Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: Colombian rebels

Colombian rebels stories: 15 news summaries

(Newser) - Hooded men killed 12 indigenous victims this morning in a Colombian region notorious for coca plantations and armed rebel activity, BBC reports. At least four children were among family members killed in a dawn raid on an Awa tribal reservation, where both Marxist and right-wing rebels are active. The gunmen... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Colombia • drug trade • Colombian rebels

(Newser) - Despite frequent denials by President Hugo Chavez, it seems Venezuela is still arming Colombian rebels on the sly, the New York Times reports. Computer files captured from FARC rebels reveal Venezuela's efforts to get them missiles, sniper rifles, radios, and Venezuelan identity cards. This after Chavez froze relations with Colombia... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Venezuela • Colombia • FARC • militant • Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia • Colombian rebels

FARC Tortures, Kills 17 Native Colombians

Paramilitary swooped into village, kidnapping pacifist tribesmen

Feb 12, 09 6:40 AM CST
(Newser) - The Colombian paramilitary that held Ingrid Betancourt hostage tortured and killed 17 indigenous people who they believed were aiding the government, human rights groups say. CNN reports that FARC members swept into a remote village in southwest Colombia and kidnapped the pacifist Awa Indians, including two minors. One young man... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Latin America • torture • Colombia • FARC • Colombian rebels • indigenous peoples

US Slaps Sanctions on Chavez Aides

3 charged with backing FARC drug runners, as tensions mount

Sep 13, 08 5:48 AM CDT
(Newser) - Escalating the diplomatic crisis with Venezuela, the US has frozen the assets of three members of Hugo Chavez's inner circle it accuses of having links with drug-running Colombian rebels, the Wall Street Journal reports. The sanctions follow the expulsion by Venezuela and Bolivia of their US ambassadors—a move the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Venezuela • cocaine • Bolivia • diplomat • Evo Morales • FARC • Hugo Chávez • embassy staff • Colombian rebels

Captors Turned Brutal After Betancourt Escape Attempt

Hostages, chained together, also hostile

Jul 7, 08 12:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - Ingrid Betancourt and the other former hostages of Colombia’s FARC faced aggression and abuse from their captors—and each other, CNN reports. Rebels were relatively cordial until Betancourt and former Colombian legislator Luis Perez made an escape attempt in 2005, surviving for 5 days in the jungle before they... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Colombia • FARC • Ingrid Betancourt • Colombian rebels • Luis Perez

UPDATED

Betancourt Outlines 'Diabolic Behavior' By Rebels

Former hostage, in Paris, says she was tortured, kept in chains for 3 years

Jul 4, 08 4:51 PM CDT
(Newser) - Speaking after her arrival in Paris today, Ingrid Betancourt says she was tortured during her 6 years as a hostage of Colombian rebels, the New York Times reports. “I was in chains all the time, 24 hours a day, for three years,” she said, describing "diabolical behavior"... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Colombia • FARC • Ingrid Betancourt • Colombian rebels

Disorganized Rebels Duped By Hostage Rescuers

'Movie-plot' op exploited reb chaos

Jul 4, 08 2:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Colombian military's daring rescue of FARC guerilla hostages relied on increasing disarray within the rebel ranks, the New York Times reports. Latin America's longest-running insurgency has suffered a near-total communications breakdown in recent months. With the command structure in chaos and rebels depending on "medieval" communications methods, the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Colombia • FARC • Manuel Marulanda • Colombian rebels • hostage

ANALYSIS

Bookish Past Might Not Help Rebel Leader

Colombia's new reality will put dogmatic FARC head Cano to test

Jun 9, 08 2:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - Though Alfonso Cano, the new commander of Colombia’s FARC rebels, is a bookish intellectual, don’t expect a new push towards government negotiations, sources tell the Washington Post. Cano, who turned to Marx in college after a middle-class upbringing, would be uniquely suited to push peaceful political action—... More »

MORE ABOUT:
insurgents • Marxism • Colombia • FARC • Alvaro Uribe • Manuel Marulanda • Colombian rebels • Alfonso Cano

