Word: marulanda
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...sheer firepower and tenacity of the rebels--led by Manuel ("Sureshot") Marulanda--have pinned down successive governments for 38 years and made Washington wary of involvement. "We don't want to get into another Vietnam down there," says a senior Army officer assigned to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "Right now, there's no guarantee the Colombian government is going to win, and we don't want to back the losers--again." After McCaffery's visit, however, it was still tough to spot the winners...
...country's third attempt at peace in 17 years. But the fiesta of tropical bands, stuffed pig and beer, attended by luminaries like Colombia's Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, couldn't rise above the jolting absence of the FARC's mysterious 68-year-old chief, Manuel ("Sureshot") Marulanda. He had been expected to attend but instead left Pastrana forlorn at the head of the table and the peace talks in doubt. Marulanda privately told government officials he still supports the process but warned, "We will remain in a fighting stance...
...FARC said Marulanda feared an assassination attempt, but many Colombians fear that the guerrillas aren't really serious about peace. Sureshot's snub makes the U.S. nervous as well. If Pastrana's efforts fail to hold Colombia together--if the FARC solidifies its sovereignty over coca-land--the U.S. war on drugs in Colombia could unravel. Washington spends more than $100 million annually to help Colombia's national police destroy coca crops but to little avail--largely because the FARC earns 40% of its estimated $1 billion annual income from a tax it levies on coca farmers to protect their...