Posted: 1/11/2008 4:45:36 PM EDT
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May 5, 2003 - Marxist rebels kill a provincial governor, a former defense minister and eight soldiers held hostage when the army botches a rescue attempt, the government and survivors say. Why doesn't the Colombian government totally wipe out the leftist guerillas there? |
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After freeing two hostages, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia is thought to still hold more than 700 others. FARC seeks ransom for the vast majority of its captives. But 44 of them — 14 soldiers, 19 police officers, seven politicians, a governor and three U.S. defense contractors — are labeled "political prisoners" available to swap for hundreds of rebels jailed by Colombia's government. |
| Army Cpl. Pablo Emilio Moncayo. He was 19 when taken hostage during a 1997 raid on a mountaintop communications post. His father, a rural schoolteacher, walked more than 620 miles across Colombia last year to rally support for a prisoner swap. He is longest held of the 44 "political prisoners." |
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Its way too much to get into here. The Colombian Govt is doing a dam fine job. If the folks in DC would allow the Active Duty SF folks to leave the wire and accompany the units they train on operations the war could be over in a few months. Colombia is a strange gig, US Contractors fly off to spray coca and get into firefights every day and the "Real" soldiers cant leave base. |
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