Hijacked Plane

[digital1942]

 I heard in the news this morning that a plane of a domestic Airline called Aires was hijacked today on route to Bogota.  Yahoo News covered the story also.  Does this mean the planes are going to be unsafe now also?

 

[Cali vet]

... in response to Hijacked Plane, posted by digital1942 on Feb 20, 2002

Thinking back after this latest hijacking I remember seeing some military presence at El Dorado in Bogota, a liitle police presence in Cali and nothing at the airort in Barranquilla. What can they be thinking?!

[markxport]

... in response to Hijacked Plane, posted by digital1942 on Feb 20, 2002

The plane was going from a province to the capital.  I doubt security is as tight in the outlying areas.  However, any international flight to and from Bogota should be very tight.  I'm sure Cali will be the same.

Take care,

Mark

[JunFanTX]

... in response to Re: Hijacked Plane, posted by markxport on Feb 20, 2002

Yeah, but there was a Colombian Senator on-board who was their target.  They hi-jacked the plane, forced it to land in a small town near the DMZ so they could make off with the high-profile hostage (actually they kidnapped 3).

You would think that they would have had alot of security given that a Senator was on board.

Mike

[Slowandtru]

... in response to Re: Re: Hijacked Plane, posted by JunFanTX on Feb 20, 2002

With elections coming up for President and the extreme right-wing candidate polling at an unheard of 52% you can expect things to heat up significantly. 'The seemingly new' president has run on a platform of stomping the guerillas and the paramilitary and since the people are tired of the  wimpy placating of the man now in the office the hijacked plane is probably just the tip of the iceberg. There have been bombings in Bogota just recently and I heard gunfire and choppers over the phone while talking with my Novia in Cali just a week ago. The guerillas and the paramilitary have been getting paid off by the drug lords... and the government if one can believe the incountry rumors... for some time now. That translates into more and better weapons. The IRA was there recently trying to sell the weapons that they were supposedly 'putting down' for peace talks. They were training troops too. You might remember a couple of them who were killed recently and the news was speculating about what that meant. Every citizen in Colombia knows exactly what it means; weapons and tactics, mercenaries and accelerated aggression. "Stay tuned. Film at eleven."

[Pete E]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: Hijacked Plane, posted by Slowandtru on Feb 20, 2002

The solution in Colombia,similar to the US solution to terrorism is go get them where they live.If they don't they will just keep getting more of the same.It seems like a weird little window for the revolutionaries.They can pull off these things while the guy who might do something about it is not yet in office.But they are probably helping him get elected.There probably will be alot more turmoil in the next few years,but if the government follows through the problem could be ended,instead of another 30 years of BS.
Yeah they got drug money,but their numbers are small.Colombia could easily take care of them once they grow the cajones to do it.Maybe they need a really big wake up call like we got.These terrorists are so stupid,the more successfull they are the more they assure their destruction.

Pete

Pete

[Cali vet]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: Re: Hijacked Plane, posted by Pete E on Feb 20, 2002

Unfortunately destruction of the FARC and ELN is the least likely outcome. After 38 years they are today at the top of their form. Last week they started using Russian made ground to ground missels. They can't be gotten where they live because they don't live anywhere. No doubt we'd all love to see a "Proof of Life" (movie) solution where American troops go in, clean up the mess and everyone lives happily ever after but that will never ever happen. Even with a hard liner like Uribe the outlook is gloomy. I've often heard it said that what Colombia needs is a Fujimori but the problem with that is that the Sendero Luminoso was no FARC or even ELN. The solution to peace in Colombia is sadly, still a long way off.

[Pete E]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hijacked Plane and....., posted by Cali vet on Feb 20, 2002

I don't buy that the guerillas are so tough.The government of Colombia has never really went after them.I think alot of them would be back on their farms fast if the ever thought they were going to get in a real fight.
Reminds me of Saddam Hussiens feared 4th largest army in the world.We went through them like a hot knife through butter once we decided to do it.And the FARC are nothing like that at all.A bunch of bandits that have been unchallenged except by the counter
revolutionaries.Afganistan might be a lesson for Colombia here.We used some people with less than sterling human rights records to win that one.Give Castana a little air cover and get out of his way and its over in a few weeks.

