LOCOMBIA

Tigran Feiler is a master student in Anthropology living in Bogotá, Colombia. var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-25681183-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

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Bogotá, Colombia, May 1, 2013. The big day of the global left. Tens of thousands marched through the center of the capital demanding peace, equality, justice, work, healthcare and education. But the Colombian left is divided and the future uncertain. La Silla Vacía published an interesting analysis in Spanish about the Colombian left and possible scenarios for the presidential elections of 2014. 

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People make peace

Tens of thousands of students and teachers marched today all over Colombia to protest against what they perceive as the government neglecting the accords reached after last years university strike. It was the first major manifestation after the peace process was announced, but many more will surely follow as different sectors of the society try to make their voices herd in these crucial times. One of the main challenges for the peace process that is taking form will be to guarantee the participation of Colombia’s social movements who have been active agents for peace during many years. And we should not forget that earlier peace processes have been marked by escalating violence orchestrated by the political forces that want to prevent a negotiated solution at all cost.

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Guerrilla Video

Everyone was waiting for FARC's official pronunciation regarding the opening of peace talks with the Colombian government. But nobody was expecting it to arrive this way: a low budget rap video. In the fields of communication and marketing the expression guerrilla video refers to "low budget - fast response - web video revolution". But I doubt it was meant to be this literal.

Those expecting to get more insight into the guerrillas views on the peace process were disappointed. Besides the rapping, FARC top commander Timochenko appears briefly at the beginning and the end of the video saying "Llegamos a la mesa de diálogos sin rencores ni arrogancia" (We come to the negotiation table whiteout bitterness and arrogance) and "Hemos jurado vencer y venceremos" (We have sworn to overcome and we will overcome).

The lyrics of the song tries to give the impression of a strong guerrilla that happily travels to Cuba to start negotiations. And at the end of the video the guerrilla soldiers have changed their military uniforms for civilian clothes. However, it's not clear if the video's target audience is the Colombian public or FARC's own members. Or maybe it's just a counterattack on the Colombian police who recently released their own reggaeton video.

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Guerrilla tweets

We don't know much about the emerging peace process between the Colombian government and the the country's main guerrilla group FARC. The government has only spoken in general terms and there has been no official pronounciation by FARC so far. But a number of tweets that appeared rather unnoticed on Tuesday evening might tell us something about FARC's views:

top #FARC sources say there will be no peace talks behind #Colombia's back. eventually conversations will hv to take place inside Colombia top #FARC sources say leaders will need "mechanism" to safeguard security in eventual #Colombia peace talks but no specific talk of DMZ #FARC sources say "no points in common" with #colombia govt, say .@juanmansantos "pressured" by hawks #FARC sources say .@juanmansantos insists guerrillas shd "admit their crimes" but say #colombia state not ready to admit its own crimes

The tweets came from correspondent Karl Penhaul who has been able to get exclusive information from FARC before (for example Penhaul was the journalist who first confirmed that FARC held French journalist Romeo Langlois earlier this year).

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Peace?

Peace. During the last year this five-letter word has created rumors, deepened political conflicts and cast a long shadow over Colombia. Despite harsh criticism by former president Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010) who accuses the current government of abandoning a successful security strategy and of being to soft towards the guerrillas, the idea of peace negotiations has slowly made its way back to the top of the country's agenda. Persistent media rumors and vicious attacks by Uribe forced president Juan Manuel Santos to give a short speech to the nation on Monday evening where he confirmed that the government is engaged in a dialogue with FARC and that the details would be made public in the coming days. Earlier during the day the regional news channel TeleSur had announced that the Colombian government and FARC had signed a document agreeing to start peace negotiations in Oslo during October. Ten years after the last peace process collapsed the national and international conditions seem ripe to give negotiations a new chance. The guerrillas have slowly come to understand that they will probably never succeed to topple the government and everyone but the far right acknowledge that it is more or less impossible to militarily exterminate the guerrillas. On the international level, FARC-leaders have obviously noticed how leftists have succeeded to reach power through elections across Latin America and the government and the military know that they cannot count on generous U.S. military aid forever. So it seems inevitable that negotiations will take place. But what will the conditions be? Where will the negotiations take place? Who should mediate? And who is actually entering the process from a position of strength? At first it seems obvious that Santos's government has the upper hand. The military backed by massive American aid has succeeded to weaken the guerrillas and diminish their territorial control. But at the same time experts argue that the guerrillas have learnt to cope with the military strategy and that they once more have found ways to survive.

