Political killings have doubled and drug cartels control much of the land, but British cash still flows to Colombia. When eight foreign tourists – including two Britons – were kidnapped earlier this month, the first reports attributed the crime to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – the Farc. Colombia has the world’s highest rate of kidnapping and most of them are attributable either to the Farc or their fellow rebels the ELN. But the Farc denied this particular episode and probably they are telling the truth. This could mean that the ELN did it. Or it could mean that elements much closer to power – to the security forces and finally to the government – are responsible. Colombia is not a story of sin on one side and virtue on the other. But few of the superficial narratives in Colombia stand up to scrutiny. The current tale about the government of Alvaro Uribe, to which Britain and the US subscribe, says that he came to power last year with a fresh commitment to fight subversion, crime and drug trafficking. Elected as the peace efforts of his predecessor, Andres Pastrana, were collapsing, Uribe promised a combination of vigorous US-backed military action against the “narco-guerrillas” and the terrorists of the rightwing paramilitary organisation, the AUC (the self-styled United Self Defence Forces of Colombia), amnesty for those who would take it and the creation of citizens’ militia to fight subversion. Full Story
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