When a Massacre isn’t Just a Massacre: Bush’s Hand Behind the Murder of Raul Reyes

[magbana]

Here’s a terrific article translated from Spanish to English by the author of a ew blog, Machetera, at http://machetera.wordpress.com

Here are a few excerpts – go to the blog for full article:

"The recent military operation that took the life of the FARC commandante, Raúl Reyes, and around 20 FARC members, is part of a well-orchestrated U.S. campaign to impose the Free Trade Agreement and weaken the region's revolutionary process. U.S. spy planes directed the military operation, violating Ecuador's airspace. Researching the Bush government's participation is key to uncovering the strings that were pulled to unravel the humanitarian process heading toward peace. The empire's desperation indicates new attacks.

Foreign Spy Planes Coordinated the Action

"Certain reports, "inconvenient" for the Colombian government, have filtered through to the media, revealing more than Uribe and his bosses in Washington intended. One of these reports came to light on March 1, in a report on Channel One News. Let's look at what is said in one of the fragments presented as "unedited details of the operation". The reporter says: "February 20, only 10 days ago, (Colombian) Army intelligence knew that Commandante Raúl Reyes was in Sucumbíos province, in Ecuador. Agents analyzed photographs taken by foreign spy planes in Ecuadoran territory." Listen well. "Foreign spy planes!"

"FTA and Military Offensive: Coincidence?

The military action against the FARC coincides with the visit to Colombia of a nourished group of U.S. officials, headed no more and no less than by two of Bush's cabinet members: Carlos Gutierrez and Elaine Chao, Secretaries of Commerce and Labor, respectively. What were they doing in Colombia? Trying to gain ground ahead of the U. S. Congress, for the approval of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Uribe. The strategic importance of the FTA with Colombia was emphasized by Bush himself in his State of the Union speech at the beginning of this year: "These agreements also promote America's strategic interests…if we fail to pass this agreement, we will embolden the purveyors of false populism in our hemisphere."

[Judi Lynn]

1. Pretty cool that Correa was live on tv at the moment Uribe called him about the massacre.

The author of the story read it all correctly: it's exactly the effect Uribe was attempting to create in implying he had contacted Correa far, far earlier.

Looking forward to more information coming out as it's available. Thanks for this article.

[Peace Patriot]

2. Thank you for this post! I was coming to the same conclusions--

that this U.S./Colombia bombing and invasion was of a FARC group that was unarmed or very lightly armed, asleep, and on a peace mission (that the Mexican students were part of) to release Betancourt and 12 others.

The FARC rarely get sneaked-attacked. They've lasted in the jungle for more than 40 years, and have bested the Colombian military and paramilitaries in many ways. The fact that only one Colombian soldier was killed (and we don't know how) in an attack on 20-some supposed armed FARC guerrillas never did make any sense. Then we learned they were bombed by aircraft. Now we learn that a third or half of the group were students from Mexico, and that their purpose was to create a safe haven to bring Betancourt and the hostages to. And given this article's revelation (which I hadn't heard before) that CIA spies in Mexico got FARC's location from the Mexican students (clandestinely), and that sophisticated U.S. surveillance was also used (which I already knew), it's clear that the Bushites and Uribe KNEW that this was an unarmed group, with many non-combatants, and what their purpose was--releasing hostages.

Something else occurs to me; Was their purpose--in addition to killing Raul Reyes and killing hope for peace--to kill Betancourt, who, if she got released and is in good enough health, would be a rival to Uribe, and even if she is not well enough to run for office, could certainly rally a political cause to unseat him? I had thought they were, at the last, being careless of her life. But maybe they thought she would be there, and that they could get away with killing her as well, by claiming "hot pursuit." ("Hot pursuit" with aerial bombing--on sleeping people. Jeez.)

Thanks for more detail on this! Is the girl in the photo one of the Mexican students?