ATTEMPT UNDER WAY TO. CRUSH - COLOMBIAN GUERRILLAS
Prensa Latina reports from Bogoté that a massive. drive, invol= ving up to 20,000 troops, has been launched against the guerrilla forces entrenched in the Central Cordillera where they have set up the independent Republic of Marquetalia.
The peasants in this region came from areas in which they were driven away by big landholders, They banded together to battle government troops and armed gangs hired by the feudalistic landlords,
According to Prensa Latina, a. loan of $546,000 from the Inter-= American Development Agency has been invested. in the military expedition, It has the most modern equipment granted by the United States, The U.S, government has put out some $17,000,000 to. help crush theenclaves held by the rebellious peasants’
. The government troops have Laid down air and.artillery barrages as they proceed, Numerous arrests have been made and peasants have. been imprisoned and sent to concentration camps. Many of them have been tortured,
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PAZ WINS