Truppe Pachistane Fucilano Prigionieri di Guerra Nella Valle dello Swat

I am looking for translators to translate this post into German and Tagalog. Email me if you are interested.

Portuguese translation (em Português). Spanish translation (en Español). French translation (en Français).

Durante l'estate del 2009, le truppe regolari Pachistane hanno avuto duri scontri con i ribelli Talebani nella valle dello Swat. Per sedare la rivolta, i militari non sono andati per il sottile...ci sono stati diversi reportage su esecuzioni di massa di giovani mussulmani Pashtun.

Il primo di ottobre del 2010 l' utente 'drjack20061', evidente portavoce di una Associazione Internazionale Pashtun, ha diffuso su YouTube questi 5 stupefacenti minuti che ci mostrano la fucilazione di un gruppo di Talebani, prigionieri di guerra.

Sebbene l'esercito Pachistano abbia dichiarato che si tratta di un video farlocco usato solo per diffamazione (non ci sono prove concrete sulla veridicità del filmato), mi sembra che le immagini siano piuttosto eloquenti.

In effetti, l'esercito pachistano ha usato metodi salvadoregni : le torture e le esecuzioni sommarie erano all'ordine del giorno;
i cadaveri massacrati, legati ed imbavagliati dei Talebani venivano esposti ai bordi delle strade come ammonimento alla popolazione locale.

Tuttavia questa strategia del terrore ha avuto solamente un breve successo: come l'Araba Fenice la guerriglia Pashtun ha ripreso vita, la lotta è ripresa feroce. La 'ribellione Swat' assomiglia ad uno di quei zombi cinematografici...gli spari e pensi di averlo ucciso ed invece lui si alza e cammina...e viene per mangiarti...

Un'istantanea dal video, mentre gli uomini sono allineati per essere eseguito.

Tecnicamente il video è di scarsissima qualità: qualcuno ha furtivamente filmato la scena con un cellulare, a momenti le immagini scompaiono. L'operatore (un civile, un soldato?) ha un'evidente paura di essere scoperto, questa esecuzione si svolge durante una battaglia, si sentono cantare le mitragliatrici e rimbombare dei colpi di cannone.

Il 'rito' della fucilazione è sempre lo stesso, è una pratica collaudata...dei soldati scortano dei condannati che si avviano lentamente verso il luogo prestabilito (di solito verso un muro, no?).

Sei giovani Pashtun, riconoscibili dai loro tradizionali vestiti, sono legati e bendati, non fanno resistenza. Diversi soldati ben armati, con le classiche divise dell'esercito pachistano, formano il plotone di esecuzione.

I condannati sono schierati di fronte al plotone ed ecco che arriva un barbuto ufficiale che si rivolge brevemente ad ognuno di loro:
non si sentono le parole ma di sicuro non sono frasi di pace e fraternità...

L'ufficiale schiera il suo plotone, adesso si possono udire le voci dei soldati che parlano in Urdu, la lingua ufficiale dell'esercito pachistano. Nella regione Swat è una lingua praticamente sconosciuta.

Il disordinato plotone si prepara all'ordine del comandante...mirate, fuoco ! Non mi sembra siano dei gran tiratori, 'sti pachistani...i pianti ed i gemiti dei condannati echeggiano forti, da giovani e forti combattenti sono tornati bambini indifesi, agnellini sacrificali...Il colpo di grazia è d'obbligo: in questo caso ne sono necessari molti; i mitragliatori scuotono i corpi, lo strazio è finito.

Ed anche il video è finito.

Tropas Pakistaníes Ejecutan Prisioneros de Guerra en Swat Valley

I am looking for translators to translate this post into German and Tagalog. Email me if you are interested.

Portuguese translation (em Português). French translation (en Français). Italian translation (traduzione in Italiano).

This is the Spanish translation of the Pakistani Troops Execute POW's in Swat Valley post. Translator: Fabián Aguilar, a crazy guy from Bogotá, Colombia, who likes Saturdays.

Este increíble video de las tropas pakistaníes ejecutando prisioneros de guerra talibanes en Swat Valley en Pakistán durante una ardua batalla, fue subido a YouTube por un usuario llamado 'drjack20061' el 1ro de octubre de 2010. La Pashtun International Association reclamó el material del video el cual es de más de 5 minutos de duración.

