Colombia: August 22, 2005

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Peace is not popular with everyone in Colombia. The disarmament of the AUC militias is causing much anger and upset among the leftist rebels that refuse to take a similar deal. The AUC arrangements are very popular inside Colombia. So leftist FARC and ELN have mobilized their allies outside the country, trying to get leftist media and journalists to pressure politicians to pressure Colombia to halt the AUC disarmament. It's all about money and power. Without their thousands of armed men, the leftist gangs would lose the revenue from their drug dealing, kidnapping and extortion activities. Demobilization would also mean having to obey the law like everyone else. This is not a popular concept among the leftist rebels.