tagged w/ FARC
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The dirty war in Colombia continues to claim innocent victims. "War is a trick, and the trickier you are, the faster you win it", said a demobilized guerrilla from FARC who murdered civilians and military personnel with landmines. "We will not continue to shed tears over spilled milk, " says the former armed forces commander, General Freddy Padilla de León, about the hundreds of civilians killed by the Colombian army in the last five years.The dirty war in Colombia continues to claim innocent victims. "War is a trick,... more
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Spanish police have detained 41 people suspected of laundering over 200m euros to finance Colombia's Farc militant insurgents.
Police also seized more than 150,000 euros during searches in 13 cities across Spain. Investigators believe that the money was earned from smuggling drugs.
Police officers in Colombia and Ecuador have been conducting a parallel investigation and have detected a link between the money and Farc. Spanish police searched 27 homes and offices during this operation.
A police video shows officers using sniffer dogs and finding suitcases and cupboards stuffed full of cash. Colombia's largest guerrilla group has been fighting to overthrow the Colombian government for almost 50 years and is renowned for its involvement in drug trafficking.Spanish police have detained 41 people suspected of laundering over 200m euros to... more
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Mono Jojoy Muerto, a military commander of the FARC was killed in a military attack. Mono Jojoy Muerto's death was an overwhelming blow to the organizationMono Jojoy Muerto, a military commander of the FARC was killed in a military attack.... more
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mky786
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added this
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1 year ago
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1. Colombian attack on the indigenous
2. Blocking the flows of carbon
3. Mending the Niger Delta
4. RCMP can’t find Bin Laden
5. The Olympigs are here!
6. The resistance responds
7. KRS1
8. Occupy Everything1. Colombian attack on the indigenous
2. Blocking the flows of carbon
3. Mending the... more
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“It is the first fully functional, completely submersible submarine for transoceanic voyages that we have ever found,” Jay Bergman, Andean regional director for the Drug Enforcement Administration, told The Associated Press.
Until now, all the smuggling vessels seized on the high seas or at clandestine shipyards built to haul multi-ton loads of cocaine under the Pacific’s surface were semi-submersibles. They typically unload off Central America and Mexico drugs destined for the United States.
Equipped with air intake and engine exhaust pipes, none of those craft were capable of fully submerging so they could evade radar and heat-seeking technology of drug-interdiction aircraft.“It is the first fully functional, completely submersible submarine for... more
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A former Colombian police major, Juan Carlos Meneses, alleges that President Alvaro Uribe's younger brother, Santiago Uribe, led a fearsome paramilitary death squad in the 1990s that killed petty thieves, guerrilla sympathizers and suspected subversives. In an interview with The Washington Post, Meneses says the death squad trained at La Carolina, where the Uribe family ran an agribusiness company in the early 1990s.A former Colombian police major, Juan Carlos Meneses, alleges that President Alvaro... more
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The Colombian government confirmed Wednesday that the FARC guerrilla group have logistic and trafficking networks in Brazilian territory, and use the Amazon River to transport drugs, reports CM&.
The statement comes after a Brazilian newspaper report claimed that the Colombian rebel group had “bases” in neighboring Brazil.
Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva said that the FARC had “networks” across the border, including use of “the free [Amazon] port city of Manaus,” and added that Brazil “are starting a difficult process, by sharing intelligence with us” to determine the exact nature of FARC presence in Brazil.
Silva stressed the importance of the two governments working together in the fight against drug trafficking and guerilla groups.The Colombian government confirmed Wednesday that the FARC guerrilla group have... more
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The Obama administration aims to make a push for Congress to ratify a free trade pact with Colombia, stalled for more than three years over concerns about rights abuses.The Obama administration aims to make a push for Congress to ratify a free trade pact... more
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Nearly 250 Colombians who say they and relatives were victims of violence by Colombian right-wing paramilitaries have filed a lawsuit seeking more than $1 billion in damages from the Chiquita banana company, which has admitted making payments to paramilitaries.Nearly 250 Colombians who say they and relatives were victims of violence by Colombian... more
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The United States has suspended aid to Colombia's DAS intelligence agency, whose agents are accused of illegally wiretapping President Alvaro Uribe's opponents, journalists and top court magistrates. But Felipe Muñoz, director of Colombia's scandal-ridden security agency DAS, suggested last week that the U.S. will fund a new Colombian civilian intelligence agency.The United States has suspended aid to Colombia's DAS intelligence agency, whose... more
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An awesome confluence of rogue actors:
The MV Rim was seized in the Gulf of Aden, outside the internationally recommended transit corridor patrolled by the anti-piracy naval coalition, said Cmdr. Anders Kallin of the EU Naval Force.
