President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia is a popular president, with 70 percent approval ratings after six years in power. He is renowned for his tough stance on “democratic security.” Most of all, he is known for crushing the Marxist rebels, and freeing Colombian cities in the process. Uribe’s government issues the report that approximately 114,000 members of the warring factions have been neutralized over his six years in power. Unfortunately for him, other people counted, too, and the figure only adds up to 30,000 estimates. There appears to be a huge gap in figures.

Codhes is a Colombian NGO and a human rights group that analyzed the government’s statistics. The group avers that the claims of the armed forces are a hyperbole in the conflict that has been ongoing for the past 44 years. If the government figures were to be believed, it would mean that ‘eight members of the warring factions are killed every single day in Colombia.’ Unbelievable, the group says.

In spite of people’s suggestion to talk peace with the guerrillas, the idea does not sit well with Uribe whose father was killed by a Marxist guerrilla. Uribe, thus, is being criticized on all fronts. Add to this is the fact that mounting evidence has been found pointing to the military ‘killing unarmed civilians and presenting them as illegal armies killed in combat.’

Another angle makes this story more colorful. Some confirm that the Colombian government wages a sweet psychological war with guerrillas by paying off deserters. In one year alone, there were 2,500 surrenderees. The US and Uribe are decimating the FARC with the use of hard cold cash.

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Via BBC