Guerrilla law
A SMALL ranching town in the tropical eastern foothills of the Colombian Andes, San Vicente has a mayor and a 60-man civic police force. But everyone in the town knows who holds the power. Guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) regularly patrol the streets. The FARC has an office in the main square, its walls adorned with posters of Che Guevara, Lenin and the guerrillas' own commanders. Inside, the queue of petitioners is rather longer than that outside the mayor's door. “I am supposed to be the authority here, but what can I do? They have lots of guns, so who do you think the people listen to?” complains Edwin Valdez, the acting mayor.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Guerrilla law”
From the December 18th 1999 edition
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