DOCSLIB.ORG

Out-Of-Captivity.Pdf

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Out-Of-Captivity.Pdf Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell, and Tom Howes with Gary Brozek OUT OF CAPTIVI TY Surviving 1,967 Days in the Colombian Jungle For Tommy Janis, who made the ultimate sacrifice: Your skill and courage under fire saved all our lives. Your actions brought honor to you, your family, and your country. For Sergeant Luis Alcedes Cruz, who didn’t make it out. For our families, who were waiting for us when we did. For the thousands still held in captivity in Colombia and elsewhere around the world. None of you are forgotten. Contents Author’s Note vi Selected FARC Guerrillas 2003–2008 viii Prologue: A Place to Crash x 1 Choices and Challenges 1 2 Changes in Altitude 30 3 ¿Quién Sabe? 60 4 The Transition 82 5 Settling In 115 6 Proof of Life 141 7 Caribe 167 8 Broken Bones and Broken Bonds 197 Photographic Insert 9 Ruin and Recovery 230 10 Getting Healthy 255 11 Dead 281 12 Running on Empty 298 13 Reunited 321 v Contents 14 The Swamp 345 15 Politics and Pawns 372 16 Fat Camp 399 17 Freedom 413 18 Homecoming 430 Acknowledgments 453 About the Authors Credits Cover Copyright About the Publisher Authors’ Note This story is not over. At the very moment that you are reading this, an- other world exists deep inside the vast jungles of Colombia. Hundreds of hostages are still held there, twenty-eight of them are our compan- ions. They are chained, they are starving, and all they want is to go home. Let them not be forgotten: Civilians Alan Jara (captive since July 15, 2001) Sigifredo López (April 11, 2002) Police and Military Prisoners Pablo Emilio Moncayo Cabrera (December 20, 1997) Libio José Martínez Estrada (December 20, 1997) Luis Arturo García (March 3, 1998) Luis Alfonso Beltrán (March 3, 1998) William Donato Gómez (March 8, 1998) Robinson Salcedo Guarín (March 8, 1998) Luis Alfredo Moreno (March 8, 1998) Arbey Delgado Argote (March 8, 1998) Luis Herlindo Mendieta (January 11, 1998) Enrique Murillo Sánchez (January 11, 1998) César Augusto Lasso Monsalve (January 11, 1998) vii Authors’ Note Jorge Humberto Romero (June 10, 1999) José Libardo Forero (June 10, 1999) Jorge Trujillo Solarte (June 10, 1999) Carlos José Duarte (June 10, 1999) Wilson Rojas Medina (June 10, 1999) Álvaro Moreno (December 9, 1999) Elkin Hernández Rivas (October 14, 1998) Edgar Yezid Duarte Valero (October 14, 1998) Guillermo Javier Solózano (June 4, 2007) William Yovani Domínguez Castro (January 20, 2007) Salin Antonio San Miguel Valderrama (May 23, 2008) Juan Fernando Galicio Uribe (June 9, 2007) José Walter Lozano (June 9, 2007) Alexis Torres Zapata (June 9, 2007) Luis Alberto Erazo Maya (December 9, 1999) Selected FARC Guerrillas 2003–2008 Teófilo Forero Mobile Column Sonia Farid Uriel Johnny 27th Front Milton Ferney (The Frenchman) Rojelio Mono The Plumber Eliécer Cereal Boy 2.5 Smiley Vanessa Songster Tatiana Mona Alfonso Costeño Pidinolo ix Selected FARC Guerrillas 2003–2008 1st Front Enrique Jair Moster Asprilla LJ Mario Tula the dog FARC Leaders 2003–2008 Manuel Marulanda Raul Reyes Mono Jojoy Fabian Ramirez Burujo Iván Rios Sombra (Fat Man) Ernesto Alfredo Cesár Alfonso Cano Joaquin Gomez PROLOGUE A Place to Crash KEITH “That, sir, is an engine failure.” From our pilot Tommy Janis’s tone, you wouldn’t have known that anything serious was wrong. He had f lown all kinds of aircraft all around the world. Tommy J. was a real larger-than-life guy with more stories to tell than I have hairs on my head—and I’ve as full and thick a mane as anybody. His response wasn’t borderline sarcastic; it came from a place about as deep into irony country as we were into Colombia. The “that” he was referring to wasn’t so much a thing as it was an absence of a thing—the steady throbbing pulse of the single 675- horsepower Pratt and Whitney turboprop engine that until a few sec- onds before had been powering our Cessna Grand Caravan. It didn’t take someone like me, a guy who’d been in avionics and aircraft main- xi OUT OF CAPTIVITY tenance for all his adult life, to recognize that the relative silence in the cabin was not a good thing. I closed the biography of Che Guevara I’d been reading and looked over at my buddy and coworker Marc Gonsalves. He’d been busy at his station, practicing with the camera gear and the computer. I wasn’t sure if he’d been so involved in what he was doing that he noticed anything at all. The poor guy had only been f lying with us for just a few missions and now we had a damn engine failure to deal with. I knew that Tommy Janis and our copilot Tom Howes would instantly f lip the switch to figure out if we were going to be able to get this bird over