COLOMBIA: AT LEAST 53 PEOPLE MAINLY MARXIST GUERRILLAS BUT ALSO GOVERNMENT SOLDIERS AND TWO CIVILIANS ARE KILLED IN FIERCE FIGHTING
Record ID:
588554
COLOMBIA: AT LEAST 53 PEOPLE MAINLY MARXIST GUERRILLAS BUT ALSO GOVERNMENT SOLDIERS AND TWO CIVILIANS ARE KILLED IN FIERCE FIGHTING
- Title: COLOMBIA: AT LEAST 53 PEOPLE MAINLY MARXIST GUERRILLAS BUT ALSO GOVERNMENT SOLDIERS AND TWO CIVILIANS ARE KILLED IN FIERCE FIGHTING
- Date: 12th July 2002
- Summary: (W1) LA PLATA, HUILA, COLOMBIA (JULY 12, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. HELICOPTER LANDING 0.05 2. VARIOUS OF SUSPECTED MEMBERS OF REVOLUTIONARY ARMED FORCES OF COLOMBIA (FARC) KILLED IN FIGHTING (4 SHOTS) 0.26 3. VARIOUS OF REBELS CAPTURED DURING FIGHTING (2 SHOTS) 0.35 4. VARIOUS OF ARMY COMMANDER SPEAKING WITH CAPTURED REBELS (2 SHOTS) 0.45 5. TSLV BODIES ON GROUND - PAN TO CAPTURED REBEL STANDING IN FRONT OF REBELS KILLED 0.52 6. BV COLOMBIAN ARMED FORCES COMMANDER, GENERAL FERNANDO TAPIAS, BEFORE SOLDIERS 0.59 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) TAPIAS SAYING "Thirty of the combatants have been recovered here and that is why I continue to insist that this Army is well prepared, the Air Force is very capable and I don't understand why in their delirium these terrorist continue to send children to their death. The death of these young people fooled by these delinquents hurts me like it hurts any Colombian. That is why the entire country and the same members of the groups should contribute in giving in the leaders to justice." 1.27 8. VARIOUS OF CONFISCATED WEAPONS (4 SHOTS) 1.47 9. MV ARMY COMMANDER DECORATING SOLDIERS 1.54 10. MVs SOLDIER STANDING (2 SHOTS) 2.05 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 27th July 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LA PLATA, HUILA, COLOMBIA
- Country: Colombia
- Reuters ID: LVA2J2YGCEEDHSF7P6JHFAKY06HV
- Story Text: At least 53 people, mainly Marxist guerrillas but also
government soldiers and two civilians, have been killed in
fierce fighting in several parts of Colombia.
The bloodiest combat took place near the town of La Plata,
in the southwestern province of Huila, on Thursday (July 11, 2002)
where soldiers killed 30 leftist guerrillas from the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or "FARC".
Military officials said in response, Colombian jets bombed
rebel positions more than 9,850 feet (3,000 meters) above sea
level, some 185 miles (300 km) northeast of Colombia's
capital, Bogota.
They said soldiers were fighting a combined contingent
from the FARC, and the smaller, Cuban-inspired National
Liberation Army, which is known by the Spanish initials "ELN".
On Friday (July 12), military officials escorted
journalists to the site of the fighting were many of the
suspected rebels' bodies were laid out. They were also shown
at least eight suspected guerrillas who were captured during
the fighting.
"The death of these young people fooled by these
delinquents hurts me like it hurts any Colombian. That is why
the entire country and the same members of the groups should
contribute in giving in the leaders to justice," said Armed
Forces Commander, Fernando Tapias who was on hand for the
decoration of several soldiers involved in the fighting.
Thousands of people are killed every year in Colombia's
38-year-old conflict. The rebels and far-right paramilitaries
increasingly fund their war with money from cocaine.
Colombia, which supplies more than 70 percent of the
world's cocaine, called off peace talks with the FARC in
February. Bogota has asked the United States, which brands the
rebels drug-trafficking "terrorists," to allow it to fight
rebels with U.S. aid now restricted to the war on drugs.
In many areas, the 17,000-member FARC and the
5,000-member ELN have begun to join forces to stave off
incursions by the army and about 10,000 paramilitary outlaws.
The fresh fighting comes just over a week after the army
said it killed 14 rebels in jungle clashes in the far north
and south of the war-torn Andean nation.
President-elect Alvaro Uribe, who takes office Aug. 7,
wants to triple military spending to end the anarchy in much
of Colombia's countryside.
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