FARC declares US soldiers in Colombia 'military target'

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, November 30, 2003

FARC declares US soldiers in Colombia 'military target'

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) declared on Saturday US soldiers deployed in the country "military target."

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The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) declared on Saturday US soldiers deployed in the country "military target."

"There are more than 1,000 US troops in Colombia training and supporting the official forces in the anti-insurgent war and against people," one of the FARC leaders, Luis Devia, also known as "Raul Reyes," said in a website statement.

"Military targets are both the invaders and their war instruments," said Reyes, the ex-negotiator of the FARC in the failed peace dialogue with the previous government.

The 17,000-strong FARC is the largest guerrilla force of Colombia, followed by the National Liberation Army (ELN), with 5,000 combatants.

Colombia is one of the countries to which the United States provides military and economic assistance. In the past three years,the US aid to Colombia has surpassed two billion US dollars, merely less than those provided to Israel and Egypt, with an extended range covering ammunition, military consultancy, satellite surveillance and telecommunications monitoring.

With the conflicts between the Colombian guerrillas and the government escalating since last year, the United States has intensified its military aid accordingly.

FARC warned previously that the US intervention in the Colombian domestic conflicts would make the peace process complicated and worsen the current situations. The guerrilla groupdemanded that all US military personnel withdraw from Colombia, a prerequisite for a ceasefire.

The FARC and the US military personnel have not fought each other yet.

In regard to the demobilization of the paramilitaries of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) on Tuesday in Medellin, Reyes described it as a "publicity show by President Alvaro Uribe."

The dismantling of one fraction of the AUC "is not good news for Colombia, the FARC, or the international community," he added.

Since taking office in 2002, Colombian President Uribe has adopted a tough policy against the leftist guerrilla groups and far-right paramilitaries in a bid to put an early end to the country's four-decade civil war, the longest in Latin America. An average of 3,500 people, mostly civilians, are killed every year in the conflict.

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