User login
Navigation
Reporters' Notebooks
- Brenda Norrell
- Don Henry Ford Jr.
- Marc Van Riper
- Kristin Bricker
- Bill Conroy
- Christopher Fee
- Gurujiwan Khalsa
- Okke Ornstein
- Jessica Davies
- Andrew Stelzer
- Maggie Von Vogt
- Al Giordano
- Allan Brauer
- Charlie Hardy
- RJ Maccani
- John Viescas
- Gregory Berger
- Katie Halper
- Benjamin Melançon
- John Slade
- Dennes Longoria
- Diana Barahona
- Romina Trincheri
- Erich Moncada
- Jay J. Johnson-Castro Sr.
- Narco News
- Mark Smith
- Daniel Fleming
- Nick Cooper
- Dan Feder
- Stephen Peacock
- Laura del Castillo
- Charles Mostoller
- Jeb Sprague
- David B. Briones
- Aaron Shuman
- Nancy Davies
- John Bruning
- Marcos Meconi
- Keith Yearman
- Jonathan Mills
- Cindy Lou Wilmore
- Sean Donahue
- Juan Trujillo
- Jeff Simpson
- Paul Henry
- George Salzman
- Christopher Whalen
- Simon Fitzgerald
- Wim Dankbaar
- Charles Faris
- Diego Mantilla
- Shawn O'Bryant
- Christopher Hyde
- David Keating
- Rich Gibson
- Anthony Fenton
- Steve Young
- Richard Pilkington
- Tatiana Ovando
- Jeremy Gordon
- Ricardo Sala
- Randall White
- Luis Gomez
- Teofilo Ballve
- Ben Masel
- Walt Lyford
- Jeremy Bigwood
- John F. Eden
- Irene Roca Ortiz
- Ron Smith
- Kevin Skerrett
- Jean Friedsky
- Gissel Gonzales
- María Eugenia Flores Castro
- José Mirtenbaum
- Manuela Aldabe
- Kevin Gallagher
- Bill Weaver
- Justin Delacour
- Claudia Espinoza
- Reber Boult
- Colleen Glynn
- Mike DAllaire
- Jennifer Whitney
- Stan Gotlieb
- Alex Satanovsky
- Marcel Miranda
- Nate Johnson
- Richard Eramian
- Pablo Mamani
- Paul Silvester
- Franz J.T. Lee
- Chris Herz
- Andrei Tudor
- Nora Callahan
- Julia Steinberger
- Fabio Mesquita
- Yasmin Khan
- Pablo Francischelli
- Baylen Linnekin
- Erik Siegrist
- Natalia Viana
- Amber Howard
- Linda Langness
- Kevin Okabe
- Sarah de Haro


ELN Finances
Submitted February 17, 2005 - 6:47 pm by Paul SilvesterI never know how accurate any of this information is but below are just a few quotes that attribute drugs as a source of finance for the ELN. I too would have liked to believe they were not. I have always considered them the most political of all the groups. They certainly do seem to be the least involved but they certainly seem to have their hands in the pie......
Dayton Model United Nations Conference (DAYMUNC) lists the following information.
There are numerous terrorist organizations, which participate in narco-terrorism. A few of them are listed as follows:
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Colombian leftist group, raises funds by taxing coca farmers in the Switzerland-sized zone of the country it controls. FARC forces peasant farmers to grow the coca used to make cocaine. It also makes money by protecting cocaine laboratories and clandestine airstrips and by trafficking in drugs locally.
The National Liberation Army (ELN), another Colombian leftist group, taxes growers of marijuana and opium poppies and protects drug-lab operations. However, it generates far less of its funding from drugs than does FARC.
The United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), which includes several right-wing paramilitary groups, gets 70 percent of its income from processing and exporting cocaine. It claims to be leaving the drug business, but experts doubt that all of its members will comply.
-------------------------------------------------- -----------------
The BBC (still I think the best mainstream news service in the world, but then I'm biased) ran an article on Jan 14 2001 entitled Inside a Cocaine Factory. Although it clearly states that the AUC and FARC were the main offenders it goes on to say;
We sat about for a day until going on to the ELN-controlled San Lorenzo. On the way we passed through an eerie, deserted village called Cuatro Bocas, where 10 villagers had been massacred a week earlier by the paramilitaries. We had seen abundant evidence that both FARC and ELN taxed the cocaine trade, but the ELN denied any involvement.
-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------
Global Security.Org on their website state;
The National Liberation Army (ELN) operates primarily along Colombia's north-eastern border with Venezuela and in central and north-western Colombia. The territories under ELN influence include cannabis and opium poppy growing areas. Some ELN units raise funds through extortion or by protecting laboratory operations. Some ELN units may be independently involved in limited cocaine laboratory operations, but the ELN appears to be much less dependent than the FARC on coca and cocaine profits to fund its operations. The ELN expresses a disdain for illegal drugs, but does take advantage of the profits available where it controls coca producing areas.
-------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
The Council on Foreign Relations state;
How are FARC and ELN funded?
Experts estimate that FARC takes in $200 million to $400 million annuallyat least half of its incomefrom the illegal drug trade. FARC also profits from kidnappings, extortion schemes, and an unofficial tax it levies in the countryside for protection and social services. Ransom or protection payments account for most of ELNs income, but it has also recently entered the drug trade.
-------------------------------------------------- ------------
I agree that 75% of the violence is attributed to the AUC, but do you remember May 2002, when a church was bombed in Choco province killed 117 people, who had taken refuge from the battle raging outside between FARC and the AUC. FARC accepted responsibility. That's a good stab at depopulation. And still I believe ranks as one of the worst, if not the worst single atrocity.