ANALYSIS

 Sun Setting on FARC Rebellion 

Key link to past now dead, and Colombia's efforts at last paying off against rebels

May 29, 08 10:14 PM CDT
(Newser) - FARC chief Manuel Marulanda’s death might not be a fatal blow to Colombia's Marxist rebels, but the Economist sees an organization on the way out anyway. In its mid-'90s heyday, FARC boasted a force of 19,000 soldiers that threatened Bogota, the capital; today, the group is fragmented, with... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Colombia • FARC • Alvaro Uribe • Manuel Marulanda • Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia • Colombian rebels • Alfonso Cano

Colombian Rebel Leader Rumored Dead

'Sure Shot' founded Marxist FARC more than 40 years ago

May 24, 08 5:48 PM CDT
(Newser) - Columbian rebel leader Manuel Marulanda Velez is dead, according to an interview with an official in a weekly magazine, AFP reports. The elusive FARC leader, known as “Sure Shot,” helped start the Marxist rebel group in the 1960s to battle Colombia's conservative government. He was rumored to have... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Colombia • FARC • Manuel Marulanda • Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia • Colombian rebels • Juan Manuel Santos

 Oil Breaks $125 a Barrel 

And heads for $126 as weakening dollar opens investors' wallets

May 9, 08 8:46 AM CDT
(Newser) - Oil climbed over $125 a barrel today, just ahead of the US driving season and propelled by investors jumping at a weaker dollar, the AP reports. Light, sweet crude for June rose to $125.98 on the New York Mercantile Exchange today, later dropping to $124.86 in Europe. More »

MORE ABOUT:
Venezuela • currency • gas prices • oil price • US dollar • Colombian rebels

France Bails
on Hostage
Rescue Mission

Colombian rebels
block medical help
for Betancourt

Apr 9, 08 5:35 AM CDT
(Newser) - A French humanitarian team is leaving Colombia after being frustrated in its mission to aid failing hostage Ingrid Betancourt, reports the BBC. The leadership of the FARC rebels, who have held the French-Colombian presidential candidate hostage for six years, refused to allow the team to provide Betancourt with emergency medical... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Nicolas Sarkozy • France • Colombia • Bernard Kouchner • FARC • Ingrid Betancourt • Clara Rojas • Colombian rebels

 Sarko: Betancourt Near Death 

French president renews call for FARC ro release hostage

Apr 1, 08 3:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy today reiterated his call for FARC to free hostage Ingrid Betancourt, saying the Colombian-French politician is "in danger of imminent death," Reuters reports. After 6 years in the rebel guerrillas' custody, Betancourt reportedly began a hunger strike Feb. 23. "Free Ingrid Betancourt and the weakest... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Nicolas Sarkozy • France • Colombia • FARC • Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia • Ingrid Betancourt • hunger strike • Colombian rebels • guerrilla groups • hostage

Venezuela Tried to Arm
FARC, Colombia Says

Unverified docs reveal activities of Colombian rebels

Mar 30, 08 3:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - Colombian officials claim to have computer files captured from its FARC rebels that indicate Venezuela sold arms to the terrorist group, the New York Times reports. If Interpol verifies the files, they would also suggest links between FARC and Ecuador’s government and provide insight into the rebel organization. Colombia... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Venezuela • Colombia • Ecuador • FARC • computer • Rafael Correa • Colombian rebels

Colombia to Pay Ex-Rebel $2.5M for Slaying

He shot his FARC boss, cut off his
hand as proof

Mar 15, 08 11:51 AM CDT
(Newser) - Colombia will pay the former FARC rebel who killed his commander last week part of a $2.5 million reward—a move critics say amounts to payment for murder, the BBC reports. Guerrilla Pedro Pablo Montoya shot his boss, then cut off his hand as proof. He will share the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
murder • Colombia • Juan Pablo Montoya • FARC • Alvaro Uribe • Raul Reyes • Colombian rebels • Ivan Rios

15 Stories


from our news partners