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Facebook Used to Mobilize Against FARC

STEVE INSKEEP, Host:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep.

RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:

NPR's Juan Forero reports.

(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)

JUAN FORERO: Protesters chanted no more FARC, no more FARC, referring to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a rebel group that's been kidnapping people for years. Here in the Venezuelan capital, more than 2,000 people, many of them Colombian, hit the streets. Among them was Alivio Cerna(ph), a Colombian who's been here since 1957.

MONTAGNE: We want that all the people in Colombia can live in peace.

FORERO: Support was generated in recent weeks on Facebook and in the media. By Monday afternoon, police in Colombia said nearly five million people were protesting in that country, with many thousands more as far away as Tokyo, Washington and Paris. The FARC holds 750 hostages, many of them pawns the group uses to win the release of rebels in Colombian jails. Juan Forero, NPR News, Caracas, Venezuela. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Juan Forero