Wednesday, February 6, 2008

There is a reason there is no Colombian Chavez

Listening to some in the media lately you would think Al-Queda had been upstaged by another, more dangerous, 'terrorist' group - Colombia's FARC (Colombia's Armed Revolutionary Forces). Just today thousands across Colombia and around the world protested against FARC's alledged abuses.In addition to operating outside the democratic system and fighting an insurgency they are accused of being involved in drug trafficting and 'terrorist' activities. While there may be legitimacy to some of those accusations I've always been skeptical of them and thought that they were exagerations or even fabrications made up by those in the U.S. and Colombian government intent on discrediting the guerilla group.However, it isn't the point of this post to delve into those issues. The reason is that there is an even more basic question - that is by what right does any group in a democracy have the right to resort to violence, which is what an insurgency is, against an elected government? After all, at the very least the FARC does that. And if there is no legitimate reason behind their waging armed struggle in the fist place than they can safely be condemmed regardless of what role they play or don't play in the Colombian drug trade."






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