Following the demobilization of paramilitary organization AUC,
Colombia’s largest rebel group FARC made friends with emerging drug
gangs and made enemies with newly formed paramilitary groups, a
Colombian NGO says.
According to the New Rainbow corporation Colombia’s most famous and hated rebel group has made alliances with some groups that emerged from the AUC like that of ‘Don Mario‘ and has had serious clashes with the Águilas Negras, a paramilitary group that also emerged from the demobilized AUC, El Espectador reported Monday.
The guerrillas have pacts with Colombia’s second largest leftist rebel group ELN in some parts, but are being fought by the ELN in other parts, the corporation says.
The alliances made are not of any idealist nature, but mostly for convenience and to assure the income from the drug trade isn’t threatened.
The FARC’s most stable partners seem to be Daniel ‘Don Mario’ Rendón — allegedly running the drug trade in the west of Colombia — and Pedro ‘Cuchillo’ Olivero Guerrero, controlling large parts of the eastern drug routes.
The pacts seem non-agression agreements and only last as long as suitable for either one of the parties. The corporation said they found no evidence of actual collaboration between the groups.