El ejército pakistaní dice que el video es falso y que pretende dar mala fama a su institución. No existe prueba alguna de que el video sea real, pero la evidencia disponible sugiere que tal vez lo sea. Por ejemplo, han habido muchos reportes de ejecuciones en masa de jóvenes islamitas pashtunés en Swat Valley durante la rebelión de Swat en el verano de 2009.

Especialmente hacia el final de la campaña, largos números de rebeldes fueron cercados y desaparecidos por el ejército pakistaní. Muchos de sus cuerpos aparecieron días más tarde a los lados de las carreteras, con los ojos vendados, atados, con heridas de bala y con señales de tortura. Todo con el propósito de hacerle la salvadorización a la Rebelión de Swat Valley.

Estos homicidios en masa parecieron ponerle fin de una u otra forma a la rebelión por un tiempo, aunque los habitantes de esta región estaban en un alto estado de ira mezclada con terror impotente.

Pero algún tiempo luego de que la rebelión había sido pisoteada, un peculiar recrudecimiento se levanto de nuevo este otoño, como el ave Fénix de los sangrientos huesos. La rebelión comienza a parecer algo zombie. Los noqueas y luego de que piensas que los has matado, se levantan de nuevo y vienen una vez más hacia ti.

Este video fue capturado con un teléfono celular, por lo cual la calidad es muy pobre. Parece haber sido grabado clandestinamente bajo una situación de alto riesgo. Como si de ser pillado in fraganti, el autor hubiera pagado un alto castigo.

En los primeros minutos del video vemos varios jóvenes pashtunés con sus atuendos tradicionales, con los ojos vendados, atados y lentamente siendo llevados a una línea a la cual eventualmente llegan seis de ellos. En el otro lado, soldados paquistaníes plenamente armados están alineando sus armas automáticas. Sus uniformes parecen ser de la fuerza armada de Paquistán. Un oficial de barba parece ser el hombre a cargo.

En el fondo, se puede oír a veces algo que suena como disparos de armas automáticas rebotando en el aire y artillería sonando a lo lejos. Es bastante obvio que están ubicados en medio de una zona de guerra.

Los hombres, en silencio, están alineados. El hombre de barba se acerca a ellos diciendo algo inaudible, luego se devuelve y los soldados comienzan a hablar. Se puede ir claramente lo que dicen, hablan Urdu. Urdu es el lenguaje de la fuerza armada de Pakistán y se habla muy poco en Swat Valley.

Los soldados alistan sus armas y disparan derrumbando a todos los muchachos, pronto, ellos comienzan a gemir horriblemente. El tétrico y triste llanto me hace acordar al de una oveja o el de un bebé. Los soldados luego avanzan y vacían sus armas contra los cuerpos. Las armas son muy potentes, tanto que los cuerpos se desprenden del suelo con cada disparo. Los cuerpos yacen en silencio, inertes. Y el llanto ha parado.

El video termina.

Tropas Paquistaneses Executam Prisioneiros de Guerra em Vale do Swat

I am looking for translators to translate this post into German and Tagalog. Email me if you are interested.

Spanish translation (en Español). French translation (en Français). Italian translation (traduzione in Italiano).

This is the Portuguese translation of the Pakistani Troops Execute POW's in Swat Valley post.

Este vídeo incrível de tropas paquistaneses que executam talibãs em Vale do Swat no Paquistão durante lutas intensivas aí no verão de 2009 foi carregado no You Tube por um usuário chamado "drjack20061" no 1 outubro de 2010. A Associação Internacional de Pashtun alega ser autor do filme. Ele dura 5 minutos.

Os militares paquistaneses dizem que o filme é uma falsificação com a intenção de difamar as forças armadas. Não há prova de que a fita é verídica, mas as indicações existentes sugerem que muito bem poderia ser. Por exemplo, houve muitas notícias de execuções em massa de jovens islamistas pashtun em Vale do Swat durante a Rebelião de Swat em 2009.

Principalmente durante o final da campanha, numerosos rebeldes foram reunidos e eliminados pelos militares paquistaneses. Muitos dos seus cadáveres reapareceram depois às beiras das estradas, vendados e amarrados, e com feridas de bala e indicações de tortura. Foi nada menos que a salvadorização da Rebelião de Swat.

A carnificina dos prisioneiros de guerra do exército de guerrilheiros de Vale do Swat parece ter acabado com a rebelião por enquanto, embora o estado de ãnimo dos habitantes fosse uma mistura de alta indignação e pavor impotente.

Porém, pouco depois da repressão da Rebelião de Swat, ela ressurgiu como fênix de suas cinzas neste outono. A Rebelião de Swat é parecida a um zumbi. A gente a derruba e pensa que está morta, mas ela se levanta de novo e volta ao ataque.

