Colombia's Government Turns Up the Heat on the FARC

The Colombian government is ratcheting up the pressure on the FARC:

Frustrated with their inability to capture more than one guerrilla leader in four decades of civil war, authorities have already distributed more than a million leaflets and run ads on local television channels urging people to come forward.

This week, the Defense Ministry launched the second phase of a campaign dubbed "Energize Colombia Against Terrorism," broadcasting ads on special screens set up in airports across the country. The campaign is aimed at getting Colombians to identify suspects and report rebel movements in the countryside.

To no one's surprise, the names of the AUC's top commanders are not on the lists:

Notably absent from the list are the two top right-wing paramilitary commanders, who are blamed for some of the worst atrocities in the civil war but are currently pursuing peace talks with the government.

However, the government is offering a hefty reward for a dissident paramilitary leader, Rodrigo Franco, alias Double Zero, who is not part of peace negotiations.

So the unspoken question here is if the FARC were to negotiate for peace, would Uribe let them off the hook? I don't think so. The close ties that the military has to the AUC are an open secret. They have extorted land from people in the countryside, have funded their activities with the narcotics trade and are extremely brutal.

In an interesting twist in this same article, there may be a good reason why Manuel Marulanda, founder and head of the FARC hasn't been seen for some time:

Meanwhile, a leading Colombian journalist, citing "very reliable sources" close to the FARC, reported Tuesday that Marulanda, 73, is suffering from terminal cancer and likely has no more than six months to live.

"Prostate cancer is attacking him with such ferocity that the old guerrilla leader no longer wants treatment," journalist Patricia Lara said in an article published in the weekly Diners news magazine. Lara is a former editor-in-chief of the Cambio news magazine and served as ombudsman of El Tiempo, Colombia's leading newspaper.

As I have said before and it bears repeating if you're reading this blog for the first time, I have no use for either left-wing or right-wing paramilitaries, guerrillas, terrorists, etc., in Colombia. They are all monstrous, their actions are utterly contemptible and my sympathies lie 100% with the victims and the millions of average Colombians trying to lead decent, normal lives free of fear. They all need to face justice. There won't be peace in Colombia until those who engage in terrorist activities as the FARC, the ELN and the AUC do, realize that the end of the road for their crimes is a jail cell.