Alfonso Cano.

This is coolbert:

This was a somewhat major news item today? Was heralded on my Internet home page at least. Thanks in part to the New York Daily News.

The FARC, Colombian communist insurgents dealt another serious  blow? Another top commander killed, his headquarters bombed, the identity of the dead insurrectionist confirmed by forensics.

"Alfonso Cano, top FARC leader, killed in combat with Colombian troops"

"Colombian president calls it 'hardest blow to this organization in its entire history'"

Indeed, the death of Alfonso Cano [real name Guillermo Leon Saenz] an indication that the FARC are on the ropes [?], in trouble, beset by government forces that seem to enjoy more and more major successes against a guerrilla group [FARC] that for many decades seemed to be hitherto invincible, or at least presenting the image thereof!

FARC senior leaders and commanders killed or dead, defections/captures/desertions to include:

* "The rebels' leadership has suffered a series of withering blows beginning in March 2008, when the FARC's foreign minister, Raul Reyes, was killed in a bombing raid on a rebel camp across the border in Ecuador."

* "That same month [March 2008], the FARC's revered co-founder, Manuel Marulanda, died in a mountain hideout of a heart attack."

* "Several other top commanders were subsequently killed and rebel desertions, including of midlevel cadres, reached record levels."

FARC in serious trouble? That remains to be seen.

The FARC has an amazing staying power. Guerrillas active in combat against the Colombian governmental forces for almost a period of FIFTY YEARS NOW! And most successfully so too! NOT a rag-tag insurgent force but very well organized [numbering as of this exact instant about 9,000 insurgents], FARC guerrillas having standard uniforms, battle kit and weaponry, a structure of a conventional military force with an irregular mission!

Comments regarding FARC:

* FARC is noted for the incorporation of women into fighting units. As is with the Nepalese and Indian Maoist guerrillas.

* American second-hand but refurbished weaponry as was used by U.S. forces in Vietnam continues to be employed by the Colombian government in the fight against the FARC. Weaponry to include the AC-47 gunship and riverine task force monitor warships.

* FARC does have a degree of foreign support and has had so for many decades? First from Fidel and now from Hugo Chavez. FARC rebels can also find privileged sanctuary in neighboring countries, Venezuela and Ecuador?

* FARC is hardly simon-pure. Deals in drugs, extortion of drug dealers, kidnappings, bombings of civilian targets, intimidation of a brutal nature? Guerrilla insurgencies rarely if ever succeed unless they possess the necessary ruthlessness?

FARC down but not out? Fifty years of survival seems to suggest that the rebellion will continue at some level - - Colombia as a nation no stranger to violence!

coolbert.

FARC

This is coolbert:

"it doesn't matter whether the cat is white or black, only that it catches mice!"

From the Chicago Tribune yesterday:

Once again, an indication that the FARC, the Colombian guerrilla group, at one time controlling a goodly portion of Colombia, is coming apart at the seams. This time, a Colombian legislator, held prisoner for eight years, has walked to freedom - - accompanied by the youthful rebel who was his [the legislator] captor.

"Colombian captive and jailer flee"

"Desertion and escape are dual blows to rebels"

"BOGOTA, Colombia - A 62 year-old lawmaker held captive eight years by leftist rebels walked to freedom in a western Colombian jungle, on Sunday along with the young guerrilla commander, who had been his jailer."

"Presidente Alvaro Uribe [of Colombia] said the rebel and his girlfriend would be rewarded with cash and asylum in France."

"Colombia's military has put pressure on the guerrillas, known as FARC since early 2007, killing or capturing top commanders and spurring record desertions and betrayals among rebels with lucrative reward offers."

"Uribe said 'Isaza' [the youthful rebel captor] would received a reward - - . . . about $400,000 and asylum in France along with his girlfriend."

Well, another FARC bites the dust - - a captive is repatriated - - all is well that ends well. "Isaza" and his girlfriend can lead a comfortable life of leisure now?

Paying off the rebel is a cost efficient way to do business? A lot of folks would prefer that things NOT be done this way? Rewarding "Isaza" for his misbehavior is NOT perceived as a totally just end to the situation?

One method by which the Huk rebellion in the Philippines was suppressed was to offer the guerrilla fighters [mostly landless peasants] plots of land, free acreage, in return for surrender. Under certain circumstances, the carrot-and-stick approach DOES work well to combat insurgencies. Keep up unremitting pressure militarily, and, at the same time, offering inducements - - encouraging desertions from among the ranks of the guerillas!!

Those FARC guerrillas have been out there in the jungle fighting for over forty years now. With no end in sight, and the situation now rapidly now going "sour", cash rewards in return for surrender and asylum/amnesty is the way to go?

coolbert.