Extra! FARC Cocaine Labs Go Up In Smoke

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El Tiempo, Aug. 3

"Police destroyed 104 FARC laboratories in Guaviare," reads the Wednesday front page of the Colombian daily El Tiempo. An accompanying image shows security forces operating in the nation's thick southeastern jungle.

The head of the anti-narcotics police announced yesterday that the 104 cocaine laboratories, run by the FARC (or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) guerrilla army, produced some 100 tons of the drug annually.

Police have adapted their strategy over the past few months, targeting traffickers and producers rather than farmers who grow the coca plant, the daily reports.

The southeastern part of the nation has been battling drug trafficking for years. "This is a structural blow to the finances of drug trafficking," Gen. Jose Angel Mendoza, the anti-narcotics police director, said.

This major drug bust comes just weeks after the Colombian government and FARC rebels signed a historic ceasefire deal in hopes of ending more than five decades of civil war.

EL TIEMPO

Founded in 1911, El Tiempo is one of Colombia's leading dailies. It is based in BogotÃ¡ and owned by Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo, the country's wealthiest business mogul.

EL TIEMPO

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Photo of a family of Migrants from Venezuela crossing the Rio Grande between Mexico and the U.S. to surrender to the border patrol with the intention of requesting humanitarian asylum

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David Peinado via Zuma Press

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