I was totally impressed by Alan Jara’s appearance today when he gave his press conference in Villavicencio, Meta. He had been held hostage by the FARC for seven and a half years and he had been just liberated. He hadn’t lost his sense of humor and he was remembering each fellow hostage and his wife and children with whom he had been in the jungle. A great sense of humanity as well. A great tenderness, of this man who looked like a ghost. So thin, those eyes which told so much of long sufferings.
Jara said some important things. For example that the FARC are not as weak as the government of Colombia says. They are weakened but not finished, said the ex-governor of the Meta department, who was kidnapped in July 2001. They will not like that in the Casa de Nariño.
He saw a lot of young guerrilleros, younger than 18. And he talked about the lack of a life perspective that many youngsters in Colombia have. That is why they join the guerrilla. And that keeps the FARC relatively strong.
He stressed the urgency of a humanitarian agreement, in which hostages are exchanged with guerrilleros in prison. Every moment in the jungle can be your last one, he said. The Casa de Nariño will not like that either.
Jara challenged president Uribe saying that his policy of democratic safety is very strong. Why can’t you come to a humanitarian agreement then?” the former hostage said.
And he said something very controversial: that both the FARC and president Uribe have an interest to continue the war. It keeps them in a powerful position. A commander had told him that he wanted mr. Uribe reelected. That is how Lenin’s thesis that you need struggle to make the revolution can be made reality, the commander had said.
Jara combines humanity, wit and cleverness. Everybody’s eyes had been fixed on the most famous hostage, Ingrid Betancourt, because she had a lot of international exposure. But she lacks the integrity of Jara and she is not as clever. He is an excellent candidate to run for presidency in 2010.
Author Wies Ubags is a Dutch freelance journalist in Bogotá, works for media in her country and has her own weblog.
jack
said:
 |
... This FARC propaganda circus should not be allowed to continue while they are planting bombs and killing civilians. These released hostages should first have the opportunity to rest and recover from this ordeal for at least a few days before holding press conferences. FARC had obviously told him exactly what to say. Who knows with what he had been threatened. |
satrac
said:
|
... I'm sorry but I'm very skeptical because 7 years of constant brain-washing can change anyone's opinion. It's plausible that the FARC forced him to say these things. |
Monito
said:
 |
... Not that being skeptical ever is bad, but I don't think you (satrac and jack) have actually seen the guy or have heard the things he said. The guy has nothing good to say about the FARC. Seven years of being on a chain doesn't exactly make you like a group. It's a bit daft immediately thinking that if he is against Uribe that he must be full of FARC propaganda. There's a large group of well thinking people in Colombia who actually oppose both the FARC and Uribe's policy. |
NotAlvaroUribe
said:
 |
... [RE: Jack] And what of the government's propaganda circus. Statements like "FARC's on the Run" and false positives killing innocents to justify the government to maintaining and receiving money in Plan Colombia since it pays well for them. There's been decades of propaganda against the FARC also. Jara is saying something similar to what I've been supporting for ending this struggle, to enter in a dialog or agreement and provide steps for the future to maintain and ensure agreements made. A previous user here, "Sam Salmon", has been advocating more war to kill them all, but after 50 years of war this has not worked. Doing the same thing while expecting different results is insanity. Or should I say, providing more war while expecting peace for over 50 years is insanity. Attempting to kill them all will not provide peace, both sides will need to talk. It's easy for people to dismiss Jara and say "he's brainwashed" when making statements that is hard for people to swallow. |
