Tensions are growing between one of America's strongest Latin American allies and one of its foes. Will Colombia ever be able to pacify a guerrilla movement with a forty years history of violence? Or will the U.S. have to continue to pour billions of dollars to prop them up? Colombia's once friendly relationship with neighboring Venezuela is now strained. Venezuela claims the U.S. government is promoting violence in the region to advance Washington's own agenda. For close to half a century Colombia has struggled with internal unrest. Violence in some parts of the country is not only rampant, but has become a way of life. At the root is the guerrilla movement suspected of being financed by drug money; years ago they turned to kidnapping to raise additional funds and to put pressure on the government. But support for this guerrilla movement seems to be eroding - people in Colombia are fed up with the violence and instability. Recently, people marched in the street against the situation in the country. En Español: Pulso Latino Relaciones entre Colombia - Venezuela: Las FARC, los rehenes, y la reciente crisis. La tensión se acrecentó entre uno de los países Latinoamericanos mas cercanos a los EEUU y uno de sus enemigos. ¿Será Colombia capaz de pacificar un movimiento guerrillero que tiene una historia de violencia de ya casi cuarenta años? ¿O tendrán los EEUU que continuar enviando miles de millones de dólares para apoyarles? Las relaciones entre Colombia y su vecina Venezuela fueron en el pasado amistosas, pero ahora son tensas. Venezuela sostiene que el gobierno de los EEUU promueve la violencia en la región para avanzar sus propios intereses. Por casi medio siglo Colombia ha luchado con un malestar político interno. La violencia en algunos lugares del país es no solamente licenciosa pero se ha vuelto una manera de vivir. A la raíz se haya una guerrilla susceptible de ser financiada por el dinero de la droga, desde hace algunos años están realizando secuestros para obtener más fondos y continuar presionando al gobierno. Pero el apoyo popular para la guerrilla se ha deteriorado, la gente en Colombia esta harta de la violencia y la inestabilidad y se han volcado recientemente a las calles para protestar en contra de la situación en el país. LP Panel Guests' Bios Susana Pimiento Chamorro TFLAC Co-Director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation Colombia Project Susana Pimiento Chamorro, Task Force co-director, began coordination of the FOR Colombia program in June of 2005. Susana is an attorney (Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá) and holds a Master's in Public Policy (Institute for Social Studies, The Hague). She formerly co-directed the U.S. office of The Sunshine Project, where she conducted research and advocacy on arms control and co-organized a campaign to halt the use of biological weapons in the Drug War. She has worked in the fields of environmental policy, indigenous peoples rights, international law and constitutional law. Her previous experience also includes managing the World Wildlife Fund, Colombia's Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Implementation project as well as spending time at Colombia's National Consitutional Assembly and as a Prosecutor at the Colombian National Attorney General's Office. Marcela Uribe Sanchez Marcela Uribe Sanchez is an activist who recently immigrated to San Francisco. She is a historian (Universidad Javeriana, Colombia) who holds a Master's degree in Media and Cultural Studies (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina). Since her youth she has been involved in different countercultural groups mainly as a bass player for Bogota's punk-hc, noise bands (PPYY, Polikarpa y sus Viciosas, Oposizion). She is a researcher on media and culture. In San Francisco, she has been involved with the International Latino Film Festival and FOR, as an active member of the grass roots group. Douglas Farah IBI Consultant, Freelance Writer Since June 2005, Douglas Farah has been an investigative consultant with the NEFA Foundation, as well as a consultant and freelance writer on terror finance and national security issues. In 2004 he worked for nine months with the Consortium for the Study of Intelligence, studying armed groups and intelligence reform. For the two decades before that, he was a foreign correspondent and investigative reporter for the Washington Post and other publications, covering Latin America and West Africa.