PEACE AGREEMENT BETWEEN COLOMBIA AND FARC - NEED TO MAKE IT SUCCESSFUL (ACUERDO DE PAZ ENTRE COLOMBIA Y FARC - Necesidad de que sea un éxito)
You can sometimes put things in to context more and get a better perspective when you come outside and meet others and look back into your 'world.'
The news that the negotiations taking place between FARC and the Colombian Government have now resulted in a ceasefire and disarmament agreement, is to be welcomed.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia have been battling the Colombian military for decades, in a vicious and merciless guerrilla war which has resulted in thousands of Colombians being killed and maimed. During the this war, as tends to be the case in all wars, the civilian populations have suffered a great deal, as they are squeezed by both sides.
As guerrilla armies are having to do, as a matter of necessity, the FARC guerrillas had to make it a way of life to be constantly on the move, as they seek to evade the pursuing Colombian Army Forces. And now, after so many decades of fighting and at times fleeing from the Army, FARC and the Colombian Government, with the assistance of other countries, including the Cubans, have entered into agreements, which, hopefully, should lead to a lasting peace.
While this should be great news for the people of Colombia, there is naturally a lot of apprehension around, especially, it appears, for the soon to be former combatants of FARC. Part of this fear is that many of these men and women will now feel vulnerable and powerless, and fear that, among other dangers, they could become targets for right wing and vigilantes in Colombia's political, military and paramilitary establishments.
Colombia, like many, if not all the post-colonial and slavocratic countries of the Americas and parts of the West Indies, have a long tradition of being violent and disrespectful of human rights.It is therefore understandable that FARC members who were previously pitted against the Colombian Army, should feel some apprehension and fear about their future safety in a post-conflict Colombia.
Yet, the alternative, prudently, cannot be about continuing the guerrilla war, since there is little point attempting to fight a perpetual war, which you cannot win, and which, as time goes by, drains and weakens your army, until... It is not good for a guerrilla army to becomes so obsessed with its propaganda and makes the conflict a way of life, that its vision of the kind of society it aspires towards, and its methods of achieving it, seems to run parallel to the daily living of the majority of the country's people.
If that happens, then it risks extermination, as had happened to the Tamil Tigers, whose leaders, following the 2004 Tsunami, unwisely resumed the military conflict with the Sri Lankan Government. Prudent leaders, including guerrilla leaders, if they are to be successful, need to know when they should abandon the military phase of the struggle, and move on to more appropriate phases, such as negotiating, making peace, and pursuing their struggle through political means.
The countries of the Americas are not what they used to be. Cuba is changing, Argentina now has a government which is more amenable to the Americans, Venezuela is on her knees, Brazil has been or is likely to be retaken by the right, Mexico and Honduras are blighted by the sway of murderous gangs and assassins and corruption within the political classes.
In short, now is not a good time to start of continue a revolutionary armed struggle.
The world is clearly changing, even if not always for the better. This being the case, the successful revolutionary leaders are likely to be those who do not so divorce themselves from the wider world, that they fail to see and predict what is happening, and act in accordance.
Peaceful contemplation. A 'revolutionary' in a post-revolutionary world can seem out of place and probably has little chance of convincing or forcing the masses to that kind of struggle. The armed struggle should not become an end in itself
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