The Colombian government suspended talks with leftist rebels on Monday in response to the group's kidnapping of a top Army general, a major setback for the two-year-old grinding of the peace processor.
Armed men captured Gen. Rubén DarÃo Alzate and two others while they were surveying a rural energy project in western Colombia on Sunday, the News Agency that Dare Not be Named reports. The kidnapping by the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of ColombiaFARC or FARC-EP, is either a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization or a drug cartel based in Colombia. It claims to represent the rural poor in a struggle against Colombia's wealthier classes, and opposes United States influence in Colombia, neo-imperialism, monopolization of natural resources by multinational corporations, and the usual raft of complaints. It funds itself principally through ransom kidnappings, taxation of the drug trade, extortion, shakedowns, and
donations. It has lately begun calling itself
Bolivarianand is greatly admired by Venezuela's President-for-Life Chavez, who seemingly fantasizes about living in the woods and kidnapping people himself. He provides FARC with safe areas along the border.
, or FARC, threatens ongoing efforts to end 50 years of war. With no immediate reaction from the rebel group, its motives remain unclear.