O vídeo foi rodado com um celular e a sua qualidade é péssima. Parece que foi feito às escondidas em condições muito arriscadas. O fotógrafo pode ter corrido o risco de castigo se fosse prendido durante a filmagem do incidente.

Durante os primeiros minutos do vídeo, vemos vários jovens pashtun em trajes tradicionais, vendados e amarrados. Eles são enfileirados em grupos de 6. No outro lado, soldados paquistaneses bem equipados se põem fila e preparam suas armas automáticas. A roupa deles parece ser o que o exército paquistanês usa. Um oficial barbudo parece ter o comando.

No fundo, você pode às vezes ouvir no ar ruídos de descargas de armas automáticas e de cartuchos que caem. Obviamente, estamos no meio de uma zona de guerra.

Os homens, calados, são enfileirados. O barbudo vai de um para outro, proferindo palavras inaudíveis. Então ele volta atrás e os soldados começam a falar. Podemos ouvir o qe eles estão dizendo, e eles estão falando em Urdu. Urdu é a língua do exército paquistanês e é pouco usado em Swat.

Os soldados preparam as suas armas e disparam, e todos os homens caem no chão. Logo eles estão gemendo horrivelmente. O som arrepiante e horripilante nos lembra os balidos de uma ovelha ou o choro de uma criança. Então os soldados avançam e descargam as suas armas nos corpos gementes. As armas são poderosas, e os corpos saltam do chão com cada descarga. Logo os corpos se calam e os horríveis balidos param.

O vídeo termina.

Pakistani Troops Execute POW's in Swat Valley

I am looking for translators to translate this post into German and Tagalog. Email me if you are interested.

Portuguese translation (em Português). Spanish translation (en Español). French translation (en Français). Italian translation (traduzione in Italiano).

This amazing video of Pakistani troops executing Taliban POW's in the Swat Valley of Pakistan during heavy fighting there in Summer 2009 appeared on the Internet uploaded to YouTube by a user named 'drjack20061' on October 1, 2010. The footage was claimed by the Pashtun International Association. It is over 5 minutes long.

The Pakistani military says that the footage is fake and intended to defame the military. There is no proof that the tape is real, but the available evidence suggests that it may well be. For instance, there have long been reports of mass executions of young Pashtun Islamists in the Swat Valley during the Swat Rebellion in Summer 2009.

Especially towards the end of the campaign, large numbers of fighters were rounded up and disappeared by the Pakistani military. Many of their bodies reappeared later by the sides of roads, blindfolded and bound, with bullet wounds and signs of serious torture. It was for all intents and purposes the Salvadorization of the Swat Valley Rebellion.

This mass murder of the Swat Valley guerrilla army POW's seemed to have put an end to the rebellion for some time, though residents were in a state of high outrage mixed with impotent terror.

But some time after the Swat Rebellion had been stomped, a peculiar recrudescence arose again, Phoenix-like, from the bloodied bones this fall. The Swat Rebellion is starting to look like a zombie. You knock it down and even think you kill it, and it just gets up again and keeps coming at you.

A snapshot from the video as the men are lined up to be executed.

The video is shot with a cellphone and is very poor in quality. It seems to have been taken clandestinely under conditions of extreme risk. The photographer may have been under risk of be punishment if he was caught filming the incident.

For the first few minutes of the video, we see several young Pashtun men wearing traditional garb, blindfolded and bound, slowly being moved into a line that eventually reaches six men. On the other side, fully equipped Pakistani soldiers are lining up and fixing their automatic weapons. Their garb looks like what the Pakistani army wears. A bearded officer appears to be in charge.

In the background, you can sometimes hear what sounds like automatic weapons fire ricocheting in the air and artillery shells slamming away. We are obviously in the midst of a war zone.

The men, silent, are lined up. The bearded man goes from one to the other, saying making a very short statement that is inaudible. Then he moves back and the soldiers begin to speak. We can hear what they are saying, and they speak in Urdu. Urdu is the language of Pakistani army and is little spoken in Swat.

The soldiers ready their weapons, fire, and all of the men fall down. Soon they are moaning horribly. The creepy and awful sound reminds one of sheep baying or children wailing. The soldiers then advance forward and empty their weapons into the wailing bodies. The guns are very powerful, and the bodies lift off the ground with each hit. Soon the bodies are silent, and the horrible baying has stopped.

