TERRORISM AND TERRORIST IN COLUMBIA

Colombia’s three terrorist organizations—the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), National Liberation Army (ELN), and United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC)—were responsible for some 3,500 murders in 2002. By February, President Pastrana had broken off three-year-old peace talks—a cornerstone of his presidency—with Colombia’s largest terrorist organization, the 16,000-member FARC. That month, the group’s abduction of a Colombian Senator during an airliner hijacking proved to be the incident that led to the collapse of the discussions. In addition to ending the dialogue, Pastrana also terminated the group’s despeje, or demilitarized zone, where the FARC had been allowed to exist without government interference during the deliberations.

The inauguration of President Alvaro Uribe on 7 August 2002 set the stage for an intensified war on domestic terrorism. The FARC carried out errant mortar attacks on a military facility and the Presidential Palace—with heads of state and high-level representatives from many nations in attendance—resulting in the deaths of 21 residents of a poor Bogota neighborhood near the Palace. President Uribe has proposed pension and labor reforms and has imposed a government austerity program, as well as a one-time “wealth tax,” to improve Bogota’s fiscal ability to prosecute its war on terrorism. Bogota’s goal is to increase government defense spending from 3.2 percent of gross domestic product to more than five percent. Colombia is party to four of the 12 international conventions and protocols relating to terrorism.

In 2002, as in years past, Colombia endured more kidnappings (roughly 3,000) than any other country in the world. Ransom payments and extortion fees demanded by the primary perpetrators of kidnapping—the FARC and ELN— continued to hobble the Colombian economy and limit investor confidence and became an important source of terrorism financing. Since 1980, the FARC has murdered at least 10 US citizens, and three New Tribes Missionaries abducted by the FARC in 1993 remain unaccounted for. Throughout 2002, Colombia was highly cooperative in blocking terrorist assets. Bogota created the Financial Information and Analysis Unit, to combat money laundering. Bogota also has been very responsive to US requests for extradition. As of 6 December, Colombia had extradited 29 Colombian citizens to the United States during 2002, with 26 additional cases pending. Of the six FARC members indicted for the capture and killing in 1999 of three US peace activists, one has been apprehended. Three other FARC members not included in the original indictment were arrested in November 2002 in connection with the murders. The FARC and the AUC continued their practice of massacring one another’s alleged supporters, especially in areas where they were competing for narcotics-trafficking corridors and prime coca-growing terrain.

HOW ARE THESE WORDS LOADED?
'Anarchist,' 'freedom fighter,' 'fundamentalist,' 'terrorist.' These words are thrown about today with seeming abandon. But each of these terms, and hundreds like them, have connotations and denotations charged with meanings which can be used strategically by politicians, journalists, and ordinary citizens. Talking Terrorism defines, traces, and explains the loaded, controversial, confusing, and shifting language that surrounds terrorist activity. The dictionary comprises words used to characterize individuals, groups, or countries that commit or support acts of political violence. Also covered is the closely related language that conveys the justifications and agendas of those responding to violence, including these groups' self-characterizations, which might entail the masking of a multitude of sins. In addition, the ways terrorists use language to smear enemies, recruit and inspire group members, and communicate the righteousness of their causes are examined. Following an A-to-Z format, Talking Terrorism identifies and defines terms in dictionary style, then explores the charged meanings of the words, and often supplies examples of the words' usage. Cross-references will lead readers to related words and show the complicated web of words used in this verbal warfare. In the words and verbal maneuvers discussed in the dictionary, readers will see how enemies are manufactured through demonization, biased media coverage and government spin in action, and brutality legitimized as virtue, along with the besmirching of its victims. Much of what readers will find may not seem encouraging, yet Talking Terrorism will open the eyes and ears of anyone who wants to come to grips with today's tumultuous political world.