Colombia: Between an Electoral Peace and the Return of Fear
July 24, 2015
Colombia: Between an Electoral Peace and the Return of Fear
by Alex Sierra R.
Bogotá, Colombia.
In the midst of a severe crisis in the peace talks between the Colombian government and the guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC by their Spanish initials) in Havana, terrorist acts have reappeared in urban centers that could be part of a dirty war by the extreme right and other enemies of the peace process, as they prepare to run in upcoming elections next October 2015.
Since September of 2012, the Colombian government and the FARC—People’s Army (EP), have been in dialogue in Havana, Cuba and have advanced as never before on crucial issues for the country. But the absence of an enforcement body (which could have been the UN) that would trusted by both sides and the Colombian media to verify the ceasefire, insure that agreements are respected and report instances of non-compliance on both sides, and to shield the process from the negative propaganda of dissident sectors and the extreme right, has left the dialogues in their worst moment and increased fears that they could stall.
The first incident that provoked the nation’s condemnation was the murder last April of 10 military officers in the municipality of Buenos Aires in the north of the department of Cauca. This was followed by the almost immediate response from President Santos’ government to renew the bombardment of guerilla territory, killing at least 51 suspected guerilla members up until this past May according to Defense Ministry sources.
Other victims of the war include the animals, rivers and vast regions suffering deforestation or damage from the demolition of oil pipelines (the FARC blew up an oil pipeline that polluted the waters of a tributary that supplies water to Tumaco, a city in the south of the country – one of the poorest regions – in the process killing hundreds of animals and other life forms), and from the legal and illegal mining operations that also affect many regions but don’t receive the same media coverage.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/24/colombia-between-an-electoral-peace-and-the-return-of-fear/