The video ends.

Al Jazeera Releases Photographs of Sri Lankan Genocide Against Tamils in 2010

I am looking for translators to translate this post into German. Email me if you are interested.

The Civil War in Sri Lanka is highly controversial. A good neutral overview is here.

I have always supported the just struggle of the Sri Lankan Tamils for self-determination in Sri Lanka. That doesn't necessarily mean support for the Tamil Tigers, whose tactics were often horrible. But do not the natives have a right to resist settler-colonization, ethnic warfare, ethnic cleansing, extreme, Nazi-like fascist racism and genocide?

Sure they do.

Do we quibble about the just nature of the struggle of the Native Americans, the Black slave revolts, the various anti-colonial wars, the anti-Nazi resistance, the Allies' war against Nazi Orcs in WW2, the Chechens, Kashmiris, Basques, Acehese, East Timorese, South Sudanese, Darfurians, Polisario Front, PKK in Kurdistan, Tibetans, Uighurs, various self-determination struggles in Burma and India, just because we disagree with their tactics?

Of course not.

And the Tamil struggle was just as valid as that of the Native Americans or any of the rest of the above.

Briefly, after Sri Lanka achieved independence, the Buddhist Sinhalese instituted a ferociously racist project against the minority Hindu Tamils that culminated in repeated pogroms. It was like Christallnact from 1947-1983. The Tamils, after decades of petitioning peacefully for change, took up arms in self-defense in 1983. For some time, they achieved great success to the point of having a near-autonomous area in the North.

In the last few years, serious errors on the part of the Tigers, including attacks on all of their Tamil political rivals, combined with huge arms purchases by the Nazi Sri Lankan state, mostly purchased from Tony Blair in the UK, allowed the government to pursue a major offensive against the Tamils.

The area controlled by the Tamils shrunk more and more, until gradually they were cornered in a small area. As the state closed in, they unleashed genocide against the Tigers and the civilians who supported them. Surrendering Tigers were bound and tied and executed in huge numbers. Soldiers and plainclothes death squads in white vans roamed the area, picking up Tamil civilians, often young men. Many disappeared and later turned up dead.

Fleeing civilians were forced back into the Tamil-held area, and then mass-shelled. Overflowing Tamil hospitals were deliberately attacked over and over. Waves of Tamil refugees moving across the land were deliberately attacked from air, land and sea.

The entire Western world and much of the developing imperialist states of the 3rd World such as India stood back and cheered. They could hardly contain their glee at this shocking mass slaughter.

By this Spring, the Tigers were defeated. They have not yet resurrected. Tamil refugees were put in concentration camps, beaten, starved and mass-raped. Gradually, many of them were released. The repression is ongoing.

Though all resistance has stopped, death squads and the Sri Lankan military continue to arrest young Tamil men. The jails are full of Tamils and Tiger fighters wanted on terrorism charges. Tigers who laid down arms and went back to civilian life are constantly hassled by death squads.

The state has moved huge numbers of Sinhalese, Tamil Muslims and other non-Hindu Tamils into the area, where they steal Tamil lands, evict Tamils from their homes, steal their property and usurp their fishing areas. It's like Palestine with Racer's Edge additive poured on.

It's absolutely revolting the way the entire West lined up behind this modern-day Sinhalese Nazi regime, but it goes to show that states have no moral principles, only practical ones. But that's what psychopaths have. Every Western state supported Sri Lanka because most states will support any state, no matter how evil or Nazi, in their fight against separatists. They are all thinking, "There but for the grace of God go I," and "We may be next."

Good background on the crisis from a Left, pro-Tamil POV (the only moral position to take) is in three articles by Ron Ridenour on Counterpunch . Tamilnet has excellent reporting from the Tamil POV.

The Indian Maoists were one of the few large parties in India to support the Tigers. Even the "Marxists" in power in West Bengal supported the Sri Lankan state to the hilt, as did the "Dravidian" parties in the south of India who represent Indian Tamils, among others. Talk about selling out.

I've met some Indian Tamils. Every one I asked said that they supported the Tigers, and there are 10's of millions of Tamils in India.

Manuel Marulanda (Sure Shot), Presente!

One of my all-time heroes, and one of the Great Men of the Latin American revolution, is dead.

RIP Pedro Antonio Marin (Tiro Fijo).

New leader? Alfonso Cano, an anthropologist and the group's chief ideologist. There were many anthropologists among Sendero Luminoso's top ideologists too, as I pointed out in a previous post. Nothing like field work among the oppressed to turn one into a raving revolutionary.

