Colombian Rebel Commander Threatens U.S.

yahoo ^ | 11/29/03

[knak]

BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombia's main rebel group warned Saturday that U.S. military personnel aiding government troops will face attack.

Raul Reyes, a commander and spokesman of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, issued the threat barely two weeks after a rebel grenade attack on two Bogota brewpubs killed one person and wounded 72, including four Americans.

The U.S. Embassy has banned its personnel and their families — and the hundreds of U.S. government contractors in Colombia — from two neighborhoods featuring bars and restaurants in the wake of the Nov. 16 attack.

Reyes criticized the Americans for "training and aiding government forces in counterinsurgency tactics and actions" in Colombia.

"The invasive foreign troops are a military target for the FARC," Reyes said in an interview posted on the Web site of the News Agency of New Colombia, which carries official rebel statements.

The man who allegedly threw the two grenades Nov. 16 into the Bogota Beer Company and Palos de Moguer — which were popular among Americans — was arrested minutes after the attack and identified as a member of a FARC commando team.

But Reyes insisted that he did not know whether the FARC was responsible for the attack. The U.S. Embassy has said Colombian authorities have reported the rebel attack was intended to kill and maim Americans.

The United States has spent some $2.5 billion, most of it in military aid and training, since 2000 to help the Colombian government battle the FARC and a smaller leftist rebel group.

Some of the U.S. troops in Colombia are Special Forces who are training Colombian battalions in counterinsurgency tactics.

Separately, 69 Colombian highway patrol policemen were fired Saturday for "problems of discipline, immorality and dishonesty," said Gen. Jorge Castro, chief of the Colombian National Police. No details were given.

Castro was appointed earlier this month to his post after President Alvaro Uribe ousted the former police chief amid a series of corruption scandals, involving misuse of funds and a million-dollar bribe police accepted upon returning three tons of confiscated cocaine to drug traffickers.

Colombia's rebel groups have been fighting for four decades against a succession of elected Colombian governments. More than 3,500 people, most of them civilians, die in the fighting each year.

[katz]

Didn't these people capture an American pilot searching for drugs? Has the pilot been recovered? He was from FL. His capture happened recently.

[Pukin Dog]

How about a pool on how fast Liberals take sides with the rebels?

[endthematrix]

"The invasive foreign troops are a military target for the FARC."

I don't think FARC has any clue how invasive the US can be. We're spraying some weed killer over there. Maybe they would like for us to switch to that wonderful US engineered triple canopy destroyer known as "daisy cutter?"

[Rome2000]

Communist morons may be able to hide amongst the populace, but their coca fields don't have that capability.

[clee1]

OPEN MESSAGE to Mr. Reyes:

Knock off the bullshite or you will find out just how invasive the US can be. You may be able to thwart the corrupt Colombian Government, but your petty little political movement wouldn't last a day under the full might of the US Military.

Confronting us directly would be a Big mistake. HUGE!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Venezuela shifts control of border (mounting terrorist allegations)***CARACAS, Venezuela - Amid allegations that the Venezuelan government has given identity documents to foreign terrorists, President Hugo Chavez has put the country's immigration service in the hands of two young radicals, one of whom is close to the ousted Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein.

Hugo Cabezas and Tareck el-Aissami were appointed in the past two months as director and deputy director, respectively, of the Identification and Immigration Directorate, known as the DIEX after its initials in Spanish.

Their responsibilities include passports, voter identity cards and border security. Both men are former student leaders of groups accused of links to clandestine armed organizations.

………….Venezuela is also facing mounting allegations by U.S. officials, and regional security analysts, over ties to terrorism. Middle Eastern terrorist groups operate "support cells" in Venezuela, according to U.S. military and intelligence officials. Left-wing guerrillas (FARC) in neighboring Colombia also have training bases inside Venezuelan territory, they say.

…………State officials deny the allegations. Even so, students and academics point to a dramatic upsurge in radical student activity during el-Aissami's two-year tenure as president of the student union. Prior to his departure in July, armed groups consolidated their presence in student residences, they say. A report by the vice rectorate of academic affairs recently found that of 1,122 people living in a student housing complex, only 387 were active students. More than 600 are completely unconnected to the university. ***

[backhoe]

-The Fire Down South...( Latin America--)--

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[neb52]

Yep, nothing like a little Napalm couldn't handle.

[livius]

They've been on the side of the "rebels" for years. Actually, for decades. I recently read an article describing how certain US and European NGOs are nothing but advocates and covers for FARC.

And now that FARC has state support from Venezuela, I think we can expect things to get much worse.

[risk]

bttt

[steveegg]

I wonder how resilient coca is to radiation.

[hchutch]

I'm beginning to think demobilizing the AUC is a bad idea.

How about we start sneaking intelligence to them instead? They are, after all, quite... efficient.

[jriemer]

The Columbian rebels should be deemed "a terrorist organization of global scope" by the US Government as they have been working hand in glove with Irish terrorist groups. Their narcotics connections prove they are aware of the techniques to smuggle drugs and who knows what else into America. The $64k question is, "are they working with AQ or if not, when will they start?"

We need to keep our hemisphere clean of all terrorists.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Maybe they'll be handy when all hell breaks loose.

[germanicus]

How about a pool on how fast Liberals take sides with the rebels?

Led by no other than the Marxist guerilla loving Ed Asner and David (Sandinista Dave) Bonior.

[Mark Felton]

These Columbian rebels have been receiving backing by Venzuela's pro-marxist Chavez government. Chavez has also been issueing them with Venezuelan passpaorts so they may cross into Venezuela and then travel freely worldwide.

This is a very disconcerting situation.

[Indie]

One thing we can all do is never travel to any of these anti-US countries for vacation or anything else. Don't give them a dime of your money. It's a small thing, but you'd be surprised how many Americans (mostly liberals) travel the world and give their money to these Marxists.