COLOMBIA:
131 Cities on Five
Continents Join Anti-FARC
Demonstration
By Gloria Helena Rey*
BOGOTA, (IPS) - Hundreds
of thousands of people
demonstrated Monday in
131 cities on five
continents, including
more than 50 Colombian
cities, to demand peace
and protest against the
FARC guerrillas and
kidnapping.
"No more war" are the
first words of the
latest song by Colombian
songwriter Jorge Celedón,
which debuted Monday
during the
demonstrations in which
Colombians and
foreigners, young and
old, workers,
professionals and the
unemployed marched
peacefully to shout a
resounding "No!" to the
violence and civil war.
"No more FARC!" they
chanted in the biggest
demonstration against
the armed conflict held
in recent Colombian
history.
The call for peace was
heard from Malaysia to
France, and from New
York to Madrid, Rome and
Berlin. Colombians and
Spaniards took to the
streets in 14 cities in
Spain alone, according
to the Colombian embassy
in Madrid.
Marches were held in
Bogotá and in dozens of
smaller Colombian cities
and towns, where streets
and shopfronts became a
sea of white flags
calling for peace.
"No more kidnappings, no
more violence, and ‘yes’
to the humanitarian
agreement, the only
solution we have," said
Ivan Cepeda, whose
father was murdered by
the far-right
paramilitaries several
years ago. Cepeda was
referring to
negotiations of a
humanitarian agreement
for an exchange of
hostages held by the
FARC (Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia
- the main rebel group)
for imprisoned
insurgents.
Rivers of people flowed
down boulevards in a
peaceful, orderly manner
to the central Plaza de
Bolivar.
By early afternoon, no
violent incidents had
been reported. And
although all of the
political parties in
Colombia took part, none
sought to exert
influence or control
over the demonstration,
which was basically an
apolitical citizen
initiative that emerged
on the Facebook social
networking web site.
Carlos Gaviria,
president of the leftist
Alternative Democratic
Pole (PDA) party, which
had convened its own
demonstration in the
Plaza de Bolívar one
hour earlier than the
start of the main march,
told IPS that "we are
marching with
independence and with
the slogans that we
believe in."
"I find the
demonstration to be
moving and exciting, and
we are not surprised by
the criticism," said
Gaviria, alluding to the
threats received by the
PDA because of the
party’s aim to protest
not only the FARC but
also the right-wing
paramilitaries.
"We are calling for a
humanitarian accord,
life, peace and the
release of the hostages,
while saying ‘no’ to
war," added Gaviria, who
took the second-largest
number of votes in the
2006 elections in which
President Álvaro Uribe
was reelected to a
second term.
At noon, the PDA
launched yellow, blue
and red fireworks -- the
colours of the Colombian
flag.
The Plaza de Bolívar,
where the city
government building,
presidential palace,
main cathedral and
palace of justice are
located, was packed with
demonstrators hours
before the march started
at noon.
The festive day offered
the world an unusual
image of a Colombia
united around a common
goal: peace.
Women’s group
representative Rosa
Emilia Salamanca told
IPS that their slogan
was "No war in my name.
We women are saying a
round ‘no’ to war and
issuing a call for a
humanitarian agreement."
The crowd repeatedly
sang the national
anthem, while waving
white and Colombian
flags.
The demonstration lasted
longer than scheduled.
People began to gather
early in the morning and
hundreds of thousands of
people were still
chanting and protesting
by mid-afternoon.
"No more war or
kidnappings! We are
opposed to that and have
come together to shout
it to the FARC, so that
our clamour is heard in
the middle of the jungle
and our solidarity is
felt by those who have
been kidnapped by the
guerrillas. No more FARC!"
local shopkeeper José
Carlos Quintero,
sporting a white t-shirt
that read "I Am
Colombia", told IPS.
A religious ceremony
held in the Basílica del
Voto, a church in
central Bogotá, was
attended by the families
of some of the hostages.
"They are the ones who
deserve the greatest
solidarity," PDA
Congressman Wilson Borja
told IPS. "We have come
to back them up and give
them our support for a
humanitarian swap."
"Kidnapped friend,
brother or son: your
families here have never
forgotten you," Marleny
Orjuela, a spokewoman
for ASFAMIPAZ, an
association of hostages’
families, said over a
loudspeaker.
Relatives of the
hostages also gathered
in other churches,
although the Basílica
was their main meeting
point. A 50-metre banner
calling for peace and a
prisoner-hostage swap
was strung up outside
the entrance to the
church
Many of the families
were afraid that the
conditions of their
loved ones could worsen
as a result of the anti-FARC
demonstrations, and thus
refused to take part.
The family of former
presidential candidate
Ingrid Betancourt, the
highest-profile hostage,
who has been held
captive in the jungle
for six years, issued a
statement explaining why
they were not
participating. The
decision, Betancourt’s
husband Juan Carlos
Lacompte told IPS, was
based on their belief
that "the only solution
to the conflict and for
the release of the
hostages is a
humanitarian accord."
Other families argued
that it would have been
much more effective to
march for "the release
of the hostages" rather
than against the FARC.
"A chorus of hundreds of
thousands of voices
shouting that the FARC
are terrorists might be
useful as a war
strategy, but could be
counterproductive in
terms of the effort to
achieve a humanitarian
accord," by limiting the
possibility of talks
between the FARC and the
government, according to
an analysis published by
the Semana magazine.
The march also gave
further arguments to
right-wing President
Álvaro Uribe for his
continued refusal to
create a demilitarised
zone for holding
negotiations, a key FARC
demand, the article
stated.
But opposition Senator
Cecilia López Montaño
said an international
demonstration like
Monday’s was effective
for several reasons:
"because it reflects the
awakening of a country
united against violence,
and is the beginning of
a peace process demanded
by all Colombians,
especially young people,
who organised the
march."
"I Am Colombia" and "No
More Kidnappings, No
More Deaths, No More
FARC" read white
t-shirts worn by dozens
of demonstrators called
together over the
Internet by 33-year-old
engineer Oscar Morales,
who formed an on-line
group in Facebook
calling itself "a
million voices against
FARC" to convene
Monday’s march.
More than 300,000 people
had confirmed on-line
that they would take
part in the march, and
tens of thousands were
already pouring into the
Plaza de Bolivar hours
before it started.
According to unofficial
sources, between 1.5 and
two million people took
to the streets in
Bogotá.
From a historical point
of view, mass
demonstrations in
Colombia that have had a
clear objective have
been effective.
One example was the
silent march held to
protest the 1989
assassination of former
Liberal Party
presidential candidate
Luis Carlos Galán.
Analysts say that
protest gave rise to the
movement that culminated
in the 1991 reform of
the Colombian
constitution.
The local media said
Monday that the FARC
cannot turn a deaf ear
to the massive protest
by the Colombian people,
and that as a result the
demonstration should
help pave the way to
negotiations of a
prisoner-hostage swap
and to eventual peace
talks that could put an
end to the country’s
four-decade bloody civil
war.
* With additional
reporting by Constanza
Vieira and Helda
Martínez. |
