General Fracica’s statement, which went on to say, “We have reached the heart from where the FARC managed terrorist offensives around the country. There are no more guerrilla empires here,” is certainly bold, albeit nominally true. With the implementation of Plan Colombia, and its subsequent Plan Patriota (Patriot Plan) in 2004, the Colombian government is well on its way to squashing the leftist insurgency, the FARC’s plan to overrun the country. Thus far, over 300 rebels have been killed. The military has certainly scored successes in uncovering and destroying weapons caches, food warehouses, and functional camps. Military strategist Alfredo Rangel Suarez, Plan Patriota is a commendable, ambitious effort to take the war against the FARC to the rebels.

However, what is less comforting is that the US has dumped nearly $1.3 billion (of a total of $7.5 billion program) in aid to Colombia, to include military training, and the FARC continues with its drug trafficking and its kidnap-for-ransom operations, frequently with little hindrance. Further, the FARC has launched significant attacks against the Colombian military, with notable successes (WAR Report). As recently as June 28, President Alvaro Uribe blamed “intelligence failures on our part” and a lack of “coordination between the operations and intelligence braches” for an attack of the June 25-26 weekend against the military in the southwestern Putumayo state ? a cocaine production center — that resulted in 19 soldier deaths (another six soldiers died in an attack in the northeast as well), the highest death toll for the military since Uribe came to power in 2002. Uribe was quick to specify that the attack was not due to rebel strength; however, the lack of intelligence sharing and cooperative efforts by the military would still underscore a colossal failure of the training and funding provided by the US to decimate the rebel movement. Even Fracica contended that FARC insurgents “have gone deep into the jungle,” not that the insurgency has been eradicated or that the members have willingly disarmed or disavowed violence. The porous borders with Venezuela and Ecuador allow the nation’s rebels an unfettered exit route (WAR Report) when the military crackdowns are ominously close. Further, it should be noted that the rebels may well have abandoned camps as they move throughout the country that were among the military success stories. According to Rangel Suarez, “The serious thing is that if the government itself highlights losses among the members of the FARC secretariat as the measure of the success or failure of its counter-insurgency action, it is probable that future opinion will view it unfavorably.”