With banners and a revolutionary anthem, FARC rebels freed 70 captive soldiers in front of reporters, international observers and thousands
As part of the release deal, President
Ernesto Samper agreed to temporarily demilitarise a 13,000 km2 jungle zone, including Cartagena del Chaira on the of townspeople on June 15th. Colom- Caguan River.
pendent working class politics and the left, such a split would almost certainly take place in an unfavourable climate.
The NDP's Canadian nationalism leads it to hostility and a total lack of sympathy to
Quebec nationalism. In return, the NDP was totally repudiated in Quebec, winning only
2% of the vote. The NDP is formally in bia's main guerrilla group staged the elaborate ceremony in the remote southern town of Cartagena del Chaira in a bid to win political respect and capitalise on their biggest military victory in decades.
Guerrillas took the opportunity to
The clean-shaven and healthy captives arrived aboard Russian-made MI-17 helicopters provided by the government. They were accompanied by their rebel captors and Red Cross workers.
FARC rebels, wearing arm bands with declare they want a lasting peace, but the national colours of red, blue and favour of Quebec self-determination, but not unconditionally.
For
NDP leader
McDonough, "it all depends."
America's oldest conflicts seemed dim. their fight. "Desert at the slightest
The NDP's evasion of a principled, unconditional defence of self-determination extends into much if not all the labour movement and the broad left, which is very reluctant to take up the issue. This reflects a widespread lack of consciousness in English
Canada on the history and political signifiprospects that their gesture could presage an imminent end to one of Latin "The armed struggle will always be relevant in a country like Colombia, said rebel commander Joaquin Gomez. Rebel demands include land reform and redistribution of Colombia's oil wealth to help the poor.
yellow, handed out leaflets urging any young people in military service to join opportunity, preferably with your armyissue weapon," the leaflets read
The freed soldiers did not complain of mistreatment and said the guerrillas loaned them radios. They jogged, ate pasta and rice, slept in crude bunks and
In the government's most embar- endured insect bites.
cance of national oppression of the Québecois within the Canadian state. Most of the left and the labour movement have failed to distinguish politically between the current highly unattractive pro-capitalist nationalist leadership of the Quebec struggle and legitimate national demands. *
10 International Viewpoint #291 rassing defeat in more than 30 years, FARC [Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia] killed more than two dozen soldiers and captured 60 in an 30 August 1996 attack on a military base. Ten marines were seized in an attack in January this year.
Several rebels also used the occasion to meet with family members, before hoisting their knapsacks and heading out of town back toward their remote forest camps. * [AP] Source: Associated Press, 16 June 1997 See also: FARC:http://members.tripod.com/~farc