Colombia's rescue operation shows that FARC is weakening

"The sensational rescue of 15 hostages from the grip of Latin America's largest rebel group has highlighted the diminished state of an organization that just six years ago threatened to overrun the Colombian government," write Patrick J. McDonnell and Chris Kraul of the Times, reporting from Bogota.

"Once fueled by Marxist ideology and awash in narcotics profits, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, now finds itself facing a more robust Colombian military led by a popular president. The group has suffered the deaths of top leaders, seen large-scale defections of supporters, and is being squeezed for the money it needs to sustain its operations.

"Now the FARC has lost its trophy hostages: ex-presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. defense contractors whom the rebels viewed as human shields against all-out government attacks. The nature of the rescue mission -- in which government agents posed as rebels and freed the hostages without firing a shot -- was widely seen as a deep humiliation and public relations disaster for the FARC."

-- Reed Johnson in Los Angeles

Photo: Military police escort FARC commander Gerardo Aguilar Ramirez, alias Cesar, left, who was in charge of the hostages, and another guerrilla Thursday in Bogota. Leonardo Munoz / EPA

Comments

[Joseph...]

Gee, where are the comments from the left-leaning LA Times readers???