Why is Manuel Marulanda (Of Las Farc) such a coward?

This is not a short question to answer - but it is easy.

Manuel and his gang, back in the 60s, used to revolt against the unfairness of the State and fought for the People. The gap between the poor and the rich was widening quickly and the poor sought equality in the only people who could defy the government and the rebels reached a certain accptance and used to be praised by peasants who thought them to be a type of Robin Hood, like Pablo Escobar was said to be in the 90s. As time passed they have lost credibility and even support due to their harsh, cruel and selfish regime. Although their main target was the national army, police and everything branded by the government, they cared less if the civilians suffered on the side. On the contrary, they took advantage of urban raids to force teenagers thereof to join their ranks by threatning to kill their parents if they refused.

Seeing that the FARC could not / can not beat the national Army on one-to-one combat, they opted for ambushes, kidnapping and hit and run ‘gangster style’ offences in cities. They have become desperate for money and a decade or so ago, they would make road stops in isolated areas of the country, abduct anyone along the way, investigate their wealth through torture and simply strip the victims of every penny before they decided to let them go or simply shoot them. This was know as the “Pesca Milagrosa” or “Miraculous Fishing” as anyone could be a victim.

Nowadays, FARC has, thanks to hardliner President Uribe, retreated to secluded parts of the country, in hiding as some Elite SAS-trained Counter-Guerrilla troops can now reach the remotest of areas in less than an hour.

No longer is kidnapping a source of economy for the FARC. They have learnt that they could make much more money from Cocaine; the urban business left behind by dethroned mob bosses of the Cartel of Cali and Medellin.

With huge confiscations and losses of insurgents, the FARC have become much weaker. Hundreds of irregular members have deffected as they no longer agree with the leftist, selfish and money-hungry regime - something unheard of decades back. Some say the FARC have let go of key kidnapped victims recently to deflect pressure from key hideouts of the country. Whilst others agree that they have lost the battle in political terms and seek support by showing their ‘soft side’.

One thing is clear: the country has dropped the level of kidnapping ever. With Uribe’s popularity up to a historical 82 %, one can literally drive around the country (as I did 2 months ago) like never before. (There was a record-breaking increase of tourist to 2.7 million people last year in 2007 and there is an upward trend.)

On the other side, there is Hugo Chavez who the US State department has affirmed, has been supporting the FARC both military and politically; hence the freed hostages go to Caracas for a PR stunt before returning to Colombia.

To put it simply, everyone from Las FARC is a coward. They kidnap, torture, rape, and kill for their own gain. They are the worst type of humans beings and I hope that one day they will all be wiped out of Colombia for finally bring some peace to that country.

Great news today. The army killed one of FARC's top commanders, Raul Reyes.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080301/ap_on_re_la_am...

Slowly but surely Colombia is crushing the rebels.