Guerrilla Activity in Colombia
Fletcher, Laraine
The New York Times of April 25, 1967 quoted Colombia's President Carlos Lleras Restrepo as saying the Colombian guerrillas are "not some crazy kids in the hills .... but instruments of a general...
...The toll for these skirmishes amounts to more than 40 government troops dead and 11 wounded...
...The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) operate mainly in the areas of Caldas, Risaralda, Tolima, Valle, Cauca, Huila and Caqueta, all of which are in Colombia's mountainous southwestern region...
...A UPI release in The New York Times March 25, 1967 reported that government troops had captured 1Tguerrilla leaders, "including several labor leaders of the Colombian Oil Company and officials of the Oil Workers Union...
...Apparently not only students and peasants are involved in the resistance...
...According to Mario Menendez Rodriguez (El Espectador of Bogota, 3/27/67), author of the recent seven-part series on the Venezuelan guerrillas in Mexico's Sucesos magazine who is ust back from 28 days with the Colombian guerrillas in the Department of Norte de Santander, the ELN acquires the bulk of its arms from the Colombian army...
...but instruments of a general subversive tactic supported from the cities and from abroad...
...After the March 28 attack, the Army issued the following resolution: 1) Demand that the Colombian government, in collaboration with the North American Military Mission (which maintains over 30 advisors in Bogota alone) give priority to the extension of the communications network linking all police stations in the Department of Valle...
...According to the Military Attache's office at the Colombian Embassy in Washington, D.C...
...3) Publish an informational bulletin to be posted in all villages advising the peasantry to collaborate with the authorites (El Tiempo of Bogota, 3/29/67...
...on March 9th the ELN ambushed 22 soldiers in Valle department...
...Menendez points out that the ELN forces are concerned with both agrarian and educational reform and have taught many of the peasants who have Joined their ranks to read and write...
...2) Establish rewards from 5,000 to 50,000 Colombian pesos for information on the whereabouts of the rebels...
...In an exclusive interview with El Tiempo of Bogota on March> 29th, conducted in the battle zone of the March 28th skirmish, Colonel Ricardo Charry Sclano, Commander of the Eighth Bkigade, complained about the inexplicable absence of collaboration with the army on the part of the civilian population, thereby facilitating the rebel movements...
...The insurgents, some of whom have ties dating from "la violencia" which has claimed over 300,000 lives since it broke out on a large scale in 1948, are organized into two main groups...
...According to Carlos Kassel of New York's El Tiempo (4/16/67), Venezuelan officials have confirmed the existence of an ELN-FALN pact...
...Because of the nature of the terrain in the combat areas, General Mejia Valenzuela, Commander General of the Armed Forces, is looking into the acquisition of 12 additional helicopters...
...The Colombian government has set up a counter-insurgency training camp near Mlgar, a resort area three hours outside by Colombia's President, Minister of Defense and Director of the National Police...
...Guerrilla activity has increased in recent months: on February 27th, ELN forces attacked a police station in Santander...
...and March 28th saw 40 hours of combat between guerrillas and an army patrol which broke out when the former ambushed the army troops...
...the United States has only supplied "some equipment," including arms, for the training center...
...on March 3rd, FARC forces ambushed an army patrol...
...The National Liberation Army (ELN) operates on the Jose Antonio Galan and Camilo Torres mountain fronts in the Santander and Norte de Santander departments bordering on Venezuela in the region where the FALN has been active...
Vol. 1 • June 1967 • No. 4
