A few days ago, there was a lot of news about three FARC hostages being released, in a deal brokered by Hugo Chavez after the Colombian George Bush, President Alvaro Uribe, had told Chavez he could no longer negotiate for Colombia with the rebels. The rebels announced that they would unilaterally release Ingrid Betancourt’s campaign manager, Clara Rojas, and her 3 or 4 year old son, apparently a Stockholm Syndrome child, and another hostage who is a former Colombian congresswoman. This was all supposed to happen two days ago, and some Venezuelan helicopters were allowed to fly to Villavicencio, a town outside Bogota, to wait for further instructions about where to pick up the hostages in the jungle. Chavez went there, of course, along with some politicians invited by him and even Oliver Stone, a film director from the US. In order to show that he is still in charge, the Colombian George Bush gave them a 7:00PM Sunday deadline. And, he decided to show up himself at the scene, to get in on the credit taking when the time came.
Archive for the Politics Category
Last week there was some news about hostages that have been held by the FARC for years now, the most well-known being Ingrid Betancourt who was captured five years ago and three US contractors who have been held for four years. There are many, many others, of course, who get little or no publicity. Venezuelan President Chavez had been negotiating with the FARC for the release of hostages, with the blessing of Colombian President Uribe, but Uribe cut Chavez off last week, and about the same time a video showing Ingrid Betancourt and the three Americans, which had been made recently, was found when some FARC guys were arrested in Bogota.
All the news reports say that this is the first proof in three years that Ingrid and the Americans are alive. But last spring just before I left Bogota, a hostage escaped, and he said he had been held with her and the Americans, and confirmed that they were still alive.
Today there was a march downtown and in the central business district of Bogota to protest kidnapping. Though kidnapping’s not nearly as prevalent as it used to be, last week the FARC killed eleven politicians they had been holding hostage, and said it was because a military unit had tried to free them. The president denies that the military was involved, but he’s not such a trustworthy guy either, so everyboy’s motives are suspect. People are sick of it, though.
Sometimes I look at conditions in the country and think that a revolution could really do some good. Then I remember: supposedly, there’s a revolution going on already. The problem is that the revolutionaries have strayed far, far, far from their cause, and are now basically just money- and power-hungry, no different from the ones they are supposedly revolting against. And the drug trade has made the money so much easier to come by. So, the only people who suppor the revolution are the FARC members themselves, so their cause is going nowhere. Maybe many years ago they actually had the people’s benefit in mind, but those days are long gone.
I’ve stayed away from political topics so far, but in Colombia politics is a big part of everybody’s life. I think this is different from the US, because there are SO MANY Americans who don’t have a clue what’s going on, locally or nationally, and certainly not internationally. But because of Colombia’s particular problems, the story is a little different here.
So, I’m going to post about a hostage who recently escaped the guerilla (and without going into the background of the more than 40-year conflict).
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