And yes, I do support the FARC, of course. Unequivocally and 100%, and so should all of you.

This movement is grotesquely misunderstood. If it existed in any kind of real democracy instead of in a terrorist death squad state, they never would have had to fire a shot, or at least would have laid down their weapons long ago. As is, they'd be insane to give up the gun. For the time being in Colombia, there is no other way.

In the 1980's, a section of the FARC disarmed and formed a legal political party called the Patriotic Union. Despite unbelievable repression, they managed to gain a respectable showing in some elections.

They were slaughtered like flies by the Colombian state with US military and intelligence assistance until 5,000 UP activists lay dead. The movement disbanded and scattered and has not been heard from since. The FARC is not insane. They already tried to lay down their guns. Look at what happened. At this point, the FARC is not going to lay down their guns until they get a say in running the country.

There is hardly anyone on the Left running for any office anywhere in Colombia. Anyone who does can be and may well be targeted for death by US-Colombian military intelligence terror machine.

Any Left organizations, including environmental groups, labor unions, peasant organizations, Indian movements, neighborhood and citizens' groups or peace communities who have declared themselves neutral, can be and may well be routinely targeted with death by the US and Colombia.

If I were a Colombian, I would either not write this blog, or, if I did, I would arm myself and join the FARC. After a while, it doesn't make sense anymore to wait for the government to come out and kill you. If the US-Colombian military-intel death machine is going to come out and try to kill me anyway, I may as well be armed so I can fight back.

As you can see in the case of the Wayuu Indians, they got tired of the US-Colombian military coming out to kill them, so large numbers of them joined the FARC, and many others formed their own guerrilla organizations. Attacks on the group dropped way down after they took up arms to defend themselves.

Often, the US-Colombian military death squads will start to raid villages and stage killings and massacres of villagers. At some point, at least lately, a FARC unit will intervene and drive the attackers away, saving many lives. You can see that the FARC is the only thing keeping the US-Colombian military from staging vast massacres across the land.

It is said that the FARC adds to the violence in Colombia. Far be it. The FARC had an autonomous zone carved out for it a few years back. The main city in this jungle, a town of only 25,000, had an incredible homicide rate of 1 killing/day. After the FARC came in, that was reduced to 1 killing/year. Some murderous guerrillas!

The FARC has been an armed self-defense group from its origins in the peasant community of Marquetalia in 1964. The leftwing peasants of Marquetalia, tired of the mad violence that was sweeping the land in La Violencia, essentially seceded from the war and made their own private Idaho on some land they owned in Western Colombia.

It's true that they were Communists, but there were only a few hundred of them, and they were nonviolent. The US and Colombian governments became alarmed at these live Communists existing openly on Colombia's land, and plans were made to exterminate them. The US Ambassador and US military cooperated closely in these plans. The US recommended everything be thrown at the peasants, including chemical weapons.

The US-Colombian army (with US advisors on board) finally attacked the area, but the peasants of Marquetalia were not all killed. Some survived and armed themselves to fight back. This was the beginnings of the FARC, and this has been the story ever since.

There was a march a while back against the US-Colombian death squads that haunt the land. A huge number of persons showed up in cities all across Colombia. Very quickly afterwards, with only a couple of weeks, the US-Colombian military killed about a dozen marchers and leaders. Just like that. This is what happens to the unarmed opposition in Colombia.

If the FARC falls apart, nothing will change. Colombia will be as big of a shithole as ever, but now there will be no way for the people to fight back against the US-Colombian state and its killers.

I read this article in English a while back, but now it's disappeared into some memory hole somewhere. Here it is in Spanish if you can read Spanish. Upshot of the piece is that the FARC does not depend on dope. They tax all crops in the areas they control, which is normally about 40% of the country.

This includes drug crops like coca. People grow coca because the state has not provided them the wherewithal to make a decent living growing anything else, despite the fake US-Colombian crop substitution program of recent years. During Plan Colombia in Putumayo Province, much of the land was devastated with herbicide, including perfectly legal crops, and most of the residents became ill with chemical poisoning.

US-Colombian death squads quickly appeared in the area and started murdering peasants right and left. This was around 2002. After a couple years of that, about 8,000 Indians in Putumayo had signed up with the FARC.

This is why people join the FARC, my doubting readers. Not because they feel like turning terrorist and destroying some glorious democracy because they are evildoers, but because the army keeps coming out to try kill them and spray poison all over them and their crops.

