My Colombian Peace Process

 

The Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC in Spanish) are currently in peace conversations in Havana, Cuba.

This is their third attempt of peace negotiations in the last 30 years. 

 The first attempt took place in 1984. I was nine years-old at the time. I remember President Betancourt smiling on TV, FARC commanders crying of joy, and we children painting giant white doves on every block.  

 In 1986, the Patriotic Union Party (UP in Spanish) was formed as political wing of the FARC. Many former guerrillas and their sympathizers joined UP. Many participated openly in local and national elections, and some even became elected officials. However, extreme groups from both the left and the right literary wiped them out. Moderate estimates placed the number of assassinations around 1,163. Later on, it was confirmed that the majority of these deaths were systematic killings by extreme groups connected to the Colombian military. 

I was eleven years-old and I began to have an idea that something big was happening. But perhaps, for me, the ultimate awakening became with the 1987 assassination of UP Presidential candidate, Jaime Pardo Leal. I remember my poor English teacher trying to calm us down while explaining what was happening. We were dismissed from school early that day. 

 Citizens protesting the assassination of Jaime Pardo Leal 

The second peace process attempt took place in 1999. As part of the negotiations, the FARC were granted a demilitarized zone of about 25,000 sq. miles in a remote forest area of Southern Colombia. Later on, the FARC were accused of lack of sincere desire for peace. In fact, they were accused of using the demilitarize zone to fortify itself militarily. In 2002, the Colombian army finally retook the zone. I was 27 years-old and certain that the conflict would reemerge with increased ferocity. Sadly, I was right.  

  

  President Pastrana waiting for FARC commander Manuel Marulanda. The fail meeting was the beginning of the end for the second peace process.

Thus, I look at this new peace process hoping for the best but expecting the worse.  Let us hope that this generation will finally see the dawn of this ending night, and that their children learn about this conflict only from the history books.