Talking About Colombia

The FARC know how to influence presidential elections.

Last Friday — just a week away from elections — the FARC and the government negotiators in Havana announced they have come to an agreement on the issue of illegal drugs.

Deja-vu in this political chess game.

Andres Pastrana was elected president by an election influenced by the FARC. Pastrana’s friend, Victor G. Ricardo, managed to snap a photo of himself with FARC head Manuel Marulanda in which Marulanda wore a watch from the Pastrana campaign.

Pastrana’s political strategists went to work, and immediately put out the press releases with the photo. Pastrana won the election in 1998 in large part thanks to that photo. The photo and the press releases and the media swayed voters into thinking a peace accord would be reached between the FARC and the government of Andres Pastrana. Voters were made to think we would all live happily ever after.

It is the same electoral game: Just a week before elections, the FARC and the government negotiators in Havana announced the agreement on the Herculean challenge of illegal drugs. The announcement of the agreement, the press releases, and the media may sway voters into thinking a peace accord will be reached between the FARC and the government of Juan Manuel Santos.

Can someone explain to me why Colombia repeats its history?

I really want to believe in this peace accord — because I want to believe Colombia can live in peace.

But I have no faith in these so-called peace pacts when on the same week that the FARC and Santos’s negotiators announce the historical agreement on illegal drugs, the FARC use two children to transport bombs to a police station near the port town of Tumaco on the Pacific. The bombs detonated early and the children died.

It is with great sadness, with a heavy heart and a loss of hope, that I cannot believe in this political charade. In the last week, Colombians were shown the truth: the government of Juan Manuel Santos holds no consequences for such heinous crime as the homicide of two innocent kids who were killed after being falsely lured to handle the bombs in exchange for money.

How can there be peace with a State that utterly disregards the rights of children? Colombia’s redemption depends on guaranteeing the rights of children, which in turn, will yield Colombia a peaceful future.

Related:

Presidential Candidate Marta Lucia Ramirez speaks up for children’s rights.

Peace Commissioner Jaramillo explains the peace process at Harvard.