For what it is worth, this came through Lou Proyects marxism list:
Hi Lou:
FARC in Bogota? By the way the UP still exists. Also
Partido Bolivriano
In regard to MacDonald Stainsby's "clips from the
bourgeois press re Colombia", in which he quotes a
Reuters dispatch to the effect that the 'Colombian
government does not publicly recognize that it has
lost control of parts of Bogota, a city of six
million.'
I think comrades should not get too excited, too fast
about this clip.
Bogota is not only a city of six million, it is a city
whose political borders cover vast areas of farm land,
forests, and very lightly populated mountain peaks.
The one part of the city in which the FARC really
weilds any influence is Sumapaz.
Sumapaz is one of the Alcadia Menores, I think there
are seven. It's like a borough in New York, for those
of you from that part of the planet.
Only Sumapaz is cow country. Dairies, mountains and
little villages - some without roads to them.
The FARC's efforts to organize again the city have no
visible effect, and do not seem to worry anyone in the
government.
One thing that people who pay attention to Colombia
should know is that - despite the slaughter of Union
Patriotica militants a decade ago, it still exists. It
consistenetly wins one seat on the Bogota city
council, and fields candidates for other offices.
The slaughter however seems to have served its purpose
of severing the relation between the UP and the FARC,
and also of isolating the UP's working class base of
support from anyone else in Colombia.
The FARC's preparation of a legal opposition party -
the Bolivariano Party, is going ahead slowly. Now it
is "clandestine". Which means that meetings are held
in peoples living rooms, and there are no public
activities.
This seems to be the main tool of the FARC to enter
the city's, and it is not developing very quickly if
the gossip I hear is any indication.
Anthony
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