As Monica Showalter said in Facebook, “Going bad fast in Colombia.”
The Colombian guerrilla group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) intend to avoid extradition and to be given seats in Congress without being elected. The FARC made these demands to the Colombian government on Saturday, November 7, in apress release in which they emphasize that they won’t sign a peace agreement after 50 years of conflict unless the government yields on both points.
The FARC demanded that the government directly appoint guerrilla members to seats in Congress, local Councils, and municipal assemblies during at least two four-year terms. They also called for the state to finance the political movement that will emerge after the peace process with 10 percent more public funds than those available to other parties.
The FARC are not done demanding (emphasis added),
The FARC also revealed that they will launch 10 initiatives for the government to analyze during the final stage of the peace negotiations. The final agreement, the government has announced, is expected to be reached by March 2016.
According to opposition senator Alfredo Rangel,
Rangel deems the peace process as a “false truce.” He believes the FARC, which had agreed to cease attacks on security forces and infrastructure, continues to commit crimes, blackmail the population, and carry out illegal drug activities. “They are the world’s largest cocaine cartel,” Rangel says.
In the middle of this so-called truce, the FARC canvass the military to join them,
“Terrorism’s invitation to the soldiers”
Invitación del terrorismo a los soldados pic.twitter.com/6x7rFA8DOG
— Álvaro Uribe Vélez (@AlvaroUribeVel) November 9, 2015
My translation:
BROTHERS SOLDIERS! Have you been listening to the news?
Consider retiring or deserting with your weapons from that rotting Institution which only offers you vice (marihuana or bazuco [marihuana joint with cocaine/heroin]); learning to carry out “false positives”; abandoning and destroying your home for nothing in return; and a certain death or the loss of one of your legs; while your corrupt generals steal the money meant for your food and pay, receive decorations and congratulate themselves on the backs of their soldiers’ sacrifice, blood and lives.
CONSIDER IT!
DESERT WITH YOUR WEAPON, WHICH WE WILL BUY FROM YOU.
GO TO YOUR NEAREST FARC-EP GUERILLA UNIT.
WE’LL BE WAITING FOR YOU.
FARC-EP
And,This offer to purchase weapons from deserters directly contradicts the item I posted yesterday from the BBC where Timochenko claimed “he ordered the organisation in September to stop buying guns and ammunition.”
