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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Colombian Leftist Rebels Left Out in the Cold |
| 2005-11-29 |
| November 29, 2005: While new police and military tactics have reduced kidnappings over fifty percent in the last year. In response, the kidnapping gangs have used extortion more often (demanding payment by a certain date and time, or else the victim would be killed). However, the extortions involve less money, and are only about half as common as the kidnappings. In the last few years, the number of police and troops has been increased by about 30 percent (to 328,000). Quality has been increased as well. This has enabled the government to get police or troops to every part of the country. Out in the bush, the police presence is sparse, and the rebels groups (FARC, ELN, AUC) have some camps that would require a major military operation to eliminate. But this is happening regularly, and the camps generally fall. The rebels face a bleak, but not hopeless, situation. The rebels are moving more operations into urban areas, realizing that's where they have to fight to beat the government. But the people have turned against the leftist rebels, and the rightist rebels have made peace and accepted amnesty. |
| Posted by:Steve |