Colombia's President Uribe and the Clownish Narco-terrorists

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Strikingly well executed piece..

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Every modern revolutionary movement turns into some corrupt tyranny of the left. They are, generally, much more murderous and dangerous to their neighbors than any right wing governments. Castro, on a far smaller population base, killed tens of thousands more than did the Argentine generals, who were about the worst Latin American right-wing dictatorship. Plus Castro did a much more thorough job of wrecking Cuba than they did Argentina.
Let us have no romantic fantasies about how wonderful FARC is, and how "The People" are supporting it and benefit from its beneficent, socialist character. They're a bunch of muderous Commie thugs, founded by sociopathic intellectuals drunk on fantasy ideologies just like the Khmer Rouge and Sendero Luminoso, who have survived for 44 years by support from other Commies and through participating in the narcotics trade. If they ever got hold of Colombia it would look like Cuba in no time, or worse.

Michael Lonie of OR 1:42AM July 14, 2008

We always have a skewed perspective on events in Latin America when our news is controlled by the corporate media. We need to look at the FARC as a failed revolutionary movement that got corrupted by corrupting conditions in its quest for survival under state terrorism by the Columbian government that was co-signed by the U.S.A. Above all, revollutionaries must stand upon their basic humane principles and keep their original vision in mind. What is the role of drug addicts inside the United States in all of this in accordance with economic laws of supply and demand?

Peter S. Lopez of CA 10:38AM July 08, 2008

Mr. Barone,
Like your government, you fail to understand why the FARC is still around 44 years after its birth. Right-wing death squads who killed more than 4,000 demobilized guerrillas, people who tried the peaceful political route beginning in the mid-1980s, are part of the reason. So is Colombia's deeply ingrained social inequality. Ingrid Betancourt _ someone held for six years and four months by cruel rebel jailers _ understands this. She knows Colombia's conflict can't be ended by military action alone _ and that it's not just the violent left that has enriched itself with drug money but also the violent right.. Here's what she says in an interview just published by Colombia's Semana magazine (my translation):
"The FARC has its human resource, a youthful labor force ... young people with dreams who want to embrace consumerism, who want to be able to smooth on skin lotion, own a wristwatch. If we Colombians could only offer them this rather than coca or crime ... Why not offer these young people an option other than as coca leaf pickers? Ninety percent of the FARC guerrillas are coca leaf pickers who grow tired of this exhausting work an the inadequate money. So they join the FARC to have new clothes, boots and guaranteed meals. They get respect and own a few things, a radio, an oil lamp. In the FARC they find a way, they look for stability and if they don't get killed they seek a type of pension, because the FARC will find them a little farm, with a coca plantation and a few cows for them to manage. Are we going to let things remain this way forever?"

South American 10:28PM July 07, 2008

"Schumacher-Matos usefully takes on Human Rights Watch for overstating Colombia's human rights problems; this organization seems interested only in proving that "right-wing" regimes are terrible and seems entirely willing to overlook the depredations of "left-wing" narco-guerrillas."
Isn't this how all of these leftist organizations are? They decry democracy and, more importantly, "right-wing regimes", but the record of leftist countries and leaders is far more horrendous.
However, you are certainly correct that Uribe should not seek a third term. Slowly, a third term turns into a fourth, then a fifth, and finally it becomes "for life". Suddenly, that shining star soon becaomes a White Dwarf. No further proof of this is necessary than with other "reformist" leaders such as Robert Mugabe and Jean-Baptiste Aristead.

Chris of AZ 4:45PM July 07, 2008