And once you sit at the negotiation table the dynamics change. Time will become a key factor. Santos wants to reach an agreement as quickly as possible. He knows that a prolonged process will give him many enemies. The next elections are less than two years away (May 2014) and his chances of being reelected will be determined to a large extent by the outcome of the peace process. The guerrillas live under a different temporality. Their leadership has been hiding in mountains and jungles for 20-30 years and are not in a hurry. They know that time might work in their advantage and can use it to pressure the government and strengthen their own positions. During the last days media have been filled by experts analyzing the challenges ahead, the obstacles that remain and the differences with earlier peace processes. There are still many question marks regarding the emerging peace process. But for the first time in a decade it is at least possible to imagine other solutions than the military ones. And that is an accomplishment in itself.

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A very special death

After a few months absence I'm back in Colombia. There have been a lot of everyday-things to take care of so this blog has been sleeping. Anyhow, Colombia's history made itself present right away on August 13th when social media were flooded by texts, images and videos commemorating the 13th anniversary of Jaime Garzón's murder. Garzón was a man with many talents: lawyer, journalist, comedian, satirist, politician and peace activist. During the 1990s he functioned as a kind of national conscience and got a large following but his outspoken criticism of society and politics gave him many enemies too.

Confessions by imprisoned paramilitary leaders suggest that Garzón was murdered by a group belonging to Carlos Castaño, the national leader of the paramilitaries, who acted on the orders from José Miguel Narváez, the sub-director of the government's security service DAS. It seems like Garzón knew that he was going to be killed and his last interview on national TV ended with him accompanying the show's band to perform the salsa song "Quiero morirme de manera singular" (I want to die a special death). And he did.

The singing is at the end of the clip, starting at 9.35.

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Anti-terror Olympics vs Anti-war Rambo

Following the Colombian ministry of defence on twitter is exposing yourself to a flood of propaganda. But it also has its moments of joy. This morning I was informed that the military Anti-terrorism Olympics will be launched in Colombia today. Commando units from 22 countries in the Americas will compete each other on the military base Tolemaida south of Bogotá to show their "loyalty, courage, sacrifice, honor and faith in the cause".

Watch his promotional video with its shootout game-aesthetics and talk about "special men for special missions"...

...which made me think of Rambo's own anti-war cumbia.

May the best man win!

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Uribe's Twitter War

Alvaro Uribe, Colombia's former president (2002-2010), is a man who enjoys waging war. Nowadays when he cannot pursue his crusade against guerrillas and leftists with military force, Twitter has become his main battlefield. Uribe takes every chance he can to comment on the situation in the country and to portray the current government as being too soft on terror. The amusing video above shows Uribe's obsession as he repeatedly sends out tweets against president Juan Manuel Santos during a tv interview in Miami.

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A new political landscape

Today a new political movement was born in Colombia. According to official numbers 50 000 people participated in what has been called Marcha Patriótica (The Patriotic March). The political movement was constituted during the weekend and made its first public appearance today on the streets of Bogotá. The number one issue on their agenda: a political negotiated solution to the armed conflict.

The army has done all it can to stigmatize Marcha Patriótica, arguing that the movement is being financed and infiltrated by the FARC. The organizers have denied the accusations and portray the movement as an alliance of more than 1500 organizations representing Colombia's social movements: peasants, students, feminists, indigenous people, afro-colombians and trade unions. During the day the security forces were on high alert with helicopters in the air and one policeman every three meters on both sides of La Séptima avenue.

It was a strange feeling to stand in central Bogotá and watch the march unfold. Political subjects that had seemed to vanish from Colombia's map were suddenly on the country's center stage. Protest music from the 1970s and political iconography from the 1980s filled the city's main square Plaza Bolívar. Yellow and green t-shirts representing Unión Patriótica, a political movement born out of the peace processes during the 1980s and exterminated by right wing paramilitaries. Red, white and blue flags with the print M-19, a demobilized guerrilla group that had disappeared into party politics. It was as if a Colombia that had lived under the surface for long finally stepped into the daylight. Here we are! Now what?

So, are the FARC behind Marcha Patriótica? I don't know. Nobody really knows. And as a friend said the other day: If they are, so what? This isn't really the issue. Instead of seeing it as a threat we should celebrate If the FARC supports this new political movement, Julián Cubillos argued in a column in daily El Espectador.

A new political landscape is taking shape and the coming months will be crucial for the Colombian democracy. How will the traditional elites react? What will the army do? If Marcha Patriótica gets a chance to participate and compete without violence and persecution it might push the FARC to think about a future without arms. But if Colombia's violent history repeats itself the country might have missed an opportunity for peace that will be gone even faster than it came.

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With Zizek in Tumaco

Two weeks ago I walked past the police station in the center of Tumaco, a city in the department of Nariño on Colombia's Pacific Coast. Tumaco has been haunted by violence for long and I remember thinking "this isn't a good place to be". Last Wednesday there was a bomb attack at the police station killing at least eleven people (policemen and civilians) and injuring many more. 