Pete

[Cali vet]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hijacked Plane a..., posted by Pete E on Feb 21, 2002

Pete I think you're watching too many reruns of "Proof of Life". When every other Colombian citizen has friends, family, maybe even a daughter and son in law in the U.S. (ring a bell?) it's a little hard to go in with guns blazing indescriminately. However it's very likely that the next president will take a harder line. We'll just have to wait and see what happens. By the way who is Castana?

Cali-vet

[Pete E]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hijacked Pla..., posted by Cali vet on Feb 21, 2002

Carlos Castana is the leader of the counter revolutionary group.I think they are called AUC.He said if the government doesn't take care of the rebels in the next few months he will.They catch alot of flack whenever they do anything.A friend in Popiyan says when Castana kills some rebels the news always reports it as farmers.He said they are rebels who are also farmers.The US in the past has given Colombia a bad time for allowing AUC to opperate.Elements of the military support them.Its like there is this leftist media slant that critisises what the AUC does because they have some support within the government while they ignore what the rebels are doing.
Yes they can go in with guns blazing.Thats our response,correctly so I think,to 9/11.Thats the only way they are going to get rid of these people.Negotiation has been a dismal failure.Looks like Pastrana grew a pair of cajones yesterday,or maybe Colombia had their 9/11,because they are attacking the rebels today.He has such a weak record in dealing with the rebels its hard to believe he is actually going to do something.I think the Colombian people will overwhelmingly support this.
Pastrana was quoted yesterday as saying
"the rebels have shown their hand,they support senseless violence."Duh,where he been for 30 years.

Pete

[Cali vet]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hijacked..., posted by Pete E on Feb 21, 2002

Yup Carlos Castana is the man alright. It was his guys who went into Naya and chopped the townspeople up with chainsaws a couple of months ago. That's cool though, he's "right-wing". Well when they go in with guns blazing you better hope the stray bullets don't take out your wife's family and that's exactly why the US can't go in carpet bombing.

[Pete E]

... in response to Yes...Carlos, posted by Cali vet on Feb 21, 2002

I am suspect of reporting of what Castana has done.My friends tell me there is a huge media bias against him.Of course no one wants innocents killed,but it does happen in war.Chain saws?That would be very bad PR and counterproductive.Of course several members of Castana's family were killed by rebels.He has no qualms about killing them.
The death toll would be much less in a short fight vs.a long drawn out situation like the last 30 years.
My relatives are in Cali.The risk there is terrorism,not that it will become a battleground.Yes carpet bombing is probably not the method needed.Because of the terrain air forces usefullness may be limited.They are going to have to go in with soldiers and maintain a pressence there.It requires manpower,but its better than just handing huge areas of the country to rebel control and extortion.And manpower the Colombians have.They have 40,000,000 people,many unemployed.The costs would probably be offset by the economic boost that could occur if Colombia gets rid of these problems.Its killing them.Who wants to invest?Who wants to visit except for crazy gringos chasing women?
What a place Colombia would be without the rebels and the crime.Its beautifull.Lots of natural resources.A population that loves their country and wants to work.For all of these problems Colombians have alot of national pride.

Pete

[Cali vet]

... in response to Re: Yes...Carlos, posted by Pete E on Feb 21, 2002

You can look up the massacre in Naya by auto-defenses if you are suspect of the report. It occured from April 10 through 13, 2001. Fourty townspeople were killed, many cut open with chain saws.

Of course no one in his right mind would argue that the FARC haven't wrought disaster on the Colombian economy. I find it amazing that the country manages to struggle along economicly despite the rebels best efforts to destroy anything that can boost it. Fortunately there are only an estimated seventeen thousand of them not the fifty thousand you mentioned elsewhere.