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Juan Valdez he ain't Alfonso Sanchez, a member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), says it's no surprise that few Canadians are aware of the Colombian government's involvement in civilian assassinations. "The government uses the war on drugs to hide social and political problems," says Sanchez. "They receive military aid from the United States to fight drug trafficking, then use the military to quell social protest. And it's well-known in Colombia that the traditional political parties are financed by drug money."
Sanchez, who was in Montreal earlier this week, says the ongoing guerrilla war between FARC--an armed revolutionary group fighting for social democracy in Colombia--and the government is a result of decades of widespread social and political inequality. "FARC has been around for 33 years," he says, "and I doubt we'll disappear soon." Philip Preville
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