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TERRORISM
IRA/Cuban/Venezuelan Involvement in Colombia
Robert Villa. Monday, Aug. 20,
2001. NewsMax.com.
BOGOTA, Colombia – On Saturday, Aug. 18, orders for the capture of 40
foreigners with criminal and terrorist records who have entered Colombia
were issued by the attorney general's office. While the names were not
released, the countries of origin were announced to be Cambodia, China,
Croatia, Cuba, El Salvador, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Israel, Jordan,
Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine and Yugoslavia.
In the past week, the involvement of urban terrorism experts from the
Irish Republican Army (IRA) and various Cuban and Venezuelan military
operatives specializing in artillery and anti-air operations has alarmed
Colombia's military. Rumors of involvement of the Basque independence
guerrilla group, ETA, have also surfaced but have yet to be confirmed.
Despite repeated concerns regarding the true commitment of both Cuba and
Venezuela to the peace process, the current president of Colombia,
Andres Pastrana, has been die-hard on involving both groups in
negotiations, due to their ideological closeness to the guerrillas.
The President’s Peace Commission even planned for the eventual
participation of a contingent of Cuban soldiers that would be members of
a U.N. verification team in northern Colombia. The team would have been
responsible for verifying the good conduct of the guerrillas in a
distension zone controlled by the Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional (ELN).
Negotiations with the ELN failed last week, however, due to the
government's failure to produce a timeline acceptable to the guerrillas.
A U.N. verification team was never created for the present distension
zone already occupied by the Frente Armada Revolucionaria de Colombia
(FARC). That zone, created in 1999, has since become the national
headquarters for FARC training, kidnapping, coca growing and military
operations.
Formerly, the United Nations and the European Union both had given their
support to the creation of the zone, putting aside concerns about
illicit activities, but in the past month and a half, a U.N. vehicle has
been stopped by the FARC and a member of a U.N. team kidnapped, three
Germans have been kidnapped and held in the zone, and many U.N. and E.U.
diplomatic missions are making plans to leave. Denmark has already
closed up shop.
The appearance of foreign insurgents in Colombia is nothing new. Since
the 1948 creation of the Organization of American States, which occurred
in Bogota, foreigners have been attempting to overthrow the Colombian
government, long a strong ally of the United States. On April 9, 1948, a
popular Liberal Party leader was assassinated just as the OAS's first
meeting to organize was being convened. The result was massive rioting
that shook Bogota for several days, leaving nearly 5,000 dead.
The leaders of the FARC, which traces its origins back to this time,
have always lamented that they did not take advantage of the opportunity
presented by the rioting, known as the Bogotazo. A young Fidel Castro
took part in the rioting. At the time he was supposedly affiliated with
a group of Peronistas who were participating in a youth conference.
No one knows for sure who pulled the trigger in the assassination, but
speculation has long centered around Soviet involvement because the
U.S.S.R. feared that the OAS would create an unshakeable sphere of U.S.
influence in the Americas.
Cubans have been involved in Colombia since the 1960s, when a group of
leftist students, professors and priests took to the mountains,
following the foco theory of Fidel Castro, Ernesto "Che" Guevara and the
other proponents of the Cuban revolution. The foco theory insisted that
a Communist revolution could be inspired by taking to the mountains,
instructing the natives on the importance of overthrowing the regime,
and then coming down from the mountains to take the cities.
The ELN dates from this epoch, and while the great majority of the young
idealists who founded the ELN were killed in Colombia as they were in
other Latin American countries where the foco theory was attempted,
Cuban aid long sustained the organization.
Based in northern Colombia, Cuba has lately been involved in the peace
process, which had continued unabated until last week in Caracas,
Venezuela, under the watchful supervision of Venezuelan President Hugo
Chávez. Those talks were broken off last week, however, and in the past
few days the ELN has launched a series of attacks crossing through
Venezuelan territory to attack Colombian border posts.
General Fernando Tapias, commander of Colombia's armed forces, stated
that "the objective of the FARC is to strengthen its war against the
cities, and they know that they need to learn new strategies and
technology." Their "urban offensive," declared last month, was
inaugurated with an attack on several of the government's maximum
security prisons. The FARC stated that if the government refused a
prisoner exchange as part of the peace negotiations, the guerrillas
would simply seize the prisons.
There is little question that the FARC has the funds available to pay
for international aid in training its soldiers. The Colombian attorney
general's office placed the guerrillas' income for the year 2000 at
between $500 and $700 million. One military official stated that "they
have the money and drugs sufficient to pay for the most sophisticated
weapons, training and the highest technology in the world for
communications and terrorism."
Three IRA explosives experts were detected leaving from three distinct
points in Europe by European intelligence, and were followed closely by
Colombian officials until they attempted to leave the country, whereupon
they were apprehended. The Colombian police have reviewed their records
and found that the same three IRA operatives have repeatedly entered the
country since 1991.
The incident has sparked unrest in the United Kingdom as well as in
Colombia, due to concerns that the IRA is taking payments in arms or
drugs. The IRA has resisted the last few British proposals for
disarmament.
Colombia's police in charge of immigration have now raised earlier
estimates of at least 20 Cuban military experts to close to 30. This
development is also disturbing, due to the supposed commitment of Cuba
to the Colombian peace process. Working together with these Cubans are
"at least 10" Venezuelan ex-military personnel.
Artillery experts from the two countries are probably training the
guerrillas in the creation of new rocket attack methods. For the last 20
years, the FARC and ELN have both used a homemade gas canister rocket
that, due to its inaccuracy, has wreaked more havoc on civilians than on
military bases.
Anti-aircraft missile experts from Cuba and Venezuela are probably
working on the seven anti-aircraft missile bases that have been detected
under construction in the distension zone. Armaments tracking detected
the arrival of Stinger and Redeye anti-aircraft missiles from Syria
several years ago. More shipments of anti-aircraft missiles and
launchers have probably been made by the Russian mafia, closely linked
to the FARC because of its unique ability to pay in highly lucrative
cocaine, which Russia distributes throughout Europe.
A partially completed submarine was discovered last year in central
Colombia. The small but highly sophisticated sub was designed to
transport drug shipments. The engineering plans were in Russian.
The final destination of the IRA terrorists is still uncertain. Within
five days the Colombian attorney general's office should determine
whether they will be tried in Colombia or deported. The Bush
administration has still made no comment on the case, other than to say
that it supports the Pastrana administration's continuing efforts for
peace and that it will be watching how the case progresses.
Cuba, for its part, is denying the presence of Cuban troops. Cuban
chancellor Aymee Hernandez said in Havana, "It’s a great fallacy, the
whole world knows that there are no Cubans there [in Colombia]."
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