The authorities blame Colombia's main guerrilla group Farc for the attack. Maybe they are right; it is not unusual for the guerrillas to attack police stations or army outposts. But the timing raises question marks. During recent weeks Farc's top commander Timochenko, who succeeded Alfonso Cano when he was killed in Novemeber last year, has shown signs of talking peace. 

Every time peace appears on the agenda the violence seems to escalate. People are starting to ask questions; in university corridors and on social media. In whose interest is it to kill peace before it is even born? The military staying faithful to its tradition of resisting dialogue? Sectors whithin Farc who oppose the idea of talking to the government? Or the government itself preparing the terrain for intensified war?

No one really knows. Information here is in the hands of armed men. Following the conflict in the media is like reading communiqués: "The army says...", "The police suspects", and the occasional "The guerrilla claims...". That's it. Over and out.

I was reading the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek's book Violence: six sideways reflections the other day. He writes about subjective violence and systemic violence; the one we see and the one we don't. Subjective violence chocks us as it appears to emerge out of nothing. Zizek urges us to look beyond the obvious and try to approach the complex webs of systemic violence.

In Tumaco, systemic violence is everywhere: army checkpoints controlling who is doing what and where, two battallions guarding the the city and the oil pipelines from Putumayo, paramilitaries governing the poor neighborhoods by the sea, rumors of grenade attacks circulating on the streets and fear of talking making impunity the law. 

Colombia's president Juan Manuel Santos announced the other day that he will send 2800 additional soldiers to Tumaco to restore order. These days Tumaco is in the headlines. Next week it will be back in the silence of systemic violence until an act of subjective violence brings it back to the front pages for another day or two.

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2011

2011 is over and in many ways it was a remarkable year. People were back on the streets all across the world: Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Israel, Greece, Spain, United States, Chile and of course here in Colombia. As I reported on this blog the students were the protagonists of popular movement and finally succeeded to stop the government's planned education reform. Now the challenge is to construct an alternative to the official vision. More than anything else, 2011 was a year of unexpected connections and alliances. I will end with two images that to me summarize the hope and inspiration that many of us felt. The first one shows an indigenous community somewhere in Colombia expressing support for the student struggle in Chile. On the second one Israeli protestors, inspired by the revolution in Egypt, carry a banner with the Arabic word for "Go". The student movement came to the mountains of Colombia and a moment of Arab Spring struck Tel Aviv.

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Victims and Victims

Tuesday I had a weird walk through the suffering and victimization of contemporary Colombia. First, Bogotá's main square Plaza Bolívar which lay pracitcally empty at 3:30 p.m. A group of people, maybe 30 or 40 in total, defied the drizzle. This was the day when millions of Colombians were supposed to march against the contry's largest guerrilla group Farc. 

Four policemen and soldiers held hostage by the Farc were killed on November 26. Apparently the hostages were executed by the guerrillas during an intended rescue by the army. 

During the week after the killings human suffering was instrumentalized in all possible ways. Colombia's government and mainstream media used all their muscles to try to persuade the population to march against Farc.

Just a stone's throw from Plaza Bolívar lies the city museum Museo de Bogotá where I stumbled upon an exhibition rescuing the memory of Colombia's disappeared. Faces of people disappeared by the state's forces or right-wing paramilitaries with ties to the army.

The harsh truth is that Colombia has different categories of victims: some embraced and visualized by the establishment while others stigmatized and forgotten. And as long as these disparities persist the road to peace and reconsilliation remains long and strainful. 

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Lord of the Lightning

Former vice-president Francisco Santos's proposal to use electric shocks against protesting students has unleashed a flood of satirical response. Francisco Santos: Lord of the Lightning.

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Occupy Bogotá

Yesterday saw the largest student demonstration in Colombia so far this year. Not even heavy rainfall or a late offer by the government to retire the new education law if the students ended their nation-wide strike could stop the students from taking over down town Bogotá. According to one source 130 000 people participated in the occupation of the capital called La toma de Bogotá.

The national student coalition MANE will gather in Bogotá's Universidad Nacional on Saturday to decide whether they will end the strike or not. The answer is far from given. Many students that I talked to view the government's proposal to retire the law as a tactical move to exhaust the protests rather than a genuine desire to construct a new education policy together with the students and other social sectors. There is a wide spread suspicion that the government is just trying to win time and that they plan to impose a similar law in the beginning of next year.

It was a peaceful protest day in Bogotá but students in the southern town of Popayán reported about far-reaching repression in the form of police brutality and arbitrary detentions. I talked to a student in Popayán earlier today and by then all detained students had been released.

