Independentista SPONSORS give "warm" welcome to new Colombian President...

[El_Jibaro]

[i]WITNESSES: 12 DIE IN COLOMBIA BLASTS
Wed Aug 7, 5:35 PM ET
By SUSANNAH A. NESMITH, Associated Press Writer

Wed Aug 7, 4:44 PM ET

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, left, is sworn into office by Luis Alfredo Ramos, president of the senate, during an inauguration ceremony at the Colombian parliament building in Bogota, Colombia Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2002. Person seen center is an inidentified member of the military honor guard. (AP Photo/John Moore)

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Explosions rocked Colombia's capital Wednesday as hard-liner Alvaro Uribe was sworn in as president of this troubled Latin American country, and witnesses said at least 12 people were killed.

Three huge blasts shook the area around Bogota's parliament building, minutes before Uribe took the oath of office from Senate leader Luis Alfredo Ramos. Witnesses reported seeing at least 10 bodies lying in the street and in a house in Cartucho — a poor neighborhood barely five blocks from parliament,

Two others died in another explosion near parliament, the attorney general's office said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosions. To avert any rebel assassination plots, Uribe had forgone the traditional outdoor ceremony in Bogota's colonial central plaza and instead took the oath of office in parliament. Uribe is promising a crackdown on leftist rebels.

Army troops quickly sealed off Cartucho after the explosions, and there was no immediate official comment.

Troops had patrolled the streets and combat helicopters thundered overhead during the inauguration.

Hours earlier, small bombs exploded in several neighborhoods of the capital, slightly injuring six people and blowing out windows and chunks of sidewalk. No one immediately claimed responsibility.

Amid unconfirmed police reports that rebels had planned to crash a plane into parliament, Bogota's airspace was closed and an American P3 plane staffed with U.S. Customs Service and Colombian air force personnel patrolled overhead.

The White House had no immediate comment on the explosions in Cartucho.

Hopes were high that Uribe can end the war that has sapped the potential of Colombia, a gateway between Central and South America that is a three-hour flight from Miami.

At 50, Uribe has worked in government for half his life. A lawyer with degrees from Harvard and Oxford, he served two terms in the Senate, was mayor of his native Medellin, director of Colombia's civil aviation authority and governor of violence-ravaged Antioquia state.

Uribe inherits a 38-year-old war that kills some 3,500 people every year. His father was shot to death during an apparent rebel kidnapping attempt in 1983. Uribe has been the target of more than a half dozen assassination attempts, including a deadly attack on his motorcade during the election campaign.

But he insists that his stance against the rebels is not motivated by revenge, and pledges to be equally tough against right-wing militias and drug traffickers. He's also promised to take on government corruption and reform the tax code.

He faces a country in economic turmoil. About 64 percent of Colombians live below the poverty line and more than 17 percent of city dwellers can't find jobs.

Uribe, a workaholic and teetotaler, warned in a radio interview Wednesday that he cannot perform miracles.

"To the Colombians I say: Expect action every day, but not miraculous results."

Right after being sworn in, Uribe planned to propose a referendum to almost halve the number of lawmakers and merge the two houses of parliament.

The blatant attack on the entrenched political class could provoke a pitched battle with the same congress he needs to support his other reforms.

"President Uribe is going to encounter obstacles in the road, but also a lot of support if he follows through with the necessary reforms," said congressman Antonio Navarro.

Uribe says the reforms will cut back on government waste and allow more money to be diverted to fighting the war. He's also hoping to secure more funding from the United States, which in the past two years gave Colombia $1.7 billion, mostly in military aid.

His term in Medellin coincided with the reign of drug king Pablo Escobar, and Uribe has been dogged by allegations he was tied to drug traffickers. He denies it, saying his family's ties to the Ochoa family, many of whom were important lieutenants in Escobar's Medellin Cartel, are based on a love of expensive horses, not drug running.

As governor of Antioquia, Uribe was a frequent critic of leftist rebels. Known as a hard-liner who dramatically reduced crime, he also championed citizen observer patrols that were ultimately disbanded because some of the groups developed ties to the paramilitaries.

Wednesday's inauguration was attended by several Latin American presidents. Uribe enjoys broad support from the White House, which sent a delegation that included Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and U.S. drug czar John Walters.

"He understands that security means eliminating the extremes on the left and the right and eliminating the drugs that fund those organizations," Walters said.

"This is the first time you have a consensus behind a candidate who speaks of the need to focus on the whole problem," Walters said.

Uribe's predecessor, Andres Pastrana, tried for three years to negotiate a peace with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the nation's largest rebel group. The talks broke down in February without achieving substantial results.

