Guerrillas flee FARC camp with abductees - CNN.com
Two guerrillas fled their camp Tuesday deep in the forests of southern Colombia with two kidnap victims that they used in exchange for their freedom, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense said Tuesday.
[...]
The incident occurred at dawn, when two members left the camp with a 14-year-old boy and an adult man, both of whom had been kidnapped in December. The rebels brought the two victims to Medellin del Ariari in Meta Department, south of Bogota, the spokesman said.
[...]
Guerrillas now have escaped with kidnap victims five times in the past month.
This is quite fascinating, as these types of incidences seem to indicate that there are increasing numbers of FARC militants who do not see the FARC lifestyle as a viable long-term option. This has not been the case until recently. Of course, by the same token, the number of deserters relative to the overall force is still quite small. Still, this is noteworthy.
While you’re on the subject of Columbia, I’ve been expecting you to do a post on the recently declassified CIA documents attesting to the fact that the US was cognizant of the body count mentality that fueled the “false positives” scandal.
It seemed like new information: http://www.semana.com/noticias-opinion-on-line/falsos-positivos-practica-vieja-ejercito/119383.aspx
Comment by Ratoe — Wednesday, January 14, 2024 @ 11:49 pm
I noted the headline, but didn’t have time to get to it at the time, but did want to come back to it-thanks for the reminder.
Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Thursday, January 15, 2024 @ 8:56 am
Via the AP: Colombian coffee growers to sue over US cartoon
Colombian coffee growers are brewing up a lawsuit over a U.S. comic strip joking that violence is so rampant there, maybe “there’s a little bit of Juan Valdez in every can” of the country’s java.
The Colombian Coffee Growers Federation says it has consulted with U.S. lawyers and will sue “Mother Goose & Grimm” cartoonist Mike Peters “for damage and harm, detriment to intellectual property and defamation.”
[...]
Peters said Wednesday he loves Colombia, drinks its coffee daily and did not intend any offense.
“I had no more thought to insult Colombia and Juan Valdez than I did Pringles, Betty Crocker, Col. Sanders, Dr. Pepper and Bartles & Jaymes,” he said in a statement. “The cartoon is meant to be read along with the rest of the week as a series of which the theme is based on the fact that the inventor of the Pringles can had his ashes buried in one.
Here’s the offending ‘toon:
Somehow I don’t think that FEDECAFE has a case (and they need to get a sense of humor).
Via the Latin American Herald Tribune: Latin American Herald Tribune
The man suspected of being the commander of the 25th Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, guerrilla group was killed in fighting with the army, Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said.
Englio Gaona Ospina died in a clash with troops Wednesday in the mountains of the southwestern province of Tolima, Santos said.
Ospina was a key player in the FARC, acting as the link between the guerrilla group’s Eastern Bloc and the Secretariat, or central command, Santos said.
The guerrilla was “the link and the one in charge of coordinating communications,” especially with FARC commander Jorge Briceño Suarez, known as “Mono Jojoy,” Santos said.
El Tiempo’s write-up is here: Muerte de Enelio Gaona, ‘Bertil’, significa el fin del frente 25 de las Farc, dicen autoridades.
This is yet another in a long line of defeats for the FARC over roughly the past year. The question becomes now as to whether these blows are sufficient to start to kill the beast, or whether the beast simple will spring forth with new heads to replace those that have been removed.
On the one hand, it is indisputable that the Colombian state has had its best year ever in terms of fighting the FARC, whether in terms of the hostage rescue of Betancourt and other high profile captives, or the death or capture of a long list of major commanders. On the other, the guerrilla conflict in Colombia is both historically entrenched, as well as funded, in-part, by a nearly limitless source of cash (i.e., the drug trade).
While one would like to say that defeat is nigh, it is difficult to look at Colombian history and do so. Still, the situation does seem to be evolving in a new direction. So, stay tuned.
More Scenes from the Drug War: Arrest of Submarine King
By Dr. Steven Taylor
Via the LAT: In Colombia, they call him Captain Nemo
law enforcement officers here have dubbed him “Captain Nemo,” after the dark genius of “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” They say the 45-year-old has designed and built as many as 20 fiberglass submarines, strange vessels with the look of sea creatures, for drug traffickers to haul cocaine from this area of southern Colombia to Central America and Mexico.
[...]
Administrative Security officials allege that Portocarrero helped invent “semi-submersibles,” as the narco-vessels are called, because they don’t dive and resurface like true submarines, but cruise just below the surface.
Portocarrero’s craft are difficult for counter-narcotics officials to detect on the open seas because their tiny wake creates a negligible radar “footprint.” Also, authorities say, the exhaust is released through tubing below the surface, frustrating patrol aircraft’s heat-sensing equipment.
Who says markets don’t lead to innovation?
