Colombia’s largest rebel group FARC is so broke, they are not able to
pay their outstanding debts, Colombian Defense Minister Santos says.
According to the minister there is not one front that doesn’t owe money to coca growers. “There are many cases of peasants being murdered because they complained about the not paying of debts,” Santos said.
Because of the military pressure on the guerrillas, they have been forced to leave the growing of coca to others and focus on the far less profitable production of coca base.
The Minister said the FARC has turned to kidnapping and extorting people in neighboring countries like Panama, Ecuador and Venezuela to make ends meet. Ecuador and Venezuela paramilitary forces are the cause of increased crime in the border areas.