Ricardo Silva Moreno wrote an interesting column yesterday where he questioned the government's attitude to the students and urged the state to spend at least as much on a student as on a soldier: "Do you want to deliver a real blow to the Farc, Mister President? Then sit down with the students on equal terms and build a country where the parents graduate their children instead of burying them."

I believe that the government doesn't know how to react to the student movement. Francisco Santos, Colombia's former vice-president and cousin to current president Juan Manuel Santos, exemplifies the schizophrenia of the ruling class. In a video commentary aired yesterday Francisco Santos accused the government for being soft on social protests and called for the use of the state's "legal arm of repression" to face the students. He even suggested using electric shocks to disperse protesting students. Today he took it all back and swore his allegiance to democratic rights.

Colombia stands at the crossroads. Will the students and other expressions of opposition to the government be faced by genuine dialogue or by the use of force? If the Colombian state can show that it is willing to listen to the social movements of this country there might be a possibility to dream about peace again.

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Why Cano?

Last Friday's killing of FARC leader Alfonso Cano is still dominating the news here. It was interesting to see how quickly the media narrative started to change; less than 24 hours after it was announced that FARC were facing the "fín del fín" (the end of the end) media began to inflate new guerrilla commanders as an existential threat to the nation. And this is precisely the contradictory logic of the war machine over here: on one hand giving the audience the impression that the war is being won, and on the other maintaining a state of emergency and fear to justify the continued militarization of society.

Most people I have talked to are disillusioned by the killing of Cano. A young Colombian I met at a birthday party over the weekend made the question a lot of people are asking right now: Why him? No one really seems to have an explanation of what is going on behind the scenes. Cano was killed at a moment when people within the state had started to whisper about peace again. Could the killing be interpreted as an expression of divisions within the state? Are we witnessing contradictions between the government and the military? Or did the government kill Cano because they prefer to negotiate with less high-profile commanders?

One of the more bizarre comments on the death of Cano came from Colombia's minister of finance Juan Carlos Echeverry who explained that the killing was good for the economy. Echeverry said that Cano "was a source of disturbance, and now investors, families and Colombian households face less uncertainties then earlier, so economically this has a positive effect". But maybe this mercantilization of death tell us more about the current state of affairs in Colombia then we would like to admit? As I wrote in an earlier post the guerrillas and the armed conflict have kept large areas of Colombia out of reach for transnational corporations. In this way Cano might have been considered an obstacle to what president Juan Manuel Santos calls "las locomotoras del crecimiento" (the locomotives of growth) where agribusiness and mining play major roles. In other words: a target killing to raise investor confidence.

The indigenous communities in the region where Cano was killed are paying a high price for the military success. They report about indiscriminate bombings, forced displacements, military checkpoints and prohibitions to transport food. I visited this area in the department of Cauca two years ago; remote, impoverished and painfully beautiful. The question is for how long communities like these will have to carry the burden of a war they never chose.

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Last Thursday night thousands of students from different universities poured into Bogotá's main square Plaza Bolívar. Torches lit up the Andean night and the protestors filled the stairs leading up to the congress building with chants, banderoles and bonfires. It was a rehearsal for this week's Toma de Bogotá (Conquest of Bogotá) when students from all over Colombia will take over the capital and camp on Plaza Bolívar. Trade unions are joining the mobilizations and the teacher's union Fecode announced that they will start a nationwide campaign for a referendum that would make all education free of charge. 

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Alfonso Cano is dead

As I am writing Colombian media are transmitting the news about the death of alias Alfonso Cano, head of Colombia's main guerrilla group FARC. Cano, whose real name was Guillermo León Sáenz, was killed on Friday during a massive military operation in the southwestern department of Cauca. Cano was born in the capital Bogotá and studied anthropology at the national university before joining FARC during the 1970s. He became the guerrilla's leader in 2008 when their founder Manuel Marulanda died of natural causes. Cano was considered as FARC's main ideologue and many hoped that his political consciousness would open up the possibility of peace talks. During a seminar just a few days ago, Colombian author Alfredo Molano said that his hope for peace consisted in a belief that Cano understood that the armed struggle had no possibility to succeed and that president Juan Manuel Santos wanted to make history by bringing peace to the country. At the moment nothing seems further from the truth. There seems to be two ways of interpreting the death of Cano. The mainstream perspective which dominates the broadcasts is that it brings Colombia closer to a solution of the war while a few oppositional voices claim that it will only continue the cycle of violence. Past midnight after speeches by the defense minister and president Santos the first image of Cano's dead face is shown to the audience: newly shaved without his characteristic beard and his face frozen in a final grin. Right now military triumphalism fills the night. But what about tomorrow?