IPS-English COLOMBIA: 131 Cities on Five Continents Join Anti-FARC Demonstration
 
Date: Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:07:11 -0800

 
Gloria Helena Rey*

BOGOTA, Feb 4   (IPS)  - Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated
Monday in 131 cities on five continents, including more than 50 Colombian
cities, to demand peace and protest against the FARC guerrillas and
kidnapping.

”No more war” are the first words of the latest song by Colombian
songwriter Jorge Celedón, which debuted Monday during the demonstrations
in which Colombians and foreigners, young and old, workers, professionals
and the unemployed marched peacefully to shout a resounding ”No!”
to the violence and civil war.

”No more FARC!” they chanted in the biggest demonstration against
the armed conflict held in recent Colombian history.

The call for peace was heard from Malaysia to France, and from New
York to Madrid, Rome and Berlin. Colombians and Spaniards took to
the streets in 14 cities in Spain alone, according to the Colombian
embassy in Madrid.

Marches were held in Bogotá and in dozens of smaller Colombian cities
and towns, where streets and shopfronts became a sea of white flags
calling for peace.

”No more kidnappings, no more violence, and ‘yes' to the humanitarian
agreement, the only solution we have,” said Ivan Cepeda, whose father
was murdered by the far-right paramilitaries several years ago. Cepeda
was referring to negotiations of a humanitarian agreement for an exchange
of hostages held by the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
- the main rebel group) for imprisoned insurgents.

Rivers of people flowed down boulevards in a peaceful, orderly manner
to the central Plaza de Bolivar.

By early afternoon, no violent incidents had been reported. And although
all of the political parties in Colombia took part, none sought to
exert influence or control over the demonstration, which was basically
an apolitical citizen initiative that emerged on the Facebook social
networking web site.

Carlos Gaviria, president of the leftist Alternative Democratic Pole
(PDA) party, which had convened its own demonstration in the Plaza
de Bolívar one hour earlier than the start of the main march, told
IPS that ”we are marching with independence and with the slogans that
we believe in.”

”I find the demonstration to be moving and exciting, and we are not
surprised by the criticism,” said Gaviria, alluding to the threats
received by the PDA because of the party's aim to protest not only
the FARC but also the right-wing paramilitaries.

”We are calling for a humanitarian accord, life, peace and the release
of the hostages, while saying ‘no' to war,” added Gaviria, who took
the second-largest number of votes in the 2006 elections in which
President Álvaro Uribe was reelected to a second term.

At noon, the PDA launched yellow, blue and red fireworks -- the colours
of the Colombian flag.

The Plaza de Bolívar, where the city government building, presidential
palace, main cathedral and palace of justice are located, was packed
with demonstrators hours before the march started at noon.

The festive day offered the world an unusual image of a Colombia
united around a common goal: peace.

Women's group representative Rosa Emilia Salamanca told IPS that
their slogan was ”No war in my name. We women are saying a round ‘no'
to war and issuing a call for a humanitarian agreement.”

The crowd repeatedly sang the national anthem, while waving white
and Colombian flags. 

The demonstration lasted longer than scheduled. People began to gather
early in the morning and hundreds of thousands of people were still
chanting and protesting by mid-afternoon.

”No more war or kidnappings! We are opposed to that and have come
together to shout it to the FARC, so that our clamour is heard in
the middle of the jungle and our solidarity is felt by those who have
been kidnapped by the guerrillas. No more FARC!” local shopkeeper
José Carlos Quintero, sporting a white t-shirt that read ”I Am Colombia”,
told IPS.

A religious ceremony held in the Basílica del Voto, a church in central
Bogotá, was attended by the families of some of the hostages.

”They are the ones who deserve the greatest solidarity,” PDA Congressman
Wilson Borja told IPS. ”We have come to back them up and give them
our support for a humanitarian swap.”

”Kidnapped friend, brother or son: your families here have never
forgotten you,” Marlene Orjuela, a spokewoman for the association
of hostages' families for peace, said over a loudspeaker.

Relatives of the hostages also gathered in other churches, although
the Basílica was their main meeting point. A 50-metre banner calling
for peace and a prisoner-hostage swap was strung up outside the entrance
to the church

Many of the families were afraid that the conditions of their loved
ones could worsen as a result of the anti-FARC demonstrations, and
thus refused to take part.

The family of former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, the
highest-profile hostage, who has been held captive in the jungle for
six years, issued a statement explaining why they were not participating.
The decision, Betancourt's husband Juan Carlos Lacompte told IPS,
was based on their belief that ”the only solution to the conflict
and for the release of the hostages is a humanitarian accord.”

Other families argued that it would have been much more effective
to march for ”the release of the hostages” rather than against the
FARC.

”A chorus of hundreds of thousands of voices shouting that the FARC
are terrorists might be useful as a war strategy, but could be counterproductive
in terms of the effort to achieve a humanitarian accord,” by limiting
the possibility of talks between the FARC and the government, according
to an analysis published by the Semana magazine.

The march also gave further arguments to right-wing President Álvaro
Uribe for his continued refusal to create a demilitarised zone for
holding negotiations, a key FARC demand, the article stated.

But opposition Senator Cecilia López Montaño said an international
demonstration like Monday's was effective for several reasons: ”because
it reflects the awakening of a country united against violence, and
is the beginning of a peace process demanded by all Colombians, especially
young people, who organised the march.”

”I Am Colombia” and ”No More Kidnappings, No More Deaths, No More
FARC” read white t-shirts worn by dozens of demonstrators called together
over the Internet by 33-year-old engineer Oscar Morales, who formed
an on-line group in Facebook calling itself ”a million voices against
FARC” to convene Monday's march.

More than 300,000 people had confirmed on-line that they would take
part in the march, and tens of thousands were already pouring into
the Plaza de Bolivar hours before it started.

From a historical point of view, mass demonstrations in Colombia
that have had a clear objective have been effective.

One example was the silent march held to protest the 1989 assassination
of former Liberal Party presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán.

Analysts say that protest gave rise to the movement that culminated
in the 1991 reform of the Colombian constitution.

The local media said Monday that the FARC cannot turn a deaf ear
to the massive protest by the Colombian people, and that as a result
the demonstration should help pave the way to negotiations of a prisoner-hostage
swap and to eventual peace talks that could put an end to the country's
four-decade bloody civil war.

* With additional reporting by Constanza Vieira and Helda Martínez.


*****
+ COLOMBIA: Gov't Throws Support Behind Anti-Guerrilla March (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41058)
+ COLOMBIA: Interference and Belligerence  (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40847)
+ COLOMBIA: Hostages' Release, Seen from the Other Side  (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40756)
+ A Nation Torn - More IPS News on Colombia  (http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/colombia/index.asp)
+ Un Millón de Voces  (http://www.colombiasoyyo.org/)


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