BOGOTA (Reuters) – Forty-five Colombian police, soldiers and guerrilla fighters have been killed over the past week as leftist rebels launch attacks meant to show they are still a threat after an eight-year US-backed security push.
President Juan Manuel Santos took office last month, promising to keep up pressure on the drug-running insurgents.
Colombians have come to expect a step-up in guerrilla violence at times of government transitions. But even with 45 deaths in one week, the current wave of assaults has had less impact than those seen during past changes in government.
The more than four-decades-old Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, has staged several attacks this month.
In one, it rocketed a police convoy, dousing the corpses of 14 officers with gasoline and torching them. In another, it struck a police station with homemade missiles, killing six.
Both hit-and-run attacks occurred in the southern province of Narino, a drug smuggling hub near Ecuador’s border. But the raids were a far cry from past sieges in which whole towns were taken, bridges destroyed and dozens of people kidnapped.
“What we are seeing now is on a much smaller scale than what occurred during past government transitions,” said Bogota-based security analyst Alfredo Rangel.
“The guerrillas want to show that they are still a threat. What they are showing is really the opposite,” he added.
Previous President Alvaro Uribe was seen as a hero by many for pushing the guerrillas out of the cities and off the highways, making the country safer for investment and sparking an oil and mining boom. His anti-rebel crackdown was helped by billions of dollars in mostly military aid from the United States.
Investors are embracing Santos’ policies aimed at consolidating Uribe’s security gains, sparking economic growth and cutting Colombia’s nagging fiscal deficits.
But Wednesday night TV news shows were once again filled with images of violence after a package bomb exploded outside government offices in the town of Pasto, leaving windows shattered and 12 people hurt. Authorities blamed the FARC.
Authorities say the smaller and weaker National Liberation Army, or ELN, is joining forces with the FARC to try to ensure its survival as both groups are pushed onto the defensive.
Santos has meanwhile moved to improve ties with neighbors Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama and Brazil, part of a drive to seek regional cooperation in the war against the FARC.
“As these countries move to protect their borders, the FARC will no longer be able to move as freely into other countries when they are escaping Colombian forces,” said Jimena Blanco, who covers Colombia for UK-based Latin American Newsletters.
