Colombia asks Denmark to curb guerrilla donations
Source: Reuters
BOGOTA, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Colombia has asked Denmark to crack down on donations made to Marxist guerrillas after a local trade union offered a contribution to a FARC rebel commander, authorities said on Wednesday. The Colombian foreign ministry asked the Danish government to investigate and sanction anyone responsible for providing financing to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC. "This is an everyday fight," Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo told reporters. "Some are convinced by nice discussions... presenting these terrorist groups as promoters of democracy on the international stage." The case follows another last year in which Denmark accused a group of Danish residents of supporting banned terrorist groups by making pro-FARC T-shirts to sell and send the proceeds to the guerrilla group. The United States and the European Union list the FARC, as a terrorist group blamed for holding hostages. One of those abducted by the FARC is French-Colombian citizen Ingrid Betancourt who has been held since in 2002. Colombia's complaint to Denmark came as France and other governments pressing President Alvaro Uribe and the FARC to reach a deal to free the hostages, some of whom have been held for years in jungle camps. Started in the 1960s as a group fighting for socialism, the FARC is Latin America's oldest insurgency, but it has been weakened by President Alvaro Uribe's U.S.-backed security campaign to drive the guerrillas into the jungles. U.S. and Colombian authorities say the FARC are now deeply engaged in the country's huge cocaine trade and even local left-wing leaders say the group long ago lost its political motivation and now has little popular support. (Reporting by Patrick Markey in Bogota)
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