The FARC is not disarming, thereby violating the peace agreement, while Santos tweets that the new U.S. budget includes $450 million to support his FARC deal, writes Mary O’Grady.
First, Santos’s tweet,
“Bi-partisan accolade from the U.S.: Congress approved $450 million for Colombia Peace, 74 million more than in 2017”
Espaldarazo bipartidista de EE UU: Congreso aprobó presupuesto con partida de US$450 millones para Paz Colombia. 74 millones más que en 2016
— Juan Manuel Santos (@JuanManSantos) May 4, 2017
Mary O’Grady writes about Colombia’s Perilous Deal With the FARC. The group promised to disarm, but it keeps getting caught with hidden weapons.
The latest proof that Mr. Santos was snookered by FARC is the discovery last week of another cache of FARC arms that were supposed to be handed in. Hidden weapons are like cockroaches. If you discover one, you can be sure there are many others unseen.
On Wednesday the Colombian army found 16 FARC rifles and 39 grenades near the border of the departments of Meta and Guaviare. The army said that the weapons had been used for extortion and to attack government teams eradicating coca. Last month another find in the same area included one M16, six magazines and 1,300 rounds of ammunition.
On April 20 the minister of defense announced the discovery of a FARC weapons cache in Putumayo. It included 54 rifles, six machine guns, three grenade launchers, 100 kilos of explosives, 200 land mines and 3,600 detonators. Two weeks earlier, the minister said, authorities had found 600 mortar grenades in Tumaco, in the department of Nariño.
As if to show who’s in charge, FARC leader Iván Márquez took toTwitter to characterize the discovery of the FARC weapons in Putumayo as an “assault,” complaining that it violated the agreement.
The child soldiers are not being returned, kidnappings continue (including a United Nations worker last week), and FARC are still active in the state of Amazonas.
Yesterday O’Grady tweeted Pedro Corzo’s op-ed in El Nuevo Herald,
Wake up Colombia
— MaryAnastasiaO’Grady (@MaryAnastasiaOG) May 7, 2017
Corzo asserts that Colombia is on the path to Chavismo,
El presidente Juan Manuel Santos ha sido un catalizador a favor del surgimiento y fortalecimiento de personas y fuerzas políticas contrarias a la democracia, como son los casos de las FARC y ELN, dos facciones que no han renegado de sus convicciones marxistas, ideología que sustenta gobiernos contrarios a los derechos ciudadanos.
Las características de los acuerdos de paz con las FARC y las conversaciones con el ELN propician el fortalecimiento de factores opuestos a la democracia.
[my translation] President Juan Manuel Santos has been a catalyst favoring the emergence and strengthening of people and forces adverse to democracy, as is the case with the FARC and the ELN, two factions that have not renounced their Marxist beliefs, an ideology supported by governments that oppose citizen rights.
The characteristics of the accord with the FARC and the talks with the ELN favor the strengthening of factions opposed to democracy.
Santos is leading his country towards disaster.
UPDATE
Colombian Guerrillas FARC and ELN Meet in Cuba to Discuss Peace Deals with Santos