the mountains and to the airport at Larandia, where we were scheduled to refuel. In my twenty-plus years of f lying, I’d had all kinds of training in a variety of different military and civilian aircraft. I’d been in tight spots before and now I slipped easily into a don’t-panic-just-focus mindset. “Marc,” I told him, “make the mayday call.” “I’m too new to make a call this important,” Marc said. “I think you better do it.” I couldn’t blame the guy for not wanting to make that initial call. I immediately got on the SATCOM radio to relay our location to the guys back at the base. The first thing I needed to do to was to let our com- mand posts know our location coordinates. “Magic Worker, this is Mutt 01, do you read me?” I waited but got no response. I tried them again. Silence. This was not good. Magic Worker was responsible for our com- mand and control. Normally, they responded almost instantly every time we called in at our appointed half-hour intervals. The thought of possibly going in on an emergency landing without anyone knowing we had a mayday was not something any of us wanted to do. I made another call to a Department of Defense group based in Florida called JIATF East. “Mutt 01. This is JIATF East. How many souls on board?” A Place to Crash xii “JIATF East, there are five.” I listed them and spelled each of the names: Tom Janis, Tom Howes, Marc Gonsalves, Sergeant Luis Alcedes Cruz, and myself—Keith Stansell. I kept calling out the coordinates to them as we descended from twelve thousand feet over the rugged Cordilleria Oriental Mountains, south of Bogotá. A few minutes later we reached Ed Trinidad, who was a part of our Tactical Analysis Team back at the embassy in Bogotá. He was trying to stay cool and calm, but I could hear the stress in his voice. Breaking with usual radio transmission protocol, I said, “Ed, bro, we’re just looking for a place to crash. Make sure you tell all our fami- lies that we love them.” Just saying those words made it hard for me to look at Marc, so I glanced toward the cockpit, where Tommy J and Tom Howes were busy figuring out how to save our asses—or at least keep them from being scattered over a half mile of godforsaken mountain jungle. Through the cockpit window I could see we were lined up for our landing. I then focused on the two Tommys sitting there. Tommy J was spot on, man. He showed no panic, just a precision to his every move. The ground was coming at us quick. Marc and I checked our straps one more time. I took a quick look over Tom’s shoulder, then linked my arm with Marc’s. I’d been in communication with Ed pretty much throughout our roughly four-minute descent, and I said to him, “Hey, Ed, I’m going to have to get off. We’re about to crash.” At that point, I f lashed back to a conversation I’d had with one of my supervisors in the company. I’d been in the military and had had some basic survival training, but f lying with Northrop Grumman, I was supposed to take the next level up. I told this company guy that I wouldn’t do it. When he asked why, all I said was, “With this piece- of-shit aircraft we’ve being asked to f ly in, there’s no way I’m going to survive a crash. A dead man doesn’t need to know how to survive.” xiii OUT OF CAPTIVITY TOM When I heard the engine spooling down, I immediately looked at the instruments and then scrutinized the terrain for an emergency land- ing spot. I didn’t see anything close to suitable, so I reached for a map. I was barely aware of the ambient noise in the cabin. I knew Keith was on the radio, but the sound of his voice in my headphones and the pres- ence of the three men behind me were definitely on the periphery of my consciousness. Our altitude was a little more than twelve thousand feet and I needed to determine if we could make the glide, clear the mountains, and land at our refueling site, Larandia. I looked over at the gauges to find out what our current airspeed, altitude, and rate of descent were. From the map, I plotted a point ap- proximating our location and our destination.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • FARC During the Peace Process by Mark Wilson