This is part of a long-term cat-and-mouse game between narco-traffickers and the military/police of Colombia, the US and others. While this will shut down Portocarrero’s operation, and is therefore a success in the war on drugs, the bottom line is that someone else will emerge to take his place. Indeed, his operation underscores the lengths to which the narcos can and will go in their pursuit of their profits.
The usage of submersibles or semi-submersibles is nothing new in the drug fight. Here are some previous related posts:
These things have to be incredibly dangerous to operate. I would think that you would be trading one risk for another. These things have to be very easily swamped in heavy seas.
Probably once they take on water they become a coffin.
There is another way to look at the advent of these things, and that is that if the smugglers are being pushed to take greater risks transporting the drugs, it could indicate that there is a great deal of pressure on them.
I really think that the enforcement end of drug policy should be focused on catching the smugglers. The users in the states - I think we need to let up on that. Once the drugs are in this country it makes little sense to throw people in the can for very long sentences just for possession or small time trafficking; the drugs are already here, the damage already done, and our prisons are overloaded.
I would very much like to be the guy in the helicopter who perforates one of these submersibles with a .50.
Comment by Captain D — Sunday, December 14, 2024 @ 5:59 pm
Whether one is dealing with the software bundled with Vista, Paint.net, Gimp or that which came with my camera, it all sucks when it comes to printing photos. For one thing, it seems that none of the software designers conceived of the possibility that someone might want to print a custom-sized photo. What, you want 3×3 for a specific frame not 5×7? Well, sorry mate. Or, given the cost of ink and photo quality paper, you’d think it would be easier (indeed, possible) to print two different 5×7s, 4×6s, etc. on the same piece of ultra premium photo paper. Is that really too much to ask?
I would assume that it is my own ineptness that is the problem, except that I am, on balance, pretty computer proficient. Part of the problem appears to be the way that Vista deal with photo printing (either that or the way my Epson printer does) as no matter what software I use, the default for printing photos is the standard sizes with no options for custom sized prints or for printing more than one unique photo at a time on the same page.
Aaargh.
Vista is the main culprit here, btw, and while I was able to trick into printing a 3.5 x 3.5 (by printing a 3.5×5 and then “Fit Picture to Frame” box I can find no way to print the exact custom size I want.
I’m not really sure why that is, but it is. I’ve been trying to print photos of different sizes to stick into various frames to give as gifts for family and it’s driving me mad.
But, it wouldn’t be the holiday season if we weren’t driven to madness by something, you know?
Comment by Captain D — Saturday, December 13, 2024 @ 3:32 pm
Check out Photoshop. I use it for all the photo editing I do at work and home. It is really flexible, and once you get used to it setting up printing templates, cropping and modifying photos is a breeze. Adobe has educational discounts for students and I believe instructors, and an online (free I think, I haven’t used it) version as well. Basically all the professional Photographers and designers I work with use Photoshop so you can guess that it’s a powerful piece of software.
Comment by JD — Saturday, December 13, 2024 @ 3:51 pm
I’m too cheap to buy photoshop.
Comment by Captain D — Saturday, December 13, 2024 @ 7:43 pm
I don’t know how you’re Linux experiment i going, but it’s pretty easy to do custom print sizes in ubuntu. I’ve never printed photos, but you may want to check this out: http://ubuntuforums.org/archive//t-631838.html
Comment by Ratoe — Saturday, December 13, 2024 @ 10:05 pm
Actually, I have been Ubuntu-ing it almost all of the time for months now, but was having trouble getting the Epson printer to work, so had to head back to Vista for a brief, and frustrating, visit (and reinforcing my general annoyance with Windows).
Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Sunday, December 14, 2024 @ 12:07 am
I have had the same problem. Even Google’s Picasa (which is free and great for simple photo tweaking) does not have custom sizing in terms of inches rather than pixels. Picasa does have many more available sizes to choose from (wallet, 3.5×5, 3×4, 4×6 inches, different sizes in cm, passport, …). To get a custom size, you could crop your picture, select print, then use “stretch to fit” rather than “crop to fit” and select the size with a dimension closest to what you need (but, again, you have to gauge your initial crop in pixels rather than inches…which is fine if you know your pixels per inch). Maybe in the next version….
I have Adobe Photoshop, but only use it for more intensive graphics work.
The easiest photo resizing software I have used is the old Microsoft Photo Editor, which came with Office 97. I keep installing it as I upgrade to each new computer, because it makes custom photo resizing very easy. In the main menu, you select “Image”, then “resize”. The “resize” dialog box lets you choose inches, cm, or pixels, and enter your specific dimensions.
I have also used Microsoft PowerPoint for a quick work-around. “Insert”->”picture”->”from file”. Then, “Format”->”picture”->”size” (and enter desired size of picture in inches). The same steps will work in OpenOffice Impress (the free, open source analog of PowerPoint).
I apologize for making my comment almost as long as the original post!
Comment by Anne — Sunday, December 14, 2024 @ 7:44 am
Anne,
No worries-I appreciate the comment.
