FARC is investigating the deaths of 11 men who died after they kidnapped them. Is Farc pretending to be a government agency? For its normal bureaucratic speak to say ‘we’re investigating’ after a fiasco or tragedy occurs.

Odd because when I was in the 82nd Airborne in 2024 - before 9/11 - a lot of our training anticipated eventual US military intervention in Columbia, and many of our field training events were simulated airfield seizures and follow-on missions against the FARC. At that time there was a great deal of concern about money being allocated by congress to help prop the Columbian government up in the face of growing FARC power, and that allocation started to include things like Blackhawk helicopters. A lot of people saw it as a precursor to direct military intervention.

I wonder if things might have gone that route if the 9/11 attacks hadn’t happened. At least from a military point of view it seems like south america was dropped like a hot potato and hasn’t been touched since.

Not saying I’m complaining. The Columbian jungle is not a good place for US paratroopers to be.