Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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Venezuela: The eight armies behind Maduro

With a vested interest for the status quo,

According to Otero, there are eight armed groups that make up the Maduro administration’s muscle:

  • Armed civilian militias that are uniformed and trained by the army
  • The Bolivarian National Guard (Guardia Nacional Boliviariana — GNB)
  • The Bolivarian National Police (Policía Nacional Bolivariana — PNB)
  • The Bolivarian National Armed Forces (Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana — FANB)
  • Cuban military advisors surrounding Maduro
  • “Colectivos,” the pro-government paramilitary organizations that operate throughout the country
  • The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia — FARC)
  • Colombia’s National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional — ELN)

Read it at InSight Crime,

In other Venezuela news,
Venezuela has just announced an election — and it’s terrible news for democracy

Colombia evicts over 200 homeless Venezuelans from sports field squat

How Much Worse Can it Get for Venezuela’s State Oil Firm PDVSA?
Venezuela’s Most-Wanted Rebel Shared His Story, Just Before Death

——————————————————————

I’m getting over a flu. Juliette filled in for me yesterday at DTGB, Who Can Investigate the Investigators?

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Colombia: Three dead in terror attack in Bogota

No one claims responsibility as of the writing of this post,
Three women have been killed in the Colombian capital, Bogotá, in what the authorities say was a terrorist attack.

The authorities say they believe the explosion was caused by a small bomb in a ladies toilet.

The attack happened on a busy Saturday afternoon, when the Andino shopping centre was full of people buying presents for Father’s Day, being celebrated on Sunday.
. . .
It is not yet known who was behind the attack.

The rebel group the National Liberation Army (ELN), the second largest in the country after the Farc, has used one of its Twitter accounts to condemn the attack and say it shared the victims’ pain.

They say those who are accusing them of being behind the attack are trying to jeopardise peace talks, which are continuing with the government.

Related:
Caught in the crossfire of armed gangs in Colombia

Weekly InSight: Coca, Cocaine and Colombia

UPDATE

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Colombia: Santos snookered by the FARC, again

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”

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,

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

Colombia’s ELN rebels ‘kidnap eight’

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Colombia: Russian-Armenian escapes from ELN

Voskanya Arcen Levoni got away:

Colombia’s second largest guerrilla group, the ELN, says a Russian-Armenian wildlife trafficker whom they had been holding for ransom has escaped.

The group said it had found Voskanya Arcen Levoni six months ago in the jungle region of Choco province collecting poisonous frogs.

The ELN stated it had begun negotiations for his release with the Russian Embassy.

But, it said, Mr Arcen Levoni had overcome his guards and escaped.
The ELN said the escape happened when the unit holding him had been transferring him.

During the struggle he had wounded five ELN fighters and then fled into the jungle, himself badly hurt.

At the time of Voskanyan’s heroics a convoy was actually on its way to release him at the request of the Russian embassy in Colombia. He has not been found yet.

But wait, didn’t the ELN promise to stop kidnapping people?

The group had sworn to suspend their kidnapping operations as a precondition of peace talks with the government which began in February.

However, Levoni was kidnapped six months ago, and

It is unknown how many Colombians and foreigners are currently held captive by the 1,500-men guerrilla army that has so far refused to give up kidnapping as a means to finance their organization.

So which report do you believe?

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Colombia’s new turf wars

The Guardian reports
Colombia’s armed groups sow seeds of new conflict as war with Farc ends.Last year’s deal with the guerrilla group left a power vacuum, putting authorities and residents on edge amid new violence: ‘Everyone’s nervous’

Across Colombia, new armed groups – and some long-established ones – are violently occupying the regions left behind by the Farc, all hoping to wrest control of the cocaine trade, illegal gold mines and other criminal enterprises which once financed the rebels.

The military promised to send out 65,000 of its soldiers to occupy and secure the regions and President Juan Manuel Santos announced last month that 960 new police agents would be assigned to rural areas.

