[A-List] Colombia: military disarray

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Le Monde / Guerrilla cash trips up army in Colombia / Marie Delcas  in
Bogota

While in hot pursuit of members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (Farc) in Caqueta province, 300km south of the capital Bogota,
crack troops belonging to the Colombian army's 50th Counterguerrilla
Battalion happened on the rebels' treasure chest - wad upon wad of banknotes
neatly stashed away in 10 plastic containers that had been buried in the
jungle.The soldiers were unable to resist the temptation to make off with
their find. Now 40 of them have been arrested on charges of having pocketed
the money, and 107 others are still on the run.

"There has been such a breakdown of law and order in our country that even
guerrilla fighters get robbed," quipped Senator Antonio Navarro.

It is believed that the explosion of an antipersonnel landmine led them to
discover the Farc hideout in the ground and its treasure. Press reports put
the amount of money at 42bn pesos, or the equivalent of about $16m.
The Farc finances itself through drug trafficking and the ransoms it gets
for people it has kidnapped. According to the planning ministry, it can draw
on total funds of about $730m.

Accused by the government of being no more than a mafia that has connections
with terrorist organisations all over the world, Latin America's biggest
guerrilla force, which can draw on 17,000 armed men, apparently prefers to
keep its savings in a mattress of jungle vegetation.

It has not yet emerged how the battalion's 147 troops decided to conceal
their find. What is certain, however, is that within three days of returning
to barracks 42 of them gave up their commissions, 15 others failed to return
from leave, and nine disappeared into thin air.

Intrigued by such an abrupt demobilisation, the military authorities
investigated and discovered that the suspects were spending money like water
on booze, brothels and fancy cars. The truth eventually emerged.

The interior and justice minister, Fernando Londono, has announced that
exemplary sentences will be handed down to the soldiers, who were "guilty of
having betrayed the army and the fatherland". <I> May 24</I>

The Guardian Weekly 20-3-0605, page 30