In other words

COLUMBIA KIDNAPPING CAPITAL

Special to The Province

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is the most dangerous
terrorist organization in the Western Hemisphere. It comprises some 18,000
members who have made Colombia the most violent country in the Americas and
the nation with the highest rate of kidnappings in the world.

The FARC is banned in the United States and Panama, yet no effort has been
make to outlaw it in Canada.

The organization's terrorist activities include bombings, hijackings,
murders and extortion. The primary targets are not Colombian political and
military objectives, but innocent civilians and foreign tourists, who are
used as a source of income and as political bargaining chips.

FARC's actions are not driven by ideology, but by money -- drug money. The
terrorist organization exists to produce and sell heroin and cocaine for
consumption in North America's illicit drug market.

Therefore, Canada must do all it can to work with its partners to reduce
the domestic consumption of cocaine and heroin, for it is the trade of
these drugs that engineers the destabilization of Colombia and the region.
Lastly, our Solicitor General must do the right thing and put the FARC on a
list of organizations like Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, whose activities
are banned in Canada.

The FARC is a terrorist group, nothing more and nothing less. It should be
treated accordingly.

- -- Dr. Keith Martin, M.D., M.P.

Esquimalt - Juan de Fuca