But criminal groups have moved faster.

Fighting between a smaller rebel faction, the National Liberation Army, ELN, and the military branch of a criminal group known as the Urabeños has led to the forced displacement of nearly 1,000 people since the start of the year in the western region of Chocó. On 25 March, five community members of one town in that area were gunned down, though it is unclear by which side.

Related:

Are Crime Groups Behind Colombia Coca Eradication Protests?

Meanwhile, the country’s economy slows down,

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Colombia: What the hey, Santos?

First Santos is named in the Odebrecht corruption scandal.

Now he’s thanking Ecuador’s Rafael Correa for his support in the “peace” process

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Wednesday reiterated his thanks to his Ecuadorian counterpart and host, Rafael Correa, for the latter’s support of Bogota’s peace process with the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas.

“Many thanks for all the support that you have been giving us, support in the peace process. Your generosity, your vision, your commitment to peace in the region and peace in Colombia is something that we will never forget,” said Santos upon his arrival in the city of Guayaquil to meet with his Ecuadorian colleague.

Correa said that it was “an honor” to welcome the Nobel Peace Prize winner, a recognition – he said – that was “well deserved for being the author of peace in your beloved Colombia and in the region.”

“You know you can count on us,” said Correa, adding that “Ecuador is the facilitator and guarantor of this negotiation process. I hope it has resounding success and seals a comprehensive peace in our beloved Colombia.”

What precipitated the lovefest?

On Feb. 7, the Colombian government and the ELN in Quito began an historic dialogue with an eye toward ending the confrontation they have pursued for more than 52 years, after the peace accord signed on Nov. 24 with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Ecuador’s presidential election is next Sunday. The Ecuadorean Opposition Looks Ahead to Second Round to Build Coalition.

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The Deplorables Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

In an attempt at demonizing any opposition, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton tars the Trump supporters as deplorable and/or clueless, and later tried to walk it back, making what even Mexican media called a half apology.

ARGENTINA
Uber Drivers in Argentina Could Face 10 Days in Jail. Officials Raid Buenos Aires Offices and Plan to Charge them for Operating Without a Permit

Protesters Set Up 100 Soup Kitchens in Argentine Capital. What took them so long?

Nisman’s Iran case reaches new appeal stage

The efforts to reopen the complaint filed by late AMIA special prosecutor Alberto Nisman against former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in January last year will continue this week with a hearing at an appeals court to determine if Federal Judge Daniel Rafecas had reason to deny such a petition from the DAIA Jewish community group last month.

In parallel, Federal Judge Claudio Bonadio has been making progress in an accusation of treason against Fernández de Kirchner and former foreign minister Héctor Timerman in relation to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Iran.

ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, COLOMBIA:
South America’s Drug Slums: Jurisdiction of Organized Crime

BELIZE
Belize will not support second probe into death of Guatemalan teen

BOLIVIA
Bolivia proposes prison time for illegal coca production

BRAZIL
Upcoming event at Cato: Brazillionaires: Wealth, Power, Decadence, and Hope in an American Country, September 13, 2016, 12:00PM to 1:30PM

If you can’t make it to the event, you can watch it live online at www.cato.org/live and join the conversation on Twitter using #Brazillionaires. Follow @CatoEvents on Twitter to get future event updates, live streams, and videos from the Cato Institute.

Rousseff Abandons Brazil’s Capital after Ouster

Brazil’s Attorney General Asks High Court to Allow Abortions for Women With Zika. Brazil’s attorney general is urging the nation’s Supreme Court to permit abortions for pregnant women infected with the Zika virus.

CHILE
Affluent Chile draws migrants but it’s no picnic for them

COLOMBIA
Colombia’s ELN rebels and paramilitary heirs scramble to occupy FARC territory

The Secret History of Colombia’s Paramilitaries and the U.S. War on Drugs. After decades of atrocities, the warlords were finally being held to account. Then the Americans stepped in.

