Colombian councilors forced to resign after receiving death threats

24.10.06

www.angolapress-angop.ao

Eleven councilors in a northern Colombian province have resigned after receiving death threats from Colombia`s largest leftist rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), an official said on Monday.

Manuel Luna, interior minister of Norte de Santander province, said only three councilors in the municipality of Teorama remained after their colleagues` resignations on Friday.

The province`s governor, Luis Morelli, blamed FARC for carrying out “a strategy of intimidation over the phone and in messages which has caused panic among mayors and local councilors.”

FARC is reacting to increased soldier and police presence in the province, home to drug dealers, right-wing militias and leftist rebels, he said.

FARC, the largest guerrilla group in Colombia with more than 17,000 members, has been operating since the 1960s.

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