    PERRY CENTER OCCASIONAL PAPER NOVEMBER 2020 FARC During the Peace Process By Mark Wilson WILLIAM J. PERRY CENTER FOR HEMISPHERIC DEFENSE STUDIES National Defense University Cover photo caption: FARC leaders Iván Márquez (center) along with Jesús Santrich (wearing sunglasses) announce in August 2019 that they are abandoning the 2016 Peace Accords with the Colombian government and taking up arms again with other dissident factions. Photo credit: Dialogo Magazine, YouTube, and AFP. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and are not an official policy nor position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense nor the U.S. Government. About the author: Mark is a postgraduate candidate in the MSc Conflict Studies program at the London School of Economics. He is a former William J. Perry Center intern, and the current editor of the London Conflict Review. His research interests include illicit networks as well as insurgent conflict in Colombia specifically and South America more broadly. Editor-in-Chief: Pat Paterson Layout Design: Viviana Edwards FARC During the Peace Process By Mark Wilson WILLIAM J. PERRY CENTER FOR HEMISPHERIC DEFENSE STUDIES PERRY CENTER OCCASIONAL PAPER NOVEMBER 2020 FARC During the Peace Process By Mark Wilson Introduction The 2016 Colombian Peace Deal marked the end of FARC’s formal military campaign. As a part of the demobilization process, 13,000 former militants surrendered their arms and returned to civilian life either in reintegration camps or among the general public.1 The organization’s leadership were granted immunity from extradition for their conduct during the internal armed conflict and some took the five Senate seats and five House of Representatives seats guaranteed by the peace deal.2 As an organiza- tion, FARC announced its transformation into a political party, the Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Común (FARC).
    [Show full text]
  • The Guidebook for Buyers
    Daytona Beach Area Association of REALTORS® 1716 Ridgewood Ave., Holly Hill, FL 32117 www.daytonarealtors.com 386.677.7131 The Guidebook For Buyers A collection of how-tos, checklists, and worksheets to help buyers understand what to expect during the real estate purchasing experience. Contents The Basics A collection of how-tos, checklists, and worksheets to Buyer help buyers understand what to expect during the real What to Know | 7 Reasons to Own A Home page 3 estate purchasing experience. What to Know | 7 Reasons to Work With a REALTOR® page 4 Questions to Ask | When Choosing a REALTOR® page 5 Vocabulary | Agency & Agency Relationships page 6 How to | Prepare for House-Hunting page 7 How to | Prepare to Buy a Home page 8 Worksheet | Track Your Budget page 9 What to Know | About Credit Scores page 10 How to | Improve Your Credit page 11 How to | Prepare to Finance a Home page 13 Vocabulary | Loans & Lending Terms page 14 Questions to Ask | When Choosing a Lender page 15 How to | Finance a Home Creatively page 16 The Property Buyer Worksheet | Define Your Dream Home page 17 Questions to Ask | About the Neighborhood page 18 Questions to Ask | When Considering a Condo or HOA page 19 Questions to Ask | The Condo Board page 20 Questions to Ask | When Choosing a Home Inspector page 21 What to Know | About the Home Inspection page 22 What to Know | About Home Hazards page 23 Vocabulary | Green Home Terms page 24 What to Know | About the Appraisal Process page 25 Questions to Ask | About Property Tax page 26 The Transaction Buyer Worksheet
    [Show full text]
  • Sandra Carolina Ramos Torres
    ¡QUEREMOS HABLAR! ANÁLISIS DEL AGENCIAMIENTO POLÍTICO DE LAS EXCOMBATIENTES DE LAS FARC-EP DE COLINAS-GUAVIARE 1 Presenta: Sandra Carolina Ramos Torres Asesor de Tesis: Luis Fernando Bravo León Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas Maestría en Investigación Social Interdisciplinaria Línea Imaginarios y Representaciones Sociales Agosto 2018. 2 Dedico este trabajo con amor a mi madre por su perseverancia y ejemplo, a mi compañero de camino quien es mi cómplice de vida, a mi familia, a todas las mujeres excombatientes de las FARC-EP especialmente a las que ahora son madres y a todas las personas que contribuyen desde su quehacer a un mundo equitativo y justo. AGRADECIMIENTOS Este trabajo no se hubiese podido llevar a cabo sin las mujeres excombatientes de las FARC-EP del espacio territorial de capacitación y reincorporación la Jaime Pardo Leal Colinas Guaviare, Jaidy, Ingrid, Mayerly, Alejandra, Mary y especialmente a Sofía Nariño 3 por brindarme su sincera amistad, por ser guía durante éste proceso y a su familia que me ha acogido como un miembro más. A Oscar por sus aportes que hicieron posible este trabajo. Al maestro Luis Fernando Bravo León por motivarme a hacer ésta investigación y por orientarme de manera clara y oportuna. A la madre naturaleza por haberme permitido conocido a tan valerosas mujeres y por llenarme de aprendizajes en cada paso que doy. A mis amigas quienes también son fuente de inspiración, fortaleza y emancipación Mar, Nidya, Ángela y Yuly. RESUMEN La presente investigación se desarrolló con las mujeres excombatientes de las FARC-EP durante los años 2017 y 2018 del espacio territorial de capacitación y reincorporación Jaime Pardo Leal en Colinas Guaviare.
