From: Barry Stoller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [L-I] FARC train civilians against paramilitaries [Alternative title: Good indication FARC relations with locals is based on trust.] AP. 3 November 2001. In New Step, Colombian Rebels Train Civilians Amid Paramilitary Offensive. ARAUQUITA -- Leftist guerrillas say they are showing peasant farmers in the oil-rich plains of eastern Colombia how to fight and build bombs in an effort to fend off an offensive by a feared paramilitary group. The guerrillas are teaching peasants military tactics, as well as how to make homemade land mines and other crude weapons, Felipe Rincon, the FARC commander in Arauca, told The Associated Press. He added that the FARC is "in the process" of acquiring more sophisticated weapons for civilians. "We are developing 'people's weapons,' and providing training," Rincon said. "Hundreds of people are coming forward." The FARC appears haunted by the loss 10 months ago of the central Colombian oil boomtown of Barrancabermeja to the paramilitaries, and is bent on preventing the same thing from happening in Arauca. "That experience demonstrated that people must prepare themselves to defend what they have been building all their lives," Rincon said. The outlaw paramilitary group, known by its Spanish initials AUC, is allegedly financed by landowners anxious to rid their areas of the guerrillas and the coca trade. It regularly massacres civilians suspected of aiding the guerrillas. Despite government efforts to sever links between the army and the AUC, some soldiers still secretly help the paramilitaries, who view the rebels as a common enemy. The AUC heralded its push into Arauca last summer with a wave of selective killings. In October, the AUC even shot dead a congressman and a former congressman from Arauca, accusing both of being rebel collaborators. One peasant farmer said he had taken 10 days' of military training along with a dozen other men at a secret location in the sweltering plains. Sporting a mustache, the diminutive farmer - who for security reasons gave his name only as Giovanni - said he planned to return for more training "so that I am prepared to defend myself." Army Col. Gustavo Matamoros said he was unaware of reports that the FARC was training campesinos, or peasant farmers, but made clear that anyone picking up a gun would be fair game for security forces. "If the campesinos arm themselves, they are no longer civilians," Matamoros said. "They become military targets." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews with continuing coverage of WWIII _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________
