>A LITTLE TASTE OF WHAT LIES AHEAD FOR US TROOPS.IF AMERICAN STAYS THE >PRESENT FOREIGN POLICY AGENDA IN COLOMBIA > > >Rebel Attacks > >The intensity of Colombia=92s guerrilla war has increased. The FARC has >demonstrated during the past years alone that it has the ability to >confront and defeat Colombian army units in open combat and Catalog mass >large units against multiple targets around Colombia, and the=20 > >A Colombian army brigade was dispatched to break up a concentration of 600 >guerrillas reportedly ready to attack Cartagena del Chaira near the Caguan >River. The guerrillas organized a successful ambush. After three days, 80 >soldiers had been killed, 43 captured, and the rest dispersed in the jungle >This was the first time the FARC inaugurated, the FARC a launched at least >42 attacks in 14 different sectors. More than half of these attacks involve= >d >guerrilla units of 300 to 1,000 fighters. After two weeks of defeated a >large, elite Colombian army unit in maneuver warfare.104 military and polic= >e >were dead and between 129 and 158 government troops had been taken prisoner= >; >243 guerrillas had been killed. > >Colombia=92s main oil pipeline, causing a huge fire that destroyed the smal= >l >village of Machuca; 45 people were burned to death, and another 26 died >later from severe burns > >The 120-man police detachment in Mitu, a town of 14,000 located about 400 >miles from Bogota near the border with Brazil, was assaulted by up to 1,000 >FARC guerrillas who arrived by river. About 80 police and 10 civilians were >killed, and 40 police were taken prisoner. FARC units ambushed about 500 >soldiers and police approaching the besieged town by land. At least 28 >soldiers and police were killed in that attac. >FARC viciously murdered three U.S. human rights workers, including two >women, by shooting them execution-style in the face and chest.6 > >In the majority of these attacks, the guerrillas covered their withdrawal b= >y >placing scattered land mines and ambushing groups of approaching soldiers >The FARC also is able to jam Colombian army and police communications with >electronic equipment in small aircraft. > >The FARC can now field its entire force=9715-20,000 fighters=97on sustained >operations for up to one week at a time. The M-16, which has replaced the >Soviet-era Kalashnikoff assault rifle as the guerrillas=92 weapon of choice= >, >is smuggled into Colombia from Central America by Arab smugglers operating >out of Panama and Ciudad del Este, a South American city located where the >borders of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet. > > >The Colombian army cannot defeat the rebels. It is a garrison army of >conscripts who have little tactical and strategic training or mobility. The >Colombian army is poorly trained, poorly equipped, poorly led, and severely >tarnished by its long history of corruption and human rights abuses. For >most of the past decade, it has failed to stage a single successful >offensive against the rebels; in recent years, the Colombian army has lost >more than 80 engagements involving 300 or more guerrillas > > Government lacks the resources to fight the FARC=20 >successfully, Pastrana is pursuing peace with foes whose stated goals >include toppling his government.=20 > >Pastrana has conferred full political recognition on FARC rebels and has >acknowledged their political and administrative control over nearly half of >Colombia. > > >Utopiaunarmed.com/the modern left in Latin America &Cuba >VERCERIMOS > > > > > >_______________________________________________________ >Say Bye to Slow Internet! >http://www.home.com/xinbox/signup.html > > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for anti-imperialist news. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________________