This article (dead link) lays out what Colombia is really like. It portrays a rural region in Colombia. The US-Colombian state does not touch the coca plantations of the rich in this region. Here, the rich own all the land, and the poor live in wretched misery.

It was not always this way. There used to be vast numbers of small landowners scattered through this whole region. They're mostly gone now, part of a project by the US-Colombian military to steal the people's land for the rich and kill anyone who resisted.

Most of this area has gone over to vast cattle ranches in the hands of a few ultra-rich landowners. These landowners hire death squads to keep this sick state of affairs as it is. This is why the FARC is always kidnapping these wealthy landowner "innocent civilians". They are not so innocent! These are the people who run the death squads.

There are still peasant farmers in this region, but they are now crammed into miserable and tiny plots that are a shadow of the ones they farmed. It's barely enough to feed oneself. The many peasants who were run off the land altogether now live crammed in teeming urban slums that never existed before.

If you drive through the area, there seems to be open land everywhere - for cows. You see a few miserable peasants with tiny plots, and then you see vast and teeming slums. On the highway is a death squad and US-Colombian military checkpoint to keep the peons from rising up about this fucked-up bullshit. To accomplish the sickening state of affairs in this blighted region, the US-Colombian military killed 100's to 1000's of people.

Now let us go to a large city - Medellin. The FARC militias were all run out a few years back, and the death squads run the show now. The poor are crammed into horrid slums on hillsides with no paved roads, no water, no sewage, no electricity, no nothing. The shit runs down the gutters, people gather rain for water, and when it rains, the hills slide down on the makeshift shanties.

Down below, watching the Dickensian slums above with cold eyes, are the death squads. If any slum dweller raises a peep about their miserable situation, they may just get a bullet. The death squads are put there by the US and Colombia to make sure that that disgusting state of affairs stays just the way it is.

Westerners have the temerity to ask why there is a revolution in Colombia.

How could there not be one?

The FARC has definitely been hit hard lately in a lot of ways. The Colombian military has doubled in size since 2000 (mostly due to an infusion of US money) and the FARC has been experiencing, since 2005, the most concerted military offensive that any Latin American revolutionary army has ever faced.

They may conceivably not make it, but if they don't, the violence will not end. The state will continue to kill the people, and it will still be impossible for the Left to organize or run for office without getting killed. If the FARC goes, there will only be successors; there will be no justice.

Personally, dire as things are, I think that the FARC will pull through. One of the ways that they reacted to the offensive was to branch into other nations. The FARE is in Ecuador¹, the FARV, with 1000's of members, is in Venezuela², the FARP is in Peru and doing very well³, and the FARB is in the Dog's Head region of Brazil⁴. FARC is in Panama and Guyana, and they have activists in Bolivia helping Morales' party.

A previous post gives details on all of these FARC splinters.

Great blog on Colombia. Machetera is also great and so's People's Movement Support Group.

Notes

1. This report from 2000 describes how both the FARC and the ELN had a growing presence across the border in Ecuador and how the FARE had just formed to protest against Plan Colombia. On May 15, 2000, the Ecuadorian military intercepted a FARE patrol in Sucumbios Province on the Peruvian border.

Two FARE members were killed and five more were wounded or captured in the shootout. In early 2000, the FARE blew up an oil pipeline in Ecuador. On August 28, 2002, the FARE set off a leaflet bomb in a McDonald's in Guayaquil that caused serious damage to the property. As of 2000, it was still a small group in the country. Whether or not the FARE still exists in not known.


2. The FARV is nothing but the name of the FARC in its rear guard zone inside Venezuela. The FARC has such zones and forces in all of the countries bordering it.

3. The FARP is nothing but the FARC inside Peru. They have penetrated deep into Peru and has recruited many former members and supporters of Sendero Luminoso. Former commanders of the MRTA have also joined the FARC's army in Peru. For now, they are not doing much except laying down base areas, but they are very popular with rural Peruvians who got sick of Sendero's mad violence.


4. The FARB is very little known, but it probably just the name of the FARC in its rear-guard area inside Brazil (Dog's Head region) There is another FARB inside Brazil that has been threatening and even killing some PT mayors and officials. It is supposedly a far Left group of PT dissidents angry at some PT officials for selling out the people.

Others think that the group does not even exist and instead is merely a fake name for rightwing death squads that rampage all across Brazil.

Note: Readers should carefully read the Commenting Rules before commenting to avoid having their comments edited or deleted and to avoid being banned from the site.