Madam, - In your Editorial of July 4th about Farc's "bloody, pseudo-Marxist war against the Colombian authorities", you neglect to mention that, even by Washington's own estimates, about three-quarters of all killings relating to terrorism in Colombia have been committed by the so-called paramilitary organisations, most recently the United Self Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC). This figure is confirmed by the Human Rights Watch and others. The AUC is backed by the Colombian government and, by extension, the US.
The US even approved of cocaine smuggling as a means of funding such organisations in the past, as the US Congress could not always be relied upon to fund the Colombian government in its plan to "restore order". Alvaro Uribe's statement that he was not interested in spilling blood should also be taken with a very large pinch of salt, given his support for the murderous Convivir "neighbourhood watch" paramilitaries which sprang up in the 1990s. - Yours, etc,
ANDREW CONNELL,
Curragh Road,
Turners Cross,
Cork.