| Thousands of peasants survive
on the cultivation of coca used to make the drug and the Farc cannot take
this away from them, he said.
THE TIMES [London]
Friday, 15 October 1999
The Marxist mini-state
By Gabriella Gamini
WOMEN guerrillas, armed and dressed in battle fatigues, guarded a
roadblock on the potholed gravel road leading to the cattle town of San
Vicente del Caguan.
They marked the gateway into a Marxist mini-state, which Colombia's
largest left-wing rebel group is carving from the peasant-populated, cocaine-producing
southern jungle regions.
"From here on, you are under the jurisdiction of the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (Farc) and subject to guerrilla regulations and taxes,"
a stern-faced "Comrade" Maria said as she leafed through the documents
of a crowded bus of farmers taking their produce to San Vicente.
"The Farc are the government here," a 16-year-old guerrilla, wearing
a T-shirt imprinted with the face of Che Guevara, reiterated. She demanded
that the bus driver pay the equivalent of Pounds 13 in road tax and that
all the passengers buy a raffle ticket for an obligatory lottery organised
by the Farc. "This money will be used to build a Colombia equal for all,"
she declared, brandishing her AK47 machinegun.
We had entered the demilitarised zone, about the size of Switzerland,
that covers part of the southern states of Caqueta, Meta and Guaviare,
which the Government of President Pastrana handed over to the Farc guerrillas
six months ago in a conciliatory measure to lure them to peace talks.
The demilitarised region, joined with neighbouring jungle areas that
have been under guerrilla control for years, has placed what is the heartland
of cocaine production - it provides 80 per cent of the world's market -
almost entirely under the control of the Farc.
With the peace process now mired in a seemingly endless impasse, the
guerrillas have taken advantage and are making the zone into the base from
where to build their vision of a revolutionary utopia. In recent months,
they have regrouped, rearmed their cadres and widened their offensive against
army camps from inside the zone.
San Vicente del Caguan has turned into the capital of a showpiece mini-state,
where the Farc intends to run a Marxist regime on the back of taxes on
Colombia's most lucrative export - cocaine.
"We had to forgo one revolutionary ideal to achieve our ultimate idea
of a Marxist-run state," Commandant "Diego Velodrome" said. "Cocaine is
a cancer imposed on Colombia by the United States and we absolutely prohibit
its use in our regions, but since it is our country's major export, we
cannot forgo its lucrative income."
Thousands of peasants survive on the cultivation of coca used to make
the drug and the Farc cannot take this away from them, he said.
San Vicente is run on a strict regime and guerrillas patrol the town
around the clock to impose their rules. The central square in the town
is filled with signs outlining the Farc laws.
The effect is welcomed by many of San Vicente's 20,000 people. "This
used to be a den of vice and killings; since the rebels came, we live in
peace and order," Evert, a taxi driver, said.
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