Guilty Pleas by FARC Operatives Show How Pipelines Work
By Douglas Farah
Three Colombians have pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting FARC guerrillasthrough efforts to launder money on behalf of the terrorist organization and alien smuggling.
The case is important not only for putting FARC supporters and corrupt agents of the Colombian government in prison, but because it gives a glimpse into the pipelines that cross over between terrorist/guerrilla groups and transnational criminal networks.
The FARC, the oldest insurgency in Latin America, has long made its economic fortune through participation in the cocaine trade and in the cruel tactic of long-term kidnappings of valuable hostages, many who die after years of captivity, others whose lives are shattered because the FARC cannot and does not negotiate in good faith.
In the interest of full disclosure, I know several people who have been taken hostage by the FARC, including the most famous of the current crop, Igrid Bentancourt.
Ingrid is a friend of mine and I came to know her as a tremendously courageous senator taking on drug traffickers in the corrupt government of Ernesto Samper. She (and many others, including three American contractors) have been held in inhuman conditions for years. My full blog is here.
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