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Comment by boterock | Hacker News Reader

I always thought of this as a gimmick from the government. Why would they risk an operation just to send hopes to the hostages. I always felt this was more to get good will from people than for the hostages themselves.

And as always, only part of the story is told. Who were the guerrilla? who where the hostages? not defending them, but in the countryside is common that the guerilla defends the farmers, and the hostages are corrupt politicans.

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I would suggest you look up a bit on the history of the conflict, which is long and very bloody. Most of the time its regular citizens and army personnel that are kidnapped (it's a business in human trafficking) - i knew some of them and the experiences are horrific.

As a Colombian the entire country has been terrorized by FARC for decades now. They will kill even civilians.

Have you shared this opinion with any Colombian people?

I’m not Colombian, so I can’t be certain, but my impression is that 99% of them hate the FARC.

Having been to Colombia recently, this sounds quite possible.

There's no angels in this conflict and support is definitely divided.

Yep that impression is correct. Speaking from experience.

That is exactly the point. That is the impression, impression made by media mostly.

Have you spent any considerable amount of time living in Colombia to feel confident enough to make these type of claims: "not defending them, but in the countryside is common that the guerilla defends the farmers, and the hostages are corrupt politicans."

A close family member of mine was kidnapped in the early 90's and I can assure you that he was neither a politician or a corrupt one at that. First thing he did after paying his ransom was to send his children abroad where they remain to this very day.

Aren't you aware that Colombia has the highest number of internally displaced people in the world at 8 million! Guerrillas aren't solely responsible for this, but the paramilitary groups which are equally responsible emerged as a desperate response to counter their growing power and influence throughout large regions in the country.

Aren't you aware that guerrilla groups such as FARC recruited over 18,000 minors in the countryside against their will. Poor peasant children some as young as 12 forced to take up arms and fight for a cause which long ago lost any credibility among the general public.

Would you mind pointing me to the media that you consume which has allowed you to have such an enlightened perspective which seems to elude those of us living in Colombia?

I don’t know if you’re Colombian, but this sounds like Marxist wishful thinking. When I was there with my Colombian ex, everywhere we drove around the countryside had military or police checkpoints, and at every one of them the people clapped, tooted the horn and yelled thank you out the window at the guys with guns outside. We went to visit one of her uncles who is an actual farmer growing soursops, and he told us stories of how the guerrillas came to extort people years before, and if you didn’t pay to support their “revolution” they would spray oil all over your farmland, ruining it.

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