The MV Rim has not had any communication with maritime authorities, but Kallin said an American warship, the USS Porter, and a helicopter from American warship USS Farragut confirmed the seizure of the ship to the EU.
The 4,800-ton ship is owned by White Sea Shipping of Libya. It is carrying unknown cargo and the number and nationalities of the crew are not known. The seized ship was heading toward the Somali coast and warships were monitoring the situation, the EU Naval Force said.
It really kind of can't get any better than that, can it? The old Axis of Evil vs. the new Axis of Instability. Even Libya is involved! I mean maybe we could add "They announced it on Twitter and submitted a YouTube question to Obama from the open ocean." But no seriously, the only way this story could get any better was to throw a little Al Qaeda in it.
Oh, what's that? A link between Somali pirates and Al Qaeda? Do tell, Foreign Policy magazine:
Somalia has two big scourges these days: Islamist milititas the run most of the country (and are linked to al Qaeda) and piracy off the coast....But what if the two scourges are linked?...Last December, a Canadian intelligence report indicated that Shabaab was in fact training pirates for their "duties." Further reporting from Jane's (summarized here) notes how taxes are levied on the pirates' booties. Yes, the pirates and the Islamists are definitely in cahoots.
All kidding aside, these sorts of links are worrisome. As global connectivity becomes more accessible, it's not hard to imagine a world in which there truly is an "Axis of Instability" aligning terrorists, religious militants, pirates, drug gangs, etc. It's a concern the DEA has put forward in their (alebit dubious) theories about Al Qaeda and the FARC. Let's just hope that the hostage negotiations between North Korea and the Somali pirates don't turn into partnership talks.
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An awesome confluence of rogue actors:
The MV Rim was seized in the Gulf of Aden,... more
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That's according to US authorities. Actually, the language they used is "unholy alliance". Catchy.
Three West African men accused of ties to al Qaeda were extradited to New York in December on drug trafficking and terrorism charges.
It was the first time U.S. authorities established a link suggesting al Qaeda is funding itself in part by providing security for drug smugglers in West Africa.
"As suggested by the recent arrest of three alleged al Qaeda operatives, the expansion of cocaine trafficking through West Africa has provided the venue for an unholy alliance between South American narco-terrorists and Islamic extremists," Bergman said in an interview over the weekend.
In a week when it's all Al Qaeda all the time (this is what, the third time I've written about them already and it's only Tuesday?) the DEA doesn't want to be left out. We've seen before that Africa is the new transit line for cocaine to Europe (as Christof Putzel reported in Vanguard: Cocaine Mafia) and we've seen a few more connections this week between Africa and Al Qaeda. But if the US government is right on this - could it be a potentially dangerous alignment of militant groups? Joshua Keating at FP Passport is skeptical:
...[A]s I noted last month, the three men arrested (whose self-proclaimed links to al Qaeda have yet to be proven) last month, were not caught making a deal with FARC, they were making a deal with an undercover DEA agent that they thought was representing FARC. The ringleader of the group, Harouna Toure, did boast to the agent about smuggling "two tons of hashish to Tunisia" and the "human smuggling of Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Indian subjects into Spain," but these wouldn't involve South American naro-terrorists. Is there any other evidence that FARC and al Qaeda are actually taking advantage of the "venue" they've been provided?
Keating also pointed out that Matthew Cordell of UN Dispatch gave an awesome name to the whole affair: FARQaeda. Now, that's catchy.
Watch Vanguard: Cocaine Mafia (Video)
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The U.S. State Department on Monday released a report criticizing Venezuela for failing to combat Colombian guerilla groups involved in cocaine trafficking operations and claiming to have strong evidence that “some elements” of Venezuela’s security forces “directly assist” the FARC and ELN.
The report said that Venezuela “does not cooperate consistently with the United States and other countries to reduce the flow of cocaine through Venezuela,” and that “There is strong evidence that some elements of Venezuela’s security forces directly assist” the FARC and ELN.The U.S. State Department on Monday released a report criticizing Venezuela for... more
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MADRID—Spain and Venezuela headed toward a potential diplomatic face-off after a Spanish judge on Monday accused Caracas of collaborating with rebel groups to assassinate Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and other top political figures.
Spanish National Court Judge Eloy Velasco alleged Monday that the Venezuelan government had collaborated with Basque separatist group ETA and Colombia's main guerrilla group in a plot against leaders living in or traveling to Spain that began in late 2003.
More at link
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704754604575095291011683812.html?mod=WSJEUROPE_hpp_MIDDLESecondStoriesMADRID—Spain and Venezuela headed toward a potential diplomatic face-off after a... more
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