IISS Strategic Dossier due out
Full title: 'The Farc Files: Venezuela, Ecuador and the Secret Archive of 'Raúl Reyes' is coming out next month and some here maybe interested.
The IISS advert:
Quote:
This Strategic Dossier provides unique insights into the thinking and evolution of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). It is based on a study of the computer disks belonging to Luis Edgar Devía Silva (aka Raúl Reyes), head of FARC’s International Committee (COMINTER), that were seized by Colombian armed forces in a raid in March 2008 on Devía’s camp inside Ecuador.
It shows how FARC evolved from a small, autarkic and strategically irrelevant group into an insurgent movement which, fuelled by revenues from narcotics production, came close to jeopardising the survival of the Colombian state. A key part of FARC’s evolution was the development of an international strategy aimed at acquiring financial support, arms and political legitimacy. The dossier looks in detail at FARC’s relations with Venezuela and Ecuador.
Link:http://www.iiss.org/publications/str...-of-ral-reyes/
In an email some more details:
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In the early hours of 1 March 2008 Colombian forces launched Operation Phoenix, an assault on a jungle camp of the country's largest insurgent group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The operation killed one of the group's leading members - Luis Edgar Devía Silva, better known as 'Raúl Reyes' - and over 20 other FARC operatives and camp visitors.
Operation Phoenix plunged Colombia's diplomatic relations with Venezuela and Ecuador into crisis - and not only because the camp had been located almost 2km inside the latter's territory. Along with Reyes' body, Colombia retrieved a metal briefcase with eight data-storage devices holding an archive of sensitive FARC correspondence and documents. The government wasted no time in releasing selected FARC emails to the media, claiming they provided evidence of official Venezuelan and Ecuadorian complicity with the group.
The Colombian government subsequently obtained confirmation from the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) that the archive had not been manipulated following its capture and exploited the operational leads that it provided over the following months. However, the vast majority of the information that it contained remained classified. Until now.
Several months after Operation Phoenix, senior officials from the Colombian Ministry of Defence invited the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) to conduct an independent analysis of the material. IISS researchers were granted unrestricted access to the archive and, since then, have exercised sole control over the research and publication process and the nature of the conclusions reached.
(Mod's Note:It was this that prompted merging the threads).
IISS Strategic Dossier is out
Full title: 'The Farc Files: Venezuela, Ecuador and the Secret Archive of 'Raúl Reyes' is now out, for details how to purchase:http://www.iiss.org/publications/str...3640&q=0~FarC~
There is a detailed commentary by IISS's Nigel Inkster (ex-SIS) which is worth a read:http://www.iiss.org/publications/str...utive-summary/
The launch was on May 10th and just noted (I am an IISS member).
WTF: Is Colombia Losing Now?
WTF: Is Colombia Losing Now?
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Plan Colombia could be a model for Afghanistan
This was just on the SWJ Blog feed from Foreign Affairs Journal. What a friggin' joke! Plan Colombia is nothing but a money pit failure. And now the same geniuses who put it in place want to couple it with the same geniuses who brought you "Hearts & Minds" and sissified Romeos in OIF and OEF? Is there no end to our stupidity?
More drugs are flowing into the US now than ever. While we would like to claim that it's a Mexico problem, the fact is that the Mexicans are just the transporting middle-men for the Colombians and their junkies in the US.
Link to cited article:http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...istan_colombia
Colombia president hails Farc leader Cano's killing
FARC leader's death: some details on covert aspects
An IISS Strategic Comment
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The death of FARC rebel leader Alfonso Cano during a Colombian special forces raid on 4 November 2011 was the latest in a series of government successes against the country's largest left-wing insurgent group. A fascinating article republished here from local magazine Semana shows in rare detail how his death resulted from a well-planned and adventurous intelligence operation – involving officers infiltrating communities deep inside FARC territory, masquerading as shopkeepers, drivers and more.
Quote:
The Semana article, which is based largely on interviews with some of the intelligence operatives involved in Operation Odyssey against Cano, may not tell the whole story. However, it shows in detail how intelligence, mostly human intelligence, built up over time and combined with well-planned military operations can transform counter-insurgency operations.
