Colombia as of 11:10pm

I don't know, everything is pretty much the same. You can't really see too much difference. School resumes tomorrow as scheduled. (They have a screwy Christmas Break schedule.) There was suppose to be a 9pm curfew, but it does not look like it is being enforced and that maybe due to the fact that the Government and the FARC have agreed to resume "Peace Talks." The street in front of Third Brigade was closed off and that was about it. I'm sure the troops were on and are still on a high state of alert.
As far as the attitude toward Americans, I haven't seen any change whatsoever. Life in Cali is the same as it was last week and the week before that, etc.
Yes, some s**t is going to happen eventually, if one side of the talks don't get what they want, just expect that.
All out Civil War? Some guy that wanted to remain nameless suggested this. Naw, come on. "All out," would mean involving the entire country and it's military resources. So far, except for some bombings, some kidnappings, and murders, hostilities (Resembeling Military Skirmishes) have been pretty localized to the Los Pozos ("FARClandia") area. The rest is Terrorism. Also, to "The Nameless One" Colombia is spelled C O L O M B I A and not C O L U M B I A.
Ok. FARC, ELN, AUC and the rest of them field MAYBE 50,000 troops. Let's be very generous and say an even 100,000 troops, reservists, sympathizers, collaboraters, etc. This country is the size of Texas or Bigger. There are 42,400,000 people living in this country. As of 2001, Colombia has a standing army of 130,000, 30 light tanks, a Navy with 15,000 Sailors and 4 submarines (Didn't know that one, huh?), 4 surface combat ships, 27 armed patrol craft, 8,500 Marines (Yes, American Marines have been here training them), an Air Force with 8,000 personel and 72 combat aircraft, and a national Police Force of 95,000. In Addition, there are 3 Rapid Deployment Battalions trained by American Special Force units and upwards of 60,000 Military reservists. Not to mention the 16 new BlackHawks that were sent over last week. Against what? The FARC is not a top notch military power, by any means and if you think so, you're silly. They rely on fear and that's about it. Sure, they got guns and what else? Guys who know how to make a bomb and strap it to a Toyota. They are terroists and not much more. At least the Government is trying to have a trained army by getting the US to train theirs. Even though the Colombian Military isn't the best, it's better than anything the FARC can throw at them. And, I'll tell you as an old Infantry Marine, a Mirage Ground Attack variant or any thing that flys with bombs coming your way is a scary thing. Imagine a guy who was chicken farmer last week and is now a FARC rebel and you have to face something like that, becasue that is the majority of your FARC troops.
I guess, what I am getting at is that Colombia is not going to roll over and die without a fight and they have the capability to win it. I think, that Colombia has had these Rebels and the Violence for over 52 years and Colombians are just used to it. Ask a Colombian about the Guerillas and why the Government doesn't do something about them, I bet you get an answer similar to that. I mean, when the Local terrorist Group has it's own newspaper and Web Page, something is wrong.
Does this mean I have blind faith in President Pastrana? Nope. But, he did get the FARC to Flinch, because they were withdrawing from FARClandia until, somehow, LeMoyne got them to come back to the table. And, Pastrana knows he will has the support of the US, especially with the list of targeted Terrorist groups and the FARC being among them.
A lot of you guys know me and you know I am not exactly making light of this, it just comes across that way in my writing style, I guess. Is it not that safe right now in Cali? Right now, it's like any other day, but it can change rapidly. Am I recommending coming to Colombia, right now. No. Because, I don't know which way the talks are going to go, it can good and it can obviously go bad. There are too many variables right now to call it and how that will affect Americans coming here. But, I just wanted to let everyone know, it's business as usual here, except for a few exceptions. Tomorrow, I am going down to Blues Brothers and have a few beers and listen to the band.
Anyways, that is the Novel for the night. I got to write a book one of these days. LOL!
C-YA
Keith