law, and the FARC would begin demobilizing its 7,000 fighters at designated camps and “protected zones” with monitors from the United Nations. The rebel group — whose full name is the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia — would have 180 days to fully disarm under the terms of the agreement.
...
Aronson said he expected the Colombian government to publish a final text of the treaty within days. FARC commanders are planning to return to their remote camps in the mountains and jungles of Colombia, where they will hold a FARC “congress” to build support for the deal among rank-and-file rebels and prepare for disarmament and demobilization.

Wednesday’s announcement follows days of marathon negotiations between the government team and the guerrilla commanders. A final sticking point was the timing of a blanket amnesty that will be offered to lower-ranking guerrillas who face only charges of “rebellion,” in contrast with more-senior FARC members accused of committing more-serious crimes.

Under the terms of the accord, the higher-ranking FARC members will be able to avoid prison if they fully disclose their role in the war and make reparations as part of a truth-and-reconciliation process.
...
Santos has acknowledged that peace with the FARC would end Colombia’s longest war — but not all of its armed conflicts.

His government has struggled to make progress in talks with a smaller guerrilla group known as the National Liberation Army, or ELN, which will be looking to enlarge its estimated force of 1,500 fighters with disaffected FARC soldiers who reject a transition to peaceful civilian life.

[LawBeefaroni]

Peace Deal

His government has struggled to make progress in talks with a smaller guerrilla group known as the National Liberation Army, or ELN, which will be looking to enlarge its estimated force of 1,500 fighters with disaffected FARC soldiers who reject a transition to peaceful civilian life.

They need to give those ex-FARCers jobs fighting the ELN.

[Rip]

Not so fast.

Colombians rejected a peace deal with leftist rebels by a razor-thin margin in a national referendum Sunday, scuttling years of painstaking negotiations and delivering a major setback to President Juan Manuel Santos, who vowed to keep a cease-fire in place and forge ahead with his efforts to end a half-century of war.

With more than 99 percent of polling stations reporting, 50.2 percent of ballots opposed the accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia while 49.8 percent favored it — a difference of less than 57,000 votes out of a total of 13 million. Pre-election polls had predicted the "yes" vote would win by an almost two-to-one margin.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/10/03 ... hting.html

[hepcat]

Hillary Goddamn Clinton.

Wait...what?

[tjg_marantz]

BENFARCZI?

[hepcat]

We tease, we tease. But we love ya, Rip.

[Unagi]

I know your hair looks nothing like this, but sometimes I picture you like this, Hepcat:

[Zarathud]

I'm pretty sure that is hepcat's Halloween costume this year.

[Unagi]

If only he could get Rip to follow him with a big bone in his mouth.

[hepcat]

I'm more like the bottom half of Master Blaster.

[Max Peck]

Colombia approves amnesty agreed in Farc peace deal

The original peace deal, rejected at a referendum on 2 October, was seen by many as too lenient towards the rebels.

The government and the Farc then went back to the negotiating table to try to strike a new deal acceptable to those who had voted "no".

The main amendments included:

• The Farc will have to declare all their assets and hand them over. The money will be used for reparation payments for the victims of the conflict
• Concerns by religious groups that the agreement undermined family values have been addressed
• A time limit of 10 years has been set for the transitional justice system
• Farc rebels will be expected to provide exhaustive information about any drug trafficking they may have been involved in
• The peace agreement will not form part of Colombia's constitution

The lower house and the Senate overwhelmingly approve the amnesty law on Wednesday.

The revised peace deal was ratified by Congress on 1 December. It is not due to be submitted to a popular vote.

[Isgrimnur]

WaPo

Former senior leaders of Colombia’s largest guerrilla group announced a break with the 2016 peace accord that ended Latin America’s longest war, appearing in green fatigues, toting rifles and declaring a “new chapter” in the armed struggle against a government they said had betrayed the deal.

In a video posted online early Thursday, the former lead negotiator for the FARC — the leftist guerrilla group that became a political party in the aftermath of the deal — denounced the failure of the government, now led by conservative President Iván Duque, to live up to the promises of the accord.
...
“The state has not fulfilled its most important obligations, which is to guarantee the life of its citizens and especially avoid assassinations for political reasons,” [Luciano] Marín said. He said his group would fight for a government that upholds the peace process.

Rodrigo Londoño, the former supreme leader of FARC who now heads its political party, rejected the announcement. He said more than 90 percent of ex-guerillas remain committed to the peace process.
...
Marín’s announcement poses the most significant threat yet to a peace process that has been gradually unraveling. Other former FARC members, frustrated over a lack of promised training and re-insertion programs, have already returned to the jungles. But Marín’s is the most significant break with the accord.
...
Naryi Vargas, a researcher with the Bogota-based Peace and Reconciliation Foundation, suggested that Marín and other leaders in the video could bring together at least 1,500 fighters. The FARC had more than 13,000 members, about half of them armed combatants, before the peace accord.