The Colombian Army and the U.S. State Department blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country’s largest rebel group. By late last week, the FARC had not responded to the charge. More than 80 Americans have been seized during Colombia’s 34-year civil war–not all of them by the FARC–but this was the first confirmed case of murder. Many Colombians wondered whether the rebels would kill activists who seemed to share their opposition to oil exploration on U’wa land. “It’s an act of unspeakable political idiocy,” said Enrique Santos Calderon, a Bogota columnist. But in Colombia, violence often defies reason.
