According to the BBC the Colombian army claims has struck a crippling blow against Farc rebels... by installing a giant Christmas tree in rebel-held territory.
Special forces infiltrated the remote Macarena mountain range to dress a 25m (82ft) high tree with 2,000 lights. Movement sensors will make the tree light up when guerrillas approach.
The army says it will put up trees in nine other rebel-held zones to spread the message that Christmas is a good time to abandon armed struggle.
"Operation Christmas," as it was code named, was carried out by elite troops. The Christmas tree was installed near a rebel supply route in the region where the Farc military leader, Mono Jojoy, was killed in a large-scale military assault in September.
As well as lights, it was decorated with slogans saying "Demobilize, at Christmas everything is possible" and "If Christmas can come to the jungle, you can come home".
The leftist Farc rebel group has suffered severe setbacks in recent years, with several of its top commanders killed. Thousands of guerrillas have been captured or killed or have deserted rebel ranks. But it still has thousands of fighters and remains a powerful force in some rural areas.
Well if it works then it can’t be a bad thing. I’m not sure if it will bring the rebels flocking in in for midnight mass and a steady job…
6 comments:
Well that's a new one. When I'm rich I might have a giant Xmas tree in my garden. With machine gun-decorations to kill intruders...!
Isn't the Rebel thing in Colombia all about drugs now? I thought there was some half-arsed political bullshit behind it before. But now they've just come clean and said "we're in it for the cash" ~ rebels after my own heart, those ones!
I think it's a case of banditry with a figleaf of politics
It is a good story and I'd rather see soldiers carrying Christmas decorations than guns any day.
Me to Susan, me too!
FARC deserves every kind of punishment coming their way, methinks. Saying this, these Xmas trees are a creative and bloodless way to get even a few folks away from these narco bastards.
If it turned a few heads without a shooting match then I am happy Snoopy
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