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FIDEL
CASTRO INFLUECE IN COLOMBIA CIVIL WAR Alexandra
Marin-Pellecer The Cuban
Revolution has had great influence on the rebels' groups in Colombia,
since the 60's. The Colombian peasants were easily influenced by the
communist ideology that gained popularity among the armed groups, as
their members felt excluded from the peace talks and the two-parties
government system. The violence that
was prevalent during the 60s in Colombia was known as the time of the
Bandits Movement, as there were more than 100 rebels groups whose
members were unaware of the agreements signed by the government and the
two traditional political parties. Some of those rebel groups are still
active to this day, such as, The Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces
(FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN). Other groups surfaced at
this time, including: the April 19th Movement (M19), The People's
Liberation Army (EPL). The FARC, the
oldest guerrilla group in Colombia, was founded in the late 1940s and
early 1950s by members of the Communist party and peasant self-defense
groups who decided to follow Communist ideology. The assassination of
presidential candidate Jorge Eliecer Gaitan in April 1948 was the
catalyst for its birth during the time of civil conflict that became
known as La Violencia. The movement
increasingly came under the influence of the Communist Party, which
provided financial assistance and in 1964 declared itself a rural-based, pro-Cuba guerrilla army. The FARC has always
been linked to Cuba and is considered the armed wing of the Colombian
Communist Party (Las Finanzas de la Subversion Colombiana. P.16). Actually the FARC
is a guerrilla army that needs no financial support from their friends
and allies because the income they obtain from their illicit operations
allows FARC to purchase weapons and ammunitions in the black market
especially in Central America and Cuba. The FARC uses the
funds obtained from the sale of cocaine and ransom money, to purchase
the most sophisticated type of weapons among which we can mention
missiles capable of shooting down a plane at a distance as much as 4
kilometers, they have purchased helicopters and are starting their own
air force. The FARC have
also hired the services of mercenaries around the world, to train their
troops. These soldiers of fortune, experts on terrorism, who come
from different countries such as Cuba,
Iran, and Nicaragua , are training the FARC troops Fidel Castro has
given to the guerrillas movement in Latin America a lot of help, the
guerrillas leaders, members of the FMLN in El Salvador;
FSLN in Nicaragua; Tupac Amaru in Peru;
Montoneros in Argentina; FARC, ELN in Colombia have been trained in Cuba. In the beginnings
of the guerrilla movement in Colombia Castro gave them
money, medicines, weapons and a safe heaven in Cuba.
Castro is not helping the Colombian guerrillas much now, but he
wants to be a mediator between the Colombian government and the FARC. In Colombia there
are more than 500 Cuban physicians, working with the FARC in the neutral
zone. These doctors work
under contract and the FARC pays their salaries to the Cuban Government. |