Frustrated, most Colombians believe that now is the time for tougher approach.

"The guerrillas don't want to talk," said shopkeeper Juan Manuel Martinez. "Uribe is going to take us into war, because now we have to fight to save Colombia."

Wed Aug 7, , 5:22 PM ET

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe sings the national anthem before being sworn-in as the country's new leader, at the parliament building in Bogota Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2002.(AP Photo/John Moore)

Wed Aug 7, 3:15 PM ET

Colombian soldiers inspect the damage caused by a small explosive that blew up just hours before the inauguration of President-elect Alvaro Uribe, in Bogota, Colombia on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2002.(AP Photo/Juan Herrera)

[b]

[El_Jibaro]

[i]FARC: REBELS WITHOUT A CAUSE?
Tuesday, 21 May, 2002, 11:11 GMT 12:11 UK



Founded in 1964, FARC now control 40% of the country



By Jeremy McDermott
In Bogota


Europe seems set to add Colombia's Marxist guerrillas its list of terrorist organisations. Yet the "Old World" has in the past had sympathy for this Andean nation's revolutionaries, and must now decide whether they are "freedom fighters" or "international terrorists".


President Pastrana had attempted to crack down on FARC

The leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda has been fighting the state for more than 50 of his 71 years.

He founded the FARC in 1964 and since then has built up his guerrilla army from a handful of cousins and friends, into a fearsome force of some 18,000 fighters that today control almost 40% of the country.

The FARC had much to fight for when they were formed. The political system was restricted to the traditional Liberal and Conservative parties and these were controlled by the country's rich, political elite.

COLOMBIA'S POOR

Most of the land was in the hands of the privileged few and the majority of the population lived in poverty.

Well some things have not changed. The gap between rich and poor in Colombia is still among the widest in the world and more than half of the population live in poverty.

But the Colombian and the US Government say the guerrillas have lost their ideology and become nothing more than terrorists and drugs traffickers.

That the guerrillas are involved in drugs is beyond question. It is their main earner, followed by kidnapping and extortion.

"Bring them all down: bridges, pylons and the dam, make urban attacks, so that the oligarchy feels the war"

Henry Castellanos, Commander of the FARC 53rd Front

That they have committed terrorist acts is certain. Earlier this month whilst battling their hated enemies - the right wing paramilitaries - they dropped a bomb on the church of Bojayá in the western province of Chocó.

Terrified townsfolk had taken shelter from the combat in the building. A total of 119 civilians in the church were killed - almost half of them children.

CHANGE OF TACTICS

Since the three-year peace process with the FARC broke down in February, the guerrillas have changed tactics.

Before, they would concentrate forces and attack security force bases.

Civilian were often killed in the crossfire, but the military was always the target. That seems to have changed.

In a radio exchange intercepted by the military, Comandante 'Romana' (alias of Henry Castellanos, the feared commander of the powerful FARC 53rd Front) was heard to say: "Bring them all down - bridges, pylons and the dam. Make urban attacks so that the oligarchy feels the war."

The guerrillas want to punish the government for ending the peace process and hurt the political elite.

That means hitting the cities, which has resulted in a move towards "terrorist" tactics, not purely at the security forces, but against the general urban population.

The FARC have blown up some 200 electricity pylons across the country so far this year, attacked water reservoirs that feed Bogotá's seven million inhabitants, and set off bombs in cities.

IRA LINK

The FARC also seem to have links with international militant organisations.

Three Irish republicans are in a Colombian prison awaiting trial on charges of training the FARC in explosives and urban terrorism.


In national surveys FARC never poll more than 5% of public support, just like Puerto Rican independentistas .[b]

Military intelligence insist that the Basque separatist group ETA has also been in Colombia along with suspicious Cubans and Iranians, which prompted a US Congressional report to state: "Colombia is a potential breeding ground for international terror equalled perhaps only by Afghanistan."

But perhaps most telling in the debate on whether the FARC are freedom fighters or terrorists is the issue of public support.

There can be little doubt that the guerrillas have lost touch with the people they claim to represent.

In national surveys the FARC never poll more than 5% of public support, and that for all the imperfections in its political system, Colombia is a democracy.

After almost 40 years, it appears the FARC have become rebels without a cause.

[Nacionalista]

LMAO, LOL LOL LOL.

You wont believe how many Americans are involve with both groups at the same time. Some are from the CIA army and others from SF and Rangers.

It bring back memories.....

[Camano]

OH!!!

lONG lIVE DEMOCRACY, CHAVEZ!