    [Show full text]
  • Doers Dreamers Ors Disrupt &
    POLITICO.EU DECEMBER 2018 Doers Dreamers THE PEOPLE WHO WILL SHAPE & Disrupt EUROPE IN THE ors COMING YEAR In the waves of change, we find our true drive Q8 is an evolving future proof company in this rapidly changing age. Q8 is growing to become a broad mobility player, by building on its current business to provide sustainable ‘fuel’ and services for all costumers. SOMEONE'S GOT TO TAKE THE LEAD Develop emission-free eTrucks for the future of freight transport. Who else but MAN. Anzeige_230x277_eTrucks_EN_181030.indd 1 31.10.18 10:29 11 CONTENTS No. 1: Matteo Salvini 8 + Where are Christian Lindner didn’t they now? live up to the hype — or did he? 17 The doers 42 In Germany, Has the left finally found its a new divide answer to right-wing nationalism? 49 The dreamers Artwork 74 85 Cover illustration by Simón Prades for POLITICO All illustrated An Italian The portraits African refugees face growing by Paul Ryding for unwelcome resentment in the country’s south disruptors POLITICO 4 POLITICO 28 SPONSORED CONTENT PRESENTED BY WILFRIED MARTENS CENTRE FOR EUROPEAN STUDIES THE EAST-WEST EU MARRIAGE: IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO TALK 2019 EUROPEAN ELECTIONS ARE A CHANCE TO LEARN FROM LESSONS OF THE PAST AND BRING NATIONS CLOSER TOGETHER BY MIKULÁŠ DZURINDA, PRESIDENT, WILFRIED MARTENS CENTRE FOR EUROPEAN STUDIES The East-West relationship is like the cliché between an Eastern bride and a Western man. She is beautiful but poor and with a slightly troubled past. He is rich and comfortable. The West which feels underappreciated and the East, which has the impression of not being heard.
    [Show full text]
  • When You're a Homeowner, Like I Once Was, Home Is the Center from Which
    When you’re a homeowner, like I once was, home is the center from which you navigate absolutely everything. But when you lose that stability, you may, along with millions of other people in this country, wind up in a place that is actually not a place at all, which is the crux of the problem: what you need is a home and where you are is actually a list—a long, seemingly unending list for low-income housing. In Salt Lake City, where I live and work, my name was put on three different kinds of housing lists: public, private, and nonprofit. But I still needed four walls and a roof over my head each night. That common need is a powerful equalizer, I learned, as I met others on such lists. Without the stability of our own places to identify as home, we live in an almost invisible undercurrent of indefinite time and space. Some of the people I interviewed for this story crashed in the homes of friends and family. A few found someone willing to rent them a room for less than market rates. Others stayed in crowded homeless shelters or lived on the streets. I have done it all. In this hazy twilight, with no hefty rental agreements or sizeable security deposits, you live wherever you can afford to live. Some of the people I interviewed for this story crashed in the homes of friends and family. A few found someone willing to rent them a room for less than market rates. Others stayed in crowded homeless shelters or lived on the streets.