Link:http://www.iiss.org/publications/str...-alfonso-cano/
How America sustains it war on drugs
Interesting article in SWJ round up today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/03/us...=2&_r=1&ref=us
Police Officers Find That Dissent on Drug Laws May Come With a Price
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If marijuana were legalized, Mr. Gonzalez acknowledges saying, the drug-related violence across the border in Mexico would cease. He then brought up an organization called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition that favors ending the war on drugs.
Those remarks, along with others expressing sympathy for illegal immigrants from Mexico, were passed along to the Border Patrol headquarters in Washington. After an investigation, a termination letter arrived that said Mr. Gonzalez held “personal views that were contrary to core characteristics of Border Patrol Agents, which are patriotism, dedication and esprit de corps.”
More than a little concerning that a view that doesn't support the failed war on drugs is viewed as non-patriotic. This is a way to guaruntee group think by prohibiting those on the front line to provide their insights on a policy that is not producing the desired results. I suspect the idiot who wrote this letter wasn't really interested in whether the drug war was working, but very interested in protecting their budget, and used patriotism as a Red Herring.
Should U.S. Troops Fight the War on Drugs?
Should U.S. Troops Fight the War on Drugs?
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Network adaption and concerns
An interesting series of articles enclosed to demonstrate growing trends and links between networks.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/09/justic...ing/index.html
Puerto Rico: A forgotten front in America's drug war?
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But some analysts say a new trend may be pushing even more cargo containers, fishing boats and yachts with hidden compartments toward Puerto Rico's shores from South America (often by way of the Dominican Republic).
Faced with increased security at the Mexico-U.S. border, cartels may be searching for other trafficking routes, some analysts and officials speculate.
"If you attack one front, if you put your resources there, they search for other avenues, and the Caribbean is one of those avenues," says Pedro A. Velez Baerga, an attorney and former deputy U.S. Marshal in Puerto Rico.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/09/us/mex...usa/index.html
In small-town USA, business as usual for Mexican cartels
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News of cartel machinations are common in cities near the border, such as Phoenix, and the far-flung drug hubs of New York, Chicago or Atlanta, but smaller towns bring business, too. In unsuspecting suburbs and rural areas, police are increasingly finding drugs, guns and money they can trace back to Mexican drug organizations.
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In 2009 and 2010, the center reported, cartels operated in 1,286 U.S. cities, more than five times the number reported in 2008. The center named only 50 cities in 2006.
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It's a microcosm of what's happening in the country, as cartels quietly begin operating anywhere that lends them a competitive advantage in a market that contains about 4 percent of the world's population yet consumes roughly two-thirds of its illegal drugs.
The core of the problem is market demand. Drilling down another level there is a serious problem with our culture that somehow promotes addictive behavior whether it is video games, smoking, junk food, and of course drugs. More and more people are in search of a quick pleasure hit, and are void of values to guide their life. And we want to promote our culture globally?
http://www.capradio.org/news/npr/sto...RERqYI.twitter
Mexicans Want New Approach To Bloody Drug War
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Pena Nieto's strategy — targeting criminal violence over pursuing and arresting capos — would be more popular than the current approach.
"People don't care about the drugs; people don't care about the narcos. It's the violence associated with the drugs," says Carlos Seoane, vice president for the security firm Pinkerton Consulting and Investigations in Mexico. There's a name for this strategy, he says — crime management.
"So what has to be the message?" Seoane continues. "If you go over this line we will fight you until we eliminate you. We can do business as long as there are no killings, no shootings, everything quiet like it was in the past."
An interesting discussion, and if the political situation actually drives this course of action after the election it will have major implications for our current strategy.
http://www.krgv.com/news/increase-ex...sing-into-rgv/
Increase Expected in Chinese Illegal Immigrants Crossing into RGV
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He says the Zetas and Chinese mafia have a drug trafficking network that runs through Latin America. U.S. drug agents and customs officers intercepted 40-foot containers filled with a highly dangerous and addictive drug used to make methamphetamine. The containers were headed to the Zetas in Belize. The seizure is reportedly worth $10 billion.
"If the intelligence continues to show the Chinese are partnering with the Zetas, you're going to see an obvious increase in the number of Chinese coming across," says Jordan.
The U.S. State Department's 2010 human trafficking report states the Zetas have the biggest human trafficking network in the world transporting Asians. They charge up to $70,000 or more per person. According to Jordan, human trafficking is the cartels' second biggest moneymaker.