(Translated by Eunice Gibson, CSN Volunteer Translator)
By Javier Giraldo M., S.J.
Rome, July 4, 2016
In the last four years Colombia has experienced a search for peace between the government and the FARC guerrillas, after 60 years of armed conflict that has left many millions of victims and has led to the progressive degradation of the war in many of its aspects. This process has been revealing the labyrinths, some with no exit, into which we have to penetrate in order to reach peace agreements. The country endured 33 years of failed peace processes throughout the last cycle of violence, not counting the negotiations, agreements and the elimination of ex-combatants from prior cycles who were identified with those causes. A long tradition demonstrates that agreements are not carried out and that rebel combatants are eliminated after they disarm. And not only the combatants, but also the social and political forces that are close to them.
A few days ago they signed a document that sets forth the fifth of the six points on the agenda agreed upon at the beginning of the dialogs. It already includes the commitment to a bilateral cease-fire, supposedly definitive. However, the country is profoundly polarized by the growth and the growing power of extreme right-wing political positions. It appears as if the positions of the Cold War are coming back to life, powered by the monstrous economic strength of multinational businesses that are rabidly defending their exclusionary interests, using their extremely powerful resources.
Although it’s true that there is a peace euphoria that translates into slogans or clichés that you hear everywhere, when you look a little deeper into what is behind those slogans or at the aspects those superficial phrases are leaving out, you see a lot of concerns. Some of the most critical analysts have called attention to certain contradictions, such as the following:
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