The FARC are planning to infiltrate social organizations and instigate popular protests, Colombia’s Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon claimed Wednesday.
“For several months we have found proofs in objects seized from the FARC terrorist organization that they plan to infiltrate social organizations,” said Pinzon in a Defense Ministry press release.
The high-ranking official added that authorities wished to warn the Colombian people of the FARC’s intentions while safeguarding the public’s right to protest.
“What we have wanted in the first place is to protect [the act of] social protest, which is the right of Colombians and announce to all organizations that they should be careful because we know the FARC has a plan to infiltrate and organize social movements,” he said.
Pinzon said the armed forces and police were investigating the alleged plan, and looking to ascertain which members of the leftist guerrilla group were involved.
“There are a number of social organizations, community action groups and other groups targeted for infiltration and are intended to be used by the armed organization to use the community abusively and their right to protest to try to forward the terrorist group’s agenda,” Pinzon said.
The defense official did not say which organizations could be targeted.
In September last year President Juan Manuel Santos warned the FARC had managed to infiltrate social protests, and hinted guerrillas had been involved in disturbances that month at Bogota’s Universidad Distrital.