COLD WAR IN COLOMBIA?

The prospect of the US launching a new Vietnam campaign in Colombia is
enough to make almost anyone start to sympathise for the other side.

However, Duncan Campbell would do well to remember that just because the
FARC rebels' sworn enemies are in many cases as unpleasant as they are - an
army tarnished by human rights abuses paramilitary groups whose murderous
excesses surpass those of the guerrillas, a corrupt government - this does
not make them revolutionary heroes.

When they are not watching US television or holding earnest discussions of
current affairs round the campfire, the guerrillas are ruthless killers and
extortionists. They are succeeding in making normal economic life
impossible, and are helping to drive anyone with an education out of the
country.

They are relics of the Soviet era, cynically drawing upon a tradition of
rural revolt against central government to drum up recruits for their
outmoded ideological struggle.

Charles Linton, London