FARC + ELN, 2 Great Tastes That Go Great 2-Gether

COLOMBIA – So what do you get when you mix Physical Force Christian Socialism with 1960’s era Marxism-Leninism, add copious amounts of revolutionary class-warfare, and serve the shit up cold alongside a giant back of surgical-grade cocaine? Why it’s the long-time-coming alliance between The National Liberation Army (ELN) and The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP) two of the oldest active guerilla paramilitary organizations still operating out Columbia.

An essential part of an economically-balanced breakfast

In the end, the differences between the two left-wing rebel groups are marginal at best.

Save for the Ejército de Liberación Nacional’s outspoken viewpoint of Christ imminent return to earth as the brutal redeemer for proletariat rights and land reform and FARC’s documented tendency of executing hostages BEFORE demanding ransom, neither group is really all that distinguishable from the other.

That is not to say that they always get along with one another. In the end, they are both gangs, and gangs will fight with other gangs over shit like territory and respect and retaliation and what not. It would be like pointing out the subtle nuances between Los Angeles’ Bloods and Crips. All four of them are gangs. That’s all there is to it.

However, both organizations have appeared to have fallen on hard-times as of late. The US has been kicking down Colombia oodles of cash to silence any potential leftist movement that may encroach on what America declares their self-entitle influence sphere. As such, psychopathic right-wing death squads often roll with the Colombian military as they smoke the shit out of anyone that may be a rebel sympathizer.

Plus, revolution is only lucrative during it’s initial stages, and now-a-days it seems that both are doing less liberating the hearts and minds of the exploited peasant classes and being reduced to cashing in ransoms for kidnapped tourists and journalists. (Published estimates indicate that FARC takes in between $500 million and $600 million annually through ransoms and drug trafficking.)

The one surprising thing is how delighted the Colombian government is reacting to the news. Though, it’s not like anyone hasn’t seen this coming for decades, FARC and ELN have co-operated in operations and attacks innumerous time in the past.

My guess is that Colombia realizes that both organizations are essentially in their final throes (Though, as mentioned above, published estimates indicate that FARC takes in between $500 million and $600 million annually through ransoms and drug trafficking.) and that one umbrella group is easier to buy off than two splinters of the same left-leaning bush.

Tags: Colombia, FARC