They are on the news: long-term captors of Ingrid Betancourt, synonymous with 'Colombian jungles,' and a prime example of Latin American liberalism turned dangerous. The international community can't decide whether to call these guerrillas 'terrorists' (Colombian government, US, EU) or a 'belligerent forces' (Chavez), but it doesn't seem to matter because the FARC still terrorize the countryside and subsist off of ransom money. Following many conversations about their current and past activities, I was always left with the question, "But why do they exist, what do they want?" (thank you James).
So here's my briefly outlined understanding on their story, from information gathered through conversations, research, and purely personal observation after my first week:
In 1948 the presidential candidate for the Colombian Liberal Party, Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, was murdered. By the time Gustavo Rojas came into power in 1953 under the Conservative Party, the country was under military control. The radical liberals, who were still disgruntled (as an understatement) at their loss of national power, refused to disarm and retreated into the rural and less populated areas of Colombia to form their own autonomous communities. After Castro took dictatorial control of Cuba in 1959, communist leaders infiltrated these sympathetic liberal enclaves and influenced the Marxism-Leninism ideology by which they are still governed today. The FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), were officially established in 1960 as the military of the Colombian Communist Party in what is considered a guerilla* movement.
Now known as the FARC-EP (Ejercito del Pueblo or army of the people), they have increased their economic power by stealing livestock from farms and terrorising rural dwellers, becoming involved with the drug trade in the 80's (narcotrafico), and of course, ransom money off of kidnappings. They have thus turned acts of terrorism and human rights violations into an extremely profitable business (people in the US will pay exorbitant sums for Colombian cocaine as well as high-profile government contractors), and become more of an enterprise driven by the undying greed for wealth rather than a group of ideological guerrillas. As a professor with whom I was discussing the subject concluded: the only way to stop the violence is to legalize drugs and for the government to stop paying for the exchange of captives. But of course that is just one opinion.
What I have noticed is that everyday people and the news alike rarely mention the FARC or drug trade, but rather are concerned with those who have been effected by these acts of violence. For example, I have heard much talk about Igrid's state of health, her future political trajectory, and what's going to happen to the other 40-odd people who are still in captivity. I don't think that paisas (people of Antioquia) avoid discussion out of exasperation with the subject, but rather because they have moved on and the international media has not.
Which brings me to my second point, the extremely favorable impressions that the people here have made on me.** It does not matter where I am or with whom I am interacting, everyone is more inclusive of me and those around them than anywhere else I have ever been. While walking down the street my friends will stop and talk with a street vendor as if they had known him forever; university professors stop and talk to students and janitors alike without deference; and people in stores barely bat an eye when I tell them I am from the US--treating me with the same attention as a native.
I attribute this social warmth not only to the idyllic climate in which paisas live, but to the extreme pride they have in their city and nation. Everyone has a desire to develop the city, conduct profitable business, better educate the population, and not emigrate/immigrate elsewhere. After such a tumultuous past, Medellin is extremely focused on the future while maintaining an unbreakable bond between them strengthened by the difficulties they have all survived. A quite impressive demonstration of the social resiliancy of human nature.
*Within the organization of FARC, a guerrilla is defined as a unit consisting of two squads of 12 combatants each, totalling in 24 combatants.
**As a disclosure I do have to admit that most of my interactions have been with people who are more well-off than the majority of the population, I have attempted to make friends with some of the community leaders with whom I take afternoon classes and are generally from poorer neighborhoods.
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