Ten alleged members of the FARC’s political wing, the Clandestine Communist Party (PC3), who are suspected of infiltrating recent social protests across Colombia, were arrested by Colombia’s National Police Tuesday, W Radio reported.
According to authorities, the detainees were responsible for creating social unrest in Bogota, Barrancabermeja, Cali, Bucaramanga and Magdalena Medio.
The group is also believed to have participated in the kidnapping of city council members from various cities in southwest Colombia.
Operation “Alejandria” was the result of more than a year of investigation, in which nine raids were carried out. Five professionals were apprehended in all, along with two students, two human rights activists, and the girlfriend of “Camilo the Argentine”, a FARC leader who was arrested in 2008.
The police also confiscated 11 computers, five USB flash drives, and various military intelligence.
The detained were taken before a judge to face charges, including financing terrorism, administration of resources with relation to terrorist activities, conspiracy for aggravated crimes and rebellion.
The arrest comes a week after Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos announced that the FARC had infiltrated social protests based on information from intelligence sources, documents taken from computers seized by the Armed Forces and testimony from demobilized fighters.
“We know very well that the strategy of the FARC is to stimulate social protest and infiltrate these protests to cause violence, to cause chaos,” said Santos last Wednesday.