http://blogs.aljazeera.net/americas/2010/06/20/farc-side-story-0
The FARC side of the story
By Teresa Bo in a.. Americas
on June 20th, 2010
.
Share
Photo by GALLO/GETTY
Colombian rebels could pose major challenge for the candidate who wins the
country's presidential election.
In Cauca, Colombia is still at war. You find trenches in every corner, tanks,
Blackhawk helicopters and lots of soldiers. Fighting takes place here almost
every day and people have gotten used to it. More than that, they are certain
that on election day there will be attacks.
But in spite of all that military presence we managed to find the left-wing
Farc rebels, who are still fighting the Colombian government. We drove to the
city of Toribio in the middle of the mountains and that's when we saw them.
They were getting ready to attack the military. They were carrying RPG's and
AK-47. They were coming out from the mountains, from the sewage canals, from
everywhere. They said that a fight with the military was coming.
Later on, we saw them again. They set up a checkpoint on the road. Hundreds of
vehicles were stranded for hours. Commander Duber was the man in charge - he
gave us an exclusive interview on the eve of Colombia's presidential elections.
"Our main enemy is president Uribe and the armed forces. We want to tell people
that we are still alive, we are still strong. There are elections in Colombia.
People can vote for whom the want. But we will continue fighting. The ideology
of the Farc is to win or die, that's what Che Guevara said," Duber told us.
Since president Alvaro Uribe took office he has battled against the left-wing
rebel - who are South America's oldest guerrilla organization. He has pushed
them away from the main cities, but in Cauca the fighting is still ongoing.
"Presidente Uribe offers money [and] cars to those guerrillas who turn
themselves in. Those who sell themselves are not guerrillas. They should give
that money to those who are still starving in this country. We don't need it."
Commander Duber joined the organisation when he was 16 years old. He said he is
proud to have survived the presidency of Alvaro Uribe.
"A new Colombia is a place where the poor have jobs, social equality, free
healthcare, free education. Not like now; there is no equality here. There is
no health, no education for the poor - only for the rich," he said.
The government accuses the Farc of drug trafficking. In fact, some of the areas
where the Coca leaf is grown are controlled by them.
"People here help us, we receive help from neighbouring countries. You don't
see the Farc on a small plane taking cocaine to the US. We are not the
problem. Illegal crops are the only way farmers have to feed themselves. The
government offers them no alternative."
Duber said the Farc is not trying to influence people to vote for any candidate
in the election. For the Farc, all of the candidates are the same. But the
group did send a message to Juan Manuel Santos, who could become on Sunday
Colombia's next president.
"[If] Juan Manuel Santos wants to continue the war, then we are ready to fight.
If there are conditions for peace talks then we could sit down and talk. But
it's difficult. Santos has killed lots of innocent people while trying to kill
us."
When the interview was over, the Farc opened up the check point and went up
into the mountains. They seemed ready for another fight.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