Colombian Condemns Murder of Owner of FARC Transition-Zone Property

CUBA
Cuba’s Walled Garden

House panel will consider bill to halt Cuba flights next week

Sirley Ávila León Cuban Democracy Leader Disappears From Commercial Flight

ECUADOR
Ecuador Begins Drilling for Oil in Pristine Corner of Amazon

Sweden puts pressure on Ecuador over questioning Julian Assange

HAITI
Hillary Cares About You? Ask the Haitians She Ripped Off

JAMAICA
Prince Buster: Jamaica’s True Voice of the People

MEXICO
‘Wolf Boys’: 2 American teens become brutal hitmen for feared Mexican drug cartel

Chinese Billionaire Linked to Giant Aluminum Stockpile in Mexican Desert. U.S. aluminum executives claim Liu Zhongtian, founder of Chinese metals conglomerate China Zhongwang, used a factory in Mexico to game the global trade system

PANAMA
Panama Papers: Denmark to buy leaked data

PUERTO RICO
Latin America’s Largest Sail Training Ship Docks in Puerto Rico

URUGUAY
Abu Wa’el Dhiab, a.k.a. Jihad Ahmad Diyab, a.k.a. Abu Wael Dihab, a.k.a. Jihad Ahmed Mujstafa Diyab, is still at it:
Hunger-striking ex-Guantanamo inmate leaves Uruguay hospital

Uruguay searching for country to take ex-Guantanamo detainee (emphasis added)

Syrian native Abu Wa’el Dhiab has repeatedly said he is unhappy in Uruguay and is demanding he be allowed to leave the South American country, which took him in with five other former Guantanamo prisoners in 2014.
. . .
Although there’s nothing impeding Dhiab’s family from coming to Uruguay, the former prisoner is against it, Mirza said. “We’d have to ask ourselves why his family could not come to Uruguay when the families of other Guantanamo refugees came here when they wished.”
. . .
Dhiab also says that he feels like a prisoner in Uruguay.

A prisoner who traveled to Argentina, and through Brazil to Venezuela, that is.

VENEZUELA
FROM VOODOO ECONOMICS TO VOODOO

Almost 60 Percent of Venezuelans Say They Want Out



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Venezuela: Border open, FARC in UPDATED

Emili Blasco, author of Boomerang Chavez: The Fraud That Led to Venezuela’s Collapse (which I highly recommend), writes at Spain’s ABC, Abierta la frontera porque las FARC ya prepararon su retaguardia [Border opened since FARC has its backup ready] (my translation),

√ Maduro’s decision to open the crossings with Colombia shows that the peace accord announcement is ready

√ The guerrilla could have used the “border truce” to leave men and weapons in Venezuela

√ The verification of the existence of cocaine labs in Venezuela shows that the guerrilla wants to keep its business

Until recently, cocaine was not processed in Venezuela, but the DEA confirmed that now it is. Blasco also writes that the above information was later confirmed by an on-location report from journalist Dámaso Jiménez, writing at Vértice, who quotes indigenous people’s testimony regarding the Venezuelan military’s activities in the Sierra de Perijá:

“We  fear that, following the signing of the Colombian peace agreement, much of Venezuela’s land may be occupied by FARC and ELN militants with the support of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces.”

In other Venezuelan news, Carlos Eire found that the New York Times has some unkind things to say about Cubazuela, namely, A Looming Clash in Venezuela,

Venezuela’s electoral commission signaled last week that a referendum that could oust President Nicolás Maduro will not be held before the end of the year. That was hardly a surprise, but it puts Venezuela on a dangerous — and avoidable — collision course.

It may be avoidable, if the government was interested in hearing what the people have to say.

But it is not.

Instead, any acts of civil disobedience will be punished with more repression.

UPDATE
Venezuela News & Views had reported on the FARC-Vz corridor in 2012, The building up of a FARC/drug corridor in Venezuela and 2013 Nelson Bocaranda confirms what this blog wrote in November 2012. Must-read each.



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