Colombians woke up Thursday morning (June 28th) with some very bad news, even for such a troubled country. The ANNCOL news agency, known for publishing articles related to left-wing FARC rebels, posted a statement by the “Joint Western Command” where they claimed that on June 18th, 11 of 12 “deputies of the Valle assembly, who were taken in April 2002, died in the crossfire when an unidentified military group attacked the camp where they were located”. The 7:00 a.m. television newscasts started one hour earlier, devoting all their airtime to the story. Both ANNCOL and FARC websites were unaccessible all day long and remained that way until Friday morning.
Almost all Colombian bloggers and blog readers agree, despite FARC claims, that the lawmakers were murdered or executed, in order to blackmail the right-wing government into providing a safehaven in Florida and Pradera, Valle del Cauca department, and a “humanitarian exchange” of 60-high-profile hostages, including former presidential candidate Íngrid Betancourt and three Americans. At noon, President Uribe accused the FARC of killing the deputies, because according to him, “no rescue mission was underway. They were deliberately assassinated”. Quoted by Reuters, a local analyst for a pro-Uribe think tank said “the most likely scenario is the camp was being attacked by an illegal paramilitary group and that the FARC executed the hostages”.
Camilo Mosquera “congratulates” FARC [ES]:
Felicidades a las FARC, les liberan a 180 guerrilleros y a su cónsul […] Granda y responden secuestrando al comandante de policía de Pradera. Felicitaciones a las FARC por matar a 3 personas y amedrentar a las población de Buenaventura. Felicitaciones por matar a los 11 diputados. Felicitaciones por que cada día los odiamos más. SON UNOS HIJOS DE PUTAS TERRORISTAS.

Congratulations to the FARC, 180 of their guerrillas and their consul [Rodrigo] Granda are freed and they respond [...]

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