The FARC's Cruel New Year's Hoax

By Douglas Farah

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) perpetrated a cruel hoax both on their friends (Hugo Chavez et al) and the families of the victims they have kidnapped and held for years.

The FARC, a designated terrorist entity, is the oldest insurgent group in Latin America, and a significant force in the production and marketing of the majority of the cocaine on the streets of the United States and Europe. Because of this, its international reputation is tarnished, to say the least. Chavez was going to help fix all that with a grand humanitarian gesture.

While the U.S. has provided more than $1 billion the the past 10 years to Colombia to help curb drug trafficking, the FARC has grown, as has its budget and operational capabilities. Coca planting has not been significantly reduced, in part because the FARC has not been seriously rolled back.

Chavez, using his contacts and friendship with the FARC, a group that has long since lost its ideological moorings and become a functioning criminal enterprise, to arrange the the release of three hostages, including one child from the FARC.

Oliver Stone, the former president of Argentina, senior Bolivian officials and international representatives were all called to Caracas to witness the historic event of Chavez bringing the FARC to some form of respectability.

Not only did Chavez arrange for an all-star cast to meet the hostages, who were to be released onto Venezuelan helicopters, but he gave numerous assurances that the plan was on track.

Only it wasn't. My full blog is here.

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