In Colombia, a former guerrilla commander says that in "peace communities" controlled by NGOs, the population was exploited and peace-niks helped the terrorists.

...the peace community of San José de Apartadó, according to Samir, was not the least bit neutral. Rather, he says, the FARC had a close relationship with its leaders dating back to the early days.

Samir says that the peace community was a FARC safe haven for wounded and sick rebels and for storing medical supplies. He also says that suppliers to the FARC met with rebels in the town, where there were also always five or six members of the Peace Brigades International.

According to Samir, the peace community helped the FARC in its effort to tag the Colombian military as a violator of human rights. When the community was getting ready to accuse someone of a human-rights violation, Samir would organize the "witnesses" by ordering FARC members, posing as civilians, to give testimony.

Edward Lancheros, a member of the peace community council, and his cohorts (including a Jesuit priest called Javier Giraldo and Gloria Cuartas, the notoriously left-wing mayor of the municipality which includes San José de Apartadó), insisted that the "peace" required that the military stay out of the area. But the paramilitary was not about to observe such a convention. When clashes between the FARC and the paras occurred, Samir says, the peace community played a key role in shaping the story for the public to lay blame on the government...