    [Show full text]
  • In Our Community, and You Know the Comfort and Joy They Can Bring to Us and to Our Loved Ones
    You’re part of a special group of LUCA people. You care about the animals Adopted 2018 in our community, and you know the comfort and joy they can bring to us and to our loved ones. TAZEE Adopted 2020 WILSON Adopted 2015 Perhaps you know the joy of arriving home to a wagging tail and sloppy kisses, to purrs and cuddles from an animal who loves you unconditionally. Even if you don’t own an animal, you know the comfort and joy they can bring to people’s lives. But you’ve also seen that not all animals are as lucky in finding their forever homes. Cats, dogs and other small animals in Regina find themselves homeless, abused, hungry and abandoned. That’s where the Regina Humane Society comes into the story. For more than 55 years, we’ve provided a caring and loving place for animals. But our ability to continue caring for animals is in serious jeopardy, and we desperately need your help. Despite doing our best, animals are losing their lives every day because our current Shelter is unable to meet the needs of the community. It’s literally falling down around us, spreading disease, and creating immense stress for both our animals and our people. Our animals need and deserve a new home, and they need your compassionate support to make it happen. ORACLE Adopted 2017 1 2 FROM THE Dear Donor, You’ve never met me, but I’m full of gratitude for what you’ve made happen for my students. I’m the teacher at Quiet High, a classroom that was set up to accommodate the needs of students with severe anxiety and/or depression in the Regina Public School system.
    [Show full text]
  • FREE SMARTPHONE After $75 U.S
    T1 February 18 - 24, 2018 Real fake news John Oliver hosts “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” ® U.S. CELLULAR PREPAID FREE SMARTPHONE After $75 U.S. Cellular Promo Card Store hours We look forward to seeing you. Mon. - Fri. 9am - 7pm Lumberton Sat. 9am - 6pm 1727 N. Roberts Ave., 910-739-1123 Sun. 12noon - 5pm Things we want you to know: New Simple Connect Prepaid Plan of $45 or more with Smartphone required. $75 U.S. Cellular Promo Card will be applied after account is activated and first month’s charge is paid at point of sale. Device offer available to new and upgrade-eligible Simple Connect Prepaid customers. Offer requires purchase of a device priced $74.99 or higher. Additional fees, taxes and terms apply and vary by service and equipment. Use of service constitutes acceptance of agreement terms. In order to receive plan minutes, the monthly charge must be paid before due date. 15-Day Excellence Guarantee: Activation Fee is not refundable. Phone must be returned undamaged in the original packaging. You may be charged at any time of day on your due date and should refill before that date to avoid service interruption. Roaming, directory assistance and international calls require additional account funds to complete calls. Offers valid at participating locations only and cannot be combined. Trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners. Limited-time offer. While supplies last. ©2018 U.S. Cellular P1B_2018_Free_J3_English_Print_11_62x16 7210849 T2 Page 2 — Sunday, February 18, 2018 — The Robesonian Satire at its best: ‘Last Week Tonight With John Oliver’ returns to HBO By Kyla Brewer headlines and more in the season the cable channel until at least For his part, Bloys had nothing would allow “priority lanes” for son existence, it has earned nomi- TV Media premiere of “Last Week Tonight 2020.
    [Show full text]
  • The Farc-Ep and Revolutionary Social Change
    Emancipatory Politics: A Critique Open Anthropology Cooperative Press, 2015 edited by Stephan Feuchtwang and Alpa Shah ISBN-13:978-1518885501 / ISBN-10:1518885500 Part 2 Armed movements in Latin America and the Philippines Chapter 4 The FARC-EP and Consequential Marxism in Colombia James J. Brittain Abstract The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP) has maintained its base among small-holders including coca farmers and expanded its struggle through a local interpretation of Marxism and Leninism. This chapter reviews current accounts of its history and contemporary presence. The author then provides his own analysis of their strategy, namely that they have successfully pursued a gradual expansion of a separate power base and economy from that of the state and its capitalist economy, a situation that Lenin described as ‘dual power’, or, as Gramsci elaborated, a challenge to the hegemony of the ruling bloc. His visits and interviews and two recent documentary films in the FARC-EP areas show that the economy under FARC leadership, while taxing and controlling the processing and selling of coca, is still one of private small-holders. Many farmers grow coca as their main crop but all to some extent diversify into subsistence crops. This is a successful preparation for eventual state power of a completely different kind under which the economy will be socialised. For a half century the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias Colombianas-Ejército del Pueblo, FARC-EP) have played a key role in organising, sustaining, and leading revolutionary activity within the Latin American country of Colombia.
    [Show full text]
  • Ending Colombia's FARC Conflict: Dealing the Right Card
    ENDING COLOMBIA’S FARC CONFLICT: DEALING THE RIGHT CARD Latin America Report N°30 – 26 March 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY............................................................................................................. i I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 II. FARC STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES................................................................... 2 A. ADAPTIVE CAPACITY ...................................................................................................................4 B. AN ORGANISATION UNDER STRESS ..............................................................................................5 1. Strategy and tactics ......................................................................................................................5 2. Combatant strength and firepower...............................................................................................7 3. Politics, recruitment, indoctrination.............................................................................................8 4. Withdrawal and survival ..............................................................................................................9 5. Urban warfare ............................................................................................................................11 6. War economy .............................................................................................................................12
    [Show full text]
  • Break the Spell Or More of the Same?
