July 6, 2006: The most telling indicators of how poorly the rebels are doing, are the economic statistics. Inflation is under four percent a year, it's lowest level since the early 1960s. The economy is expanding at a rate of over five percent a year, and unemployment continues to shrink (although its still the highest in Latin America). The rebels relied on poor economic conditions to aid their recruiting, and provide lots of unhappy people to support them. But decades of economic troubles was bad for everyone, and now the establishment of the rule of law in many areas of the country has brought back economic growth. Most Colombians support that.
July 5, 2006: FARC used a roadside bomb to kill six policemen. In most parts of the country, FARC is on the defensive, trying to avoid increasing police and army patrols. FARC has tried to adopt "Iraq tactics" with the use of roadside bombs. But they have had little success. What FARC failed to realize was that in Iraq, the vast majority of roadside bombs don't go off, or are discovered and disarmed.
June 26, 2006: Police killed a senior FARC commander in central Colombia. The dead man, using the nickname, "Juan Carlos", was trying to establish FARC operations in an area formerly dominated by AUC forces. But the AUC shut down their operations in the area this year, as a result of AUC accepting the amnesty deal.
