June 23,
2008: Some factions of FARC see
salvation in the assassination of president Uribe. Police continue to uncover
plots to kill the president. These efforts are crude, but it shows that many of
the leftist rebels have misread their situation, and ignore the hatred most
Colombians have for FARC. Meanwhile, many FARC members have found a new, and
safer, home in Venezuela. That may not last, because some of these FARC gunmen
are collecting "revolutionary taxes" in Venezuelan border towns. Since
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez already collects taxes for his own revolution,
the FARC extortionists are not popular. At this point, Chavez wants FARC to
just disappear. Apparently hundreds of documents, on a captured laptop belonging
to a dead FARC leader, make it clear that FARC helped Chavez gain power in
Venezuela, in return for help down the road. So much for loyalty. But Chavez
believes FARC is done for, and he wants to save his own skin.
June 21,
2008: In the north, FARC or ELN rebels
dynamited an oil pipeline carrying 225,000 barrels per day. Oil shipments will
be halted for several days so the pipeline can be repaired. The rebels are
trying to extract "protection" payments from the oil company, in order to avoid
future attacks. In central Colombia, there have been similar attacks on
electrical transmission towers.
June 20,
2008: The government is attacking the
drug trade from multiple directions, and it has resulted in a decline (only a
few percent) of cocaine getting out of the country. In addition to spraying of
coca crops (which forces the gangs to replant in less productive areas),
restrictions are being placed on chemicals used to convert coca to cocaine. The
navy is improving its offshore patrols, and coordinating with army patrols
along the coast to capture more cocaine shipments. More of the drug gang
leaders are being captured and extradited to the United States, where bribes
won't save you from prosecution and prison. For a long time, the drug gangs
believed themselves invincible, but the government has studied anti-drug
campaigns in other parts of the world, where thriving drug operations were destroyed. In
this case, history, and experience, is on the side of the government.
June 14,
2008: FARC is now willing to release its
prominent hostages in return for an amnesty that would allow FARC leaders to
leave the country and go into exile.