    Break the spell or more of the same? 1 Colombian Platform for Human Rights, Democracy and Development Secretaría Técnica Corporación Cactus Correo electrónico: [email protected] Carrera 25 Nº 51-37, oficina 301 Tels.: (571) 345 83 40 - (571) 345 83 29 Comité Editorial: Corporación Cactus, Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo (Cajar), Instituto Latinoamericano de Servicios Legales Alternativos (ILSA) Edición: Carlos Enrique Angarita Foto carátula: Jesús Abad Colorado Fernanda Pineda Palencia Caricaturas: Vladdo: Cortesía Revista Semana – Publicaciones Semana S.A. Antonio Caballero: Revista Semana – Publicaciones Semana S.A. Chócolo: Cortesía del autor Preparación editorial: Marta Rojas Traducción: Luke Holland Diseño: Paola Escobar Versión impresa en español: Ediciones Antropos Bogotá, Colombia, Noviembre de 2009 Los artículos que aparecen en este libro son responsabilidad de sus autores. Se permite la reproducción parcial o total de esta obra, en cualquier formato, mecánico o digital, siempre y cuando no se modifique su contenido, se res- pete su autoría y se mantenga esta nota. 2 Break the spell or more of the same? 3 ho IND 6 Presentation PART 4: COMMODIFICATION OF THE TERRITORY PART 1: CONTEXT 126 Rural and food issues under the Uribe government Juan Carlos Morales González 11 The Democratic Security Policy in its regional context: old affinities with the North, new contradictions with the Southr 139 The human right to water, environmental crisis Consuelo Ahumada and social mobilisation INDEX Rafael Colmenares Faccini 19 The bankers get rich while misery spreads Jorge Iván González 149 Commodifying public goods: deepening exclusion and poverty An analysis of waste management policy 24 In time of crisis, the bank doesn’t serve during the Álvaro Uribe government Juan Diego Restrepo E.
    [Show full text]
  • Ending Colombia's FARC Conflict
    ENDING COLOMBIA’S FARC CONFLICT: DEALING THE RIGHT CARD Latin America Report N°30 – 26 March 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY............................................................................................................. i I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 II. FARC STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES................................................................... 2 A. ADAPTIVE CAPACITY ...................................................................................................................4 B. AN ORGANISATION UNDER STRESS ..............................................................................................5 1. Strategy and tactics ......................................................................................................................5 2. Combatant strength and firepower...............................................................................................7 3. Politics, recruitment, indoctrination.............................................................................................8 4. Withdrawal and survival ..............................................................................................................9 5. Urban warfare ............................................................................................................................11 6. War economy .............................................................................................................................12
    [Show full text]
  • Colombia's Peace Process Through 2016
    Colombia’s Peace Process Through 2016 (name redacted) Analyst in Latin American Affairs December 31, 2016 Congressional Research Service 7-.... www.crs.gov R42982 Colombia’s Peace Process Through 2016 Summary In August 2012, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced that the government was engaged in exploratory peace talks with the violent leftist insurgent group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in a bid to resolve a nearly 50-year internal armed conflict. The secret, initial dialogue between the Santos government and the FARC’s leadership led to the opening of formal peace talks with the FARC—the oldest, largest, and best-financed guerrilla organization in Latin America. Formal talks began in Oslo, Norway, in October 2012 and then, as planned, moved to Havana, Cuba, where they continued for more than 50 rounds. Despite more than three years of negotiations, the leader of the FARC, Rodrigo Londoño, alias “Timochenko,” had not met publicly with President Santos. In September 2015, the two leaders shook hands in a televised meeting and announced that the negotiating parties would reach a final accord no later than March 23, 2016. However, that deadline, as many others before it, went unmet. By the end of 2015, the most difficult issue in the peace talks’ agenda, outlined in a framework agreement, was resolved. Government and FARC negotiators reached a partial agreement on victims of the conflict, providing a comprehensive system for reparations, justice, truth and guarantees for non-repetition and outlining a transitional justice system. In late January 2016, the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council adopted Resolution 2261, stating that a U.N.
    [Show full text]