DRUG LORD COULD EMBARRASS GUERRILLAS AND GOVERNMENT

Can Marxism be diluted by cocaine? The arrest in Colombia of a
notorious Brazilian drug baron, Luis Fernando Da Costa, alias
Fernandinho Beira Mar, could provide conclusive proof that Farc
(Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) is more deeply involved in
international drug trafficking than it admits.

Could it be that Farc, the longest-standing guerrilla movement in
Latin America, which admits to levying a revolutionary tax on drug
profits, is now little more than a "narco-terrorist" organisation, as
has long been claimed by the Colombian military and the United States?

Da Costa was caught by the Colombian army on April 21 after a lengthy
manhunt. He was extradited to Brazil where he is accused of at least
10 murders, drug trafficking, illegal arms dealing, money laundering
and other offences. He had been on the run since his escape in 1997
from a Brazilian prison where he was serving a 33-year sentence. In
Colombia Da Costa stands accused of having bought drugs from Farc.

Three thousand troops from the Rapid Deployment Force spent three
months combing the Amazonian jungle in the east of Colombia in search
of the guerrilla forces that were suspected of harbouring him. At the
beginning of April the army searched an abandoned camp and found a
list of telephone numbers and an exercise book full of personal notes
by Da Costa that directly implicated Tomas Medina, alias El Negro
Acacio, the local Farc leader. As a result the Colombian justice
authorities issued for the first time a warrant for the arrest of a
guerrilla commander on trafficking charges.

Da Costa's revelations could prove to be an embarrassment to
Andrés Pastrana's government, which has been engaged in
political negotiations with Farc for the past two years. "No country
in the world would give its support to a peace process with an
organisation involved in drug trafficking," Pastrana has said. "It is
up to the armed movements to prove that they are not involved in that
kind of criminal activity."

During the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City on April 20-22
Washington reiterated its support for Pastrana's policies. But as part
of its drive against drug traffickers the US justice department is
reportedly thinking of applying for the extradition of some members of
Farc's general secretariat. That would scuttle the peace process,
because it would bar the way to the possible rehabilitation of the
rebel leaders.

Although Farc gets a substantial amount of its revenues from drug
trafficking, that does not mean it has become a mafioso organisation.
Alfredo Rangel, an expert on armed conflict, says: "Farc remains a
political structure whose fundamental aim is to seize power by force.
For the guerrilla fighters drug money is a means, not an end."

From a revolutionary point of view it would be illogical for a
movement such as Farc not to take advantage of the revenues generated
by wealthy, cocaine-snorting Americans.

However, Ricardo Garcia, a political analyst, puts forward another
argument: "By financing its struggle with morally unacceptable
resources, Farc has sold its soul to the devil. The guerrillas are
dogmatic Marxists and have been unable to square their practices with
their arguments by, for example, making out drug trafficking to be an
instrument in the struggle against American imperialism. Because it
has failed to exploit its ill-gotten military power, Farc has now
painted itself into a corner."