The vast majority of people in Colombia have consistently been in favor of peace. Don’t let the crazies tell you otherwise.
After more than 50 years of war, political violence and terrorist attacks, there is hardly a person left who understands why the country’s corrupt elites and guerrillas insist on justifying violence.
There may be division between the fanatics on the left and the right you see on the news, but the vast majority of people don’t give a shit about politics and just want to live in peace.
We just want to go to work in the morning, come home at night and dedicate our free time to our families, friends and hobbies, just like the people in normal countries we see on TV.
We want to be left alone and not be bothered by fanatical bullshit. We want to dance salsa and eat chorizos. We are the majority and we resist violence.
We are the people, Colombians and immigrants, who are sick of the fanatics’ miserable excuses to perpetuate the violence that has all but destroyed this country. We are the people who don’t vote against peace or for corrupt politicians.
We don’t understand how kids have become military targets just because they want to be cops when they grow up. We don’t understand why our leaders are assassinated because they defend our communities’ rights.
We have been taken hostage by the crazies whose fanaticism is what you see in the news. We, the people in the middle, are caught in the crossfire between rival war-mongers we do not understand.
It took us four years to convince the FARC to leave us in peace and promote whatever their political ideal is like the rest of us, through the ballot box or not at all.
We have yet to convince the ELN and the “uribistas” to do the same, and eventually we will.
We are devastated by Thursday’s terrorism attack and are petrified by the systematic killing of our leaders, but we will not be defeated or recruited.
We are the resistance. We want peace and we, not the political fanatics, will prevail. Don’t let the crazies tell you otherwise.