FARC submarines: coming soon to a beach near you (UPDATE)

I've covered Colombian drug submarines at JYB before. Here's a famous one discovered high up in the Andes mountains back in the 1990's, being built off of Russian blueprints:

They're still at it. A law enforcement buddy sends along this picture of a more modest fiberglass Colombian sub captured by the Colombian Navy in SW Colombia earlier this month:

The writeup (based on Colombian news reports) it can reach any beach in Central America and haul 12 tons of cocaine. But wait, there's more:

Navy Discovers 17 Submarines Since 2005, Each Worth up to Two Million Dollars -- Vice Admiral Edgar Cely said that specialized personnel and knowledge are needed to design and build the craft. Cely indicated that the clandestine shipyards are definitely the property of the northern Valle del Cauca cartel, which runs them through criminal gangs and the 29th and 30th Fronts of the FARC [Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia] and through an alliance with the cartels of Mexico. According to Cely, the use of technology dates back to at least 1993, including camouflage paint applied to fishing boats, copying the technology to build go-fast speedboats, and now submarines. "We have found some craft that barely float, others that were very slow to navigate, and some that had to be rowed." The admiral indicated that master builders in fiberglass are needed, and they are paid with the cartel's drug money. He also pointed out that the Pacific is preferred because the waters are calm most of the year up to the coasts of Central America.

FARC and the cartels are bad news. The good news is that 18 Latin American countries just formed a regional police group called Ameripol to fight them and coordinate information on transnational crime. That's outstanding; it's a difficult region without a lot of trust--but it sounds like they were finally able to put those problems aside and concentrate on a common enemy.

Except for Venezuela, which didn't sign. But given Crazy Hugo's negotiations on behalf of the FARC, that shouldn't surprise anyone.

P.S. If you still get your gas from Citgo, may I ask why?

P.P.S. Guess who else is working on submarines?

UPDATE: Commenter Occasus left us a treasure map to the schadenfreude motherlode: Eurotwit joins the FARC and quickly comes to regret it:

The FARC pride themselves on equality of life in the movement and an adherence to Communist ideology. Yet it appears there are the privileged and the unprivileged, and "Eillen" sees herself in the latter category. "What will it be like when we take power? The women of the commanders will have Ferraris, breast implants and eat caviare. At least that is how it seems," she wrote.

She shoulda talked to this guy.