I had considered trying a work-around using Word along the lines of what you mentioned for PowerPoint.
I like Paint.net and the software than came with my camera are both great if I want to edit stuff for computer-based usage-it is just the darn printing that is infuriating!
Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Sunday, December 14, 2024 @ 9:18 am
My wife is a graphic designer, and the only way she’s able to get this working each and every time is to lay out the photos in a layout program (like Quark, InDesign or potentially Scribus (http://www.scribus.net/ ).
If that’s not an option, most photo editing software gives you something of a “poor mans, one-page-only page layout program” as well: create a blank 8.5 x 11 inch image, and copy and paste in the various photos according to the layout you’re looking for. Unfortunately our newest printer resizes the photos before printing if we don’t change some of its advanced settings.
Comment by Max Lybbert — Monday, December 15, 2024 @ 12:46 pm
Via the AFP (AFP: Betancourt ‘convinced’ FARC hostages will be freed in 2024) comes a rather direct pronouncement from Ingrid Betancourt about her political aspirations:
She added that she was now set on a path that was taking her well away from the political ambitions she held years ago.
“I am not going to aspire to the Colombian presidency,” she stated flatly.
“I am not going to aspire to public office in Colombia. I don’t want to aspire to anything that has to do with politics in Colombia.”
Yesterday I noted the story of now ex-prisoner of the FARC, Oscar Tulio Lizcano and noted that there was some confusion over whether he was rescued or whether he escaped.
The BBC has the updated story, and it was the latter: Farc hostage escapes with guard
A former Colombian congressman who was held by left-wing guerrillas for more than eight years has escaped, along with a rebel who had been guarding him.
Oscar Tulio Lizcano said they escaped from a Farc camp in the jungle in western Colombia, and were found three days later by Colombian soldiers.
[...]
The army initially said that they had rescued Mr Lizcano.
However, in his first appearance since being picked up from the remote jungle province of Choco by the Pacific Coast, Mr Lizcano said he had fled his captors after persuading a Farc guerrilla to leave with him.
The two men wandered for three days through the jungle evading their pursuers before being picked up by security forces.
The BBC write-up suggests that the military may have stated that Lizcano’s freedom was the result of a rescue so as to distract from a scandal involving the disappearance of 11 civilians from a Bogotá suburb (Soacha), only to be found dead later in another part of the country. Three army colonels have been fired in the case. The AP reports:
The army chief, Gen. Mario Montoya, said he was removing the three colonels over serious indications of wrongdoing. He did not elaborate, or accuse them of involvement in the killings of the Soacha men, whose bodies were found in unmarked graves. Montoya also said he was turning over evidence to civilian prosecutors.
More from Colombia Reports: High army officials dismissed for Soacha disappearances.
El Tiempo’s write-up can be found here: Desnutrición, anemia y enfermedades parasitarias padece Óscar Tulio Lizcano.
Add this one to the long list of setbacks for the FARC. Lizcano was not as high value a prisoner as those rescued in July (i.e., Betancourt and the three Americans), but he was still a high level politicians (a member of the Congress). Further, the fact that the guard defected with him and helped him escape is yet another example of the seeming waning of cohesion within the FARC.1
Sphere: Related Content
Not as dramatic as killing one’s boss (as was the case with Iván Ríos) or the reported attempted slaying of El Mono Jojoy. [↩]
Via Bloomberg: Colombia Frees FARC Hostage Lizcano After 8 Years, Caracol Says
Colombian security forces rescued former lawmaker Oscar Tulio Lizcano today after he was held captive by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia for eight years, Radio Caracol reported in its online edition.
Another version states that Lizcano escaping (also via Bloomberg): Colombia’s Lizcano Escapes From FARC After 8 Years, Santos Says.
The BBC describes the situation as follows:
Colombia’s army says it has rescued a former member of Congress, Oscar Tulio Lizcano, from left-wing Farc rebels who abducted him in 2024.
The operation was conducted in the mountains of the region of Choco, in Tamana, San Jose del Palmar municipality, it said.
[...]
“The army and the police, in a joint intelligence operation, succeeded in rescuing Doctor Lizcano at 0815 in the morning (1315 GMT),” AFP news agency quoted an official as saying.
Lizcano was the Representative from the department of Caldas when he was kidnapped. He was a member of the Conservative Party.
While you’re on the subject of Columbia, I’ve been expecting you to do a post on the recently declassified CIA documents attesting to the fact that the US was cognizant of the body count mentality that fueled the “false positives” scandal.
It seemed like new information: http://www.semana.com/noticias-opinion-on-line/falsos-positivos-practica-vieja-ejercito/119383.aspx
Comment by Ratoe — Wednesday, January 14, 2024 @ 11:49 pm
I noted the headline, but didn’t have time to get to it at the time, but did want to come back to it-thanks for the reminder.
Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Thursday, January 15, 2024 @ 8:56 am