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Colombians
weary of kidnap terror Kidnap victims in Colombia have risen to a world record of over 17,000 in the last five years. The much tried patience of the Colombian people is now running out, says Héctor Abad Faciolince US CRIMINAL
proceedings against Colombian Farc leader “Mono Jojoy” and other guerrillas
have in the past related solely to drug trafficking but now also include an
accusation hitherto unheard of in our international relations, namely,
kidnapping. It was high time, since the evil crimes catalogue lists it as far
more abominable to kidnap people than to export cocaine. So it is not only a
question of drugs, but also one of terror. Terrorism
acquires quite distinct forms according to the country in which it operates, and
in Colombia it has assumed the specific form of kidnapping. If anything
characterises the Colombian case, then it is this vile battle weapon known as
“miracle fishing”, the terror
of which keeps us confined to our homes and concentrated in cities. Colombia has
increasingly become a kidnapped country and the bloodiest and most brutal
counterinsurgent groups that have arisen in Colombia also began with
kidnappings: the MAS (“death to kidnappers”) and the AUC (the paramilitary
“United Self-Defence Forces”). This is the
only country in the world where there is a radio station entirely dedicated to
sending messages to kidnap victims – The Kidnapping Voice, directed by “war
reporter” Herbin Hoyos – which reflects the extent of the problem. It is a
heart-rending experience to hear over and over again the anguish in the voice of
relatives as they try to keep up the spirits of their nearest and dearest
pending ransom payments. And this is
the only country in the world where the President of the Republic’s father was
murdered in the course of a kidnapping; where the current Vice-President was
kidnapped; where the Home Affairs minister’s father was kidnapped; where the
Education minister’s mother was kidnapped, tortured and murdered; and where
the Culture minister’s aunt was kidnapped and murdered. It is
obvious that this government is marked and defined by the traumatic experience
of many of its members. To this may be added every week symptoms of what we
might call the government’s “authoritarian temptation”, to a great extent
the fruit of personal resentment which has become collective. Lamentable and
illegal though it may be, it is fairly natural and very human to react to an
adversary’s brutal, ruthless act with a radical, pitiless one. One may
similarly explain the support that the government receives from millions of
Colombian citizens, since over 17,000 kidnappings in the past five years alone
have produced a mass of indignant people which is increasing exponentially each
day. I believe that anger is a poor counsellor in government affairs, but it is
what has prevailed through the fault of the kidnappers. This is the
only country in the world where current kidnap victims include the state
governor of Antioquia; the former Defence minister, the most charismatic and
least rightist in the entire history of the Colombian Defence ministry, Gilberto
Echeverri; the former presidential candidate who was most favoured in Europe,
Ingrid Betancur; the former Development minister, Fernandín Araújo; twelve
deputies, various ex-senators, 42 officials and sub-officials who live in
inhuman concentration camps in the midst of forests. Colombia is
now also the only country in the world with a kidnapped Catholic archbishop who
is also president of the Latin American Bishops’ Conference [freed by the
Colombian army as the article was going to press – Ed].
The guerrilla strategy is to raise the price and
increase even more the prestige of its human shields. But such conditions of
blackmail, instead of leading us to an exchange of illustrious kidnappings for
captured kidnappers, are leading to the total international discredit of the
guerrilla. What these
increasingly illustrious kidnappings have done is to remind us that in the last
five years there have been more than 17,000 anonymous, uncontrollable and
unrecognised kidnappings. They remind us that in 2002 there were 2,253 new
kidnappings (60 per cent by armed groups and 35 per cent by common delinquents,
according to the Fundación País Libre). The list
includes unarmed civilians, irreproachable doctors and professionals like Javier
Correa and journalists with no blame whatsoever. Ordinary citizens will no
longer accept the exchange of twenty or thirty illustrious people to the
exclusion of thousands of anonymous honest citizens who suffer the same grief
and the same ignominy. Colombian
armed groups (guerrillas, self-defence forces and delinquents) have dedicated
themselves to an abominable criminal practice in order to finance their
operations, and after years of application this weapon is turning against them.
Transforming kidnapping into a daily general practice, a suicidal political
strategy, is producing a furious and bitter reaction. This atrocious practice
that has been employed as a battle instrument is the primary cause of the
reaction which the whole country will suffer in the form of a merciless war. Seventy
years ago, in the winter of 1932, the entire world was moved by the kidnapping
and later murder of the son of the American aviator hero, Charles Lindbergh.
Perhaps none of the 2,253 Colombians kidnapped at present (let us not forget
that they include 302 minors) move anyone apart from their families. But the
magnitude of this crime has exceeded all limits and the guerrillas’ most
profitable arm is turning against them. Humanitarian exchange (of all those kidnapped, not just the illustrious) can only come about if the guerrillas, in doing so, accept that never again will they resort to kidnapping anyone as part of the fight for their cause. These are the only terms on which negotiation can take place. Unless it takes place in this way, it would mean surrendering to an unacceptable exchange. Note: This article was first published by JUST Response on November 15 2002. Héctor Abad Faciolince is a leading Colombian journalist, novelist and academic who resides in Medellín.
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