Not A Solution By Donnel Jones, May 16, 2003

A week ago last Monday, the brutal murder of two prominent Colombian politicians, Gabriel Gaviria Correa and Gilberto Echeverri, by the Marxist-terrorist guerilla force, las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), has shocked, saddened, and angered the Colombian people, a people used to sorrows and trials.

My fears for Colombia may well come to pass (in Spanish). As a result of last week's tragedy there is a movement in the Colombian government to negotiate with the guerillas to free children held captive by them. William Velez, the leader of Colombia's House of Representatives proposes that there be a humanitarian agreement whereby the Colombian government in turn would release from its prisons guerilla rebels who are sick.

William Velez quickly reassured that this proposal would not hurt Colombia: To be inclined toward a humanitarian agreement is not to dismantle Democracy. On the contrary, in certain circumstances it fortifies it and reveals its higher moral ground.

Apparently, Colombian politicians have their "spin" too. But the path prescribed by Mr. Velez would appease the guerillas, undermine President Alvaro Uribe's leadership in the war against them, and compromise the mandate he was given by those who elected him last year to carry through with that war.

The political climate seems to have changed since last week's massacre in which eight soldiers were also murdered (which means I must make another correction to my "correction" post of May 9th wherein I incorrectly claimed it was eleven). Uribe seems to be suffering from the fallout of the botched government's attempt to rescue the hostages. A helicopter flying over the guerilla encampment gave away the mission and the FARC, true to their warning that they would kill hostages in response to an attempt to rescue them, murdered the ten men.

President Uribe didn't show up at the publicly held funeral of the two famed politicians the following Thursday in Medellin, where thousands gathered to pay their respects. He would certainly have attended such a solemn occasion. Uribe is a native of Antioquia (Antioch) whose capital is Medellin. He knew the two men who were murdered, one of whom was Antioquia's governor. How fitting it would have been for the President to have showed up. But he is persona non grata. He has lost some political leverage to the advantage of those who would negotiate an agreement with the guerillas.

The murdered politicians themselves sought peace with the guerillas and were kidnapped by them over a year ago during a peace march. Their tragic deaths have become a rallying point around the push for negotiations for the release of hostages and prisoners. Not everyone in Colombia agrees with Uribe's heavy-handed opposition to the guerillas. One spokesman had this to say in reference to the possibility of an agreement: It is the one hope in the midst of a political atmosphere which has given no ground to a humanitarian agreement. And a spokeswoman added this: No to rescues of blood and fire!

That means Uribe's method of handling things. The Colombian people have every right to put the tragedy at the president's doorstep. Their anger is justified. The rescue attempt was a total failure and begs the incredulity of anyone without the slightest knowledge of military tactics used in dealing with insurgents. Colombians have endured kidnapping and murder for too long and Uribe's commitment to fight the guerillas, whose ultimate goal is to topple the Colombian government and establish a Marxist dictatorship, will not maintain or garner more support if failures such as last week's are repeated.

Neither Uribe nor Colombia can afford more failures. They will only give more fuel to a peace movement that is doomed to more failure: more kidnapping, more death, more destruction of Colombian property (both public and private), and more people being displaced from their homes and Colombia's best and brightest seeking refuge up North.

The desire to free children is certainly understandable but at what ultimate cost if the guerillas will remain at liberty to kidnap more children? The vicious cycle of appeasement and violence is the same, very predictable sordid affair the United States supported for too long at the hands of Islamists. One may argue that there are many differences between the American and Colombian phenomenon of terrorism. For one thing, there are differing perceptions about what, exactly, is the stated object of war or appeasement. For example, the Colombian press doesn't usually refer to the guerillas as terrorists unless to mention that the U.S. State Department has so designated them.

The guerillas are, after all, Colombians and, no matter how cruel or violent, they are not foreign in the way Islamists are to Westerners. The guerilla's ideology is also familiar, especially to Latin Americans, even if known to be a violent and genocidal political force in the last century, but at least Marxism is not so strange and alien the way Islamism is to the West.

The Colombian peace activists believe some kind of understanding and accord with the insurgents is possible. So much violence over a long period of time, without the hope it will end, induces in some to take false comfort in the mistaken belief that talks and humanitarian gestures will win the day. But the guerillas have continually violated the trust of the Colombian people. They will do so again if the leader of Colombia's House of Representatives is successful in carrying through his proposal. It remains to be seen what Uribe will do.

One more quote from a peace negotiator tells it all: The ultimate right is life, even over liberty, in reference to rescues.

In America we say, "Give me liberty or give me death." A life without liberty is not worth living. The Colombian people know this and must rally back around Uribe or, better yet, Uribe better behave like a leader and lead his people. Otherwise, there is certainly worse to come.