SOUTHCOM, the FARC and Facebook

Admiral James Stavidris, commander of US Southern Command (Latin America and the Caribbean) maintains a blog. He recently wrote an entry about counter-narcotics and counter-insurgency operations in Colombia, which I noted bore similarities to counter-insurgency and counter-narcotics in Afghanistan.

We then discussed the effects of Facebook in causing huge protests against the FARC, and subsequently mass desertions. Seems that the good Admiral is quite fond of the effects of Facebook.

Your point about the role of Facebook in organizing the Colombian population against the FARC is a good one. Personally, I'm excited about the ways in which social media and new technologies are allowing people to connect and conversations to flourish in ways previously impossible. We'll continue to explore ways in which we can incorporate these tools in our work, as well.