by Rod Hughes
A march was held Monday in San Jose to demonstrate opposition to the bloody-handed Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a guerrilla group in that country responsible for thousands of deaths, corruption from their engagement in narcotics traffic, widespread kidnappings and a climate of fear in some regions. The demonstration, planned for at least 184 other cities in the world besides San Jose, departed from the Parque de Grarantias Sociales in eastern San Jose at about 11 a.m. today.

FARC began as a guerrilla group in the 1970s but soon turned into one of the world’s most notorious terrorist organizations, well-armed through financing by drug traffic.The “One Million Voices against FARC” movement is calling for the rebels to lay down their arms and release hostages. Its purpose is to “demonstrate our repudiation of the hostage-taking and pain caused by FARC and to call attention of the people of the world to its indifference,” according to Maria Fernanda Gualdron, the demonstration’s Costa Rican-based organizer.

Gualdron added that she expected at least 1,000 participants in the march, including Colombians and members of Costa Rica’s active peace movements. The Christian Science Monitor reported that the word spread through the Web-based Facebook, an on-line social-network site boasting some 230,000 members. The march organizers hope to raise public awareness of the more than 40 high-profile hostages, inluding three U.S. citizens and Franco-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt.