Retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro wrote a book about Colombia’s 44-year old conflict. The book, entitled La Paz en Colombia
(Peace in Colombia), describes Latin America’s most famous
authoritarian’s vision on the conflict since the beginning in the early
1960’s until the rescue of Ingrid Betancourt and thirteen other
hostages.
The book took the 82-year old Castro 400 “long and arduous” hours to write, Cuban state media reported.
“In the book, Fidel develops three central ideas: one, the characterization and development of the deceased FARC chief, the evolution of the guerrilla movement and his role in the complex Colombian political framework; secondly, the incidence of the oligarchic power, its instruments of exploitation and repression and its alliance with U.S. imperialism in the genesis of and constant exercise of violence; and thirdly, the real nature of Cuba’s links with the Latin American revolutionary movements and its long and sustained contribution to the search for a just, realistic and humanitarian solution to the armed conflict that is bleeding Colombia,” Cuban website Granma describes.
It is uncertain if the book will be published outside Cuba. The U.S. trade embargo on the Cuban island prohibits distribution north of the Communist island.