SHOULD FARC BE CONSIDERED AS TERRORIST? (Essay)
“Terrorism, a challenge to be managed, not solved.”
Paul R. Pillar,
On an average, every 22 minutes someone loses a limb or his life for stepping on a land mine. There are an estimated 60 to 70 million landmines scattered about in over 60 countries, and Colombia is one of them. (UN 2004) Apart from the climate of fear which citizens must endure, global terrorism also threatens to undo a generation that is making an effort to achieve goals like social justice and human rights. According to the Department of Defense of the United States, terrorism is defined as “the calculated use of unlawful violence to inculcate fear, intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological”. In accordance with this, the Colombian guerrilla organization called FARC should be considered terrorist, because their violence has mainly resulted in millions refugees and displaced people, drug trafficking, kidnapping and scattering landmines which have disabled and killed thousands of people over the years. Initially, the violence generated by FARC has created half a million refugees in neighboring countries and forced the internal displacement of more than 2 million inhabitants, the largest number in the world. Thus, in the battle to establish control over strategic territories and expand the cultivation of narcotics, people are forced to choose between supporting the armed groups for protection or fleeing to the relative safety of urban areas where they live in dire sanitary conditions. In sum, Colombia's guerrilla war has forced more than 2.7 million people from their homes. In addition, mostly peasants have been caught in the crossfire of violence between leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitary outlaws, say human rights groups. (Awake, 2008) Successively, drug trafficking is the common denominator of FARC’s violence in Colombia, superseding social and political goals that may once have inspired the guerrillas. The country is the world’s biggest exporter of cocaine and the second biggest of heroin. The profits of this business are fuels for the war and many of the combatants are disinclined to sacrifice these rewards for peace. Many Colombians believe this group has abandoned the communist ideology as the movement has come to rely chiefly on drug trafficking as its main funding source. FARC has well-documented ties to the full range of narcotics trafficking activities, including taxation, cultivation, and distribution. (New York Times, 2008) Likewise, FARC as a terrorist machinery also makes a habit of kidnapping foreigners as well as Colombians to extract exorbitant amount of money. Thus, kidnapping has become a further source of funds for weapons and drug trafficking. FARC holds as many as 60 high profile hostages as bargaining chips. The government says that FARC currently holds 700 hostages, including three U.S. military contractors and the French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt, who was running for president when the rebels kidnapped her in 2002. (One World Net, 2008) Lastly, FARC is a terrorist organization because this group is blamed for landmines which disabled or killed thousands of people over the decades. Guerrillas’ landmine use takes heavy toll on civilians “By using antipersonnel landmines, FARC are leaving Colombian civilians who have no part in the conflict maimed, blind, deaf or dead,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas’ director for Human Rights Watch. When suffering a landmine injury, survivors’ whole lives are seriously affected. The incident not only causes physical effects, but also often impacts their mental health, their ability to support themselves and their families, and their ability to remain in their homes. On the other side of the coin, the opponents of the idea of considering FARC as a terrorist organization state that there is a multitude of causes that could lead this group to resort to subversion. Such causes could be extreme poverty, social disadvantage, high unemployment and underdeveloping. Some other believes that neoliberal democracy and corrupt management of resources in Colombia may also be a contributory factor to the appearance of this group. Originally, FARC emerged in reaction to the power-monopoly established by the traditional parties. In this context, FARC’s supporters say that the group represents freedom and equality for the rural and urban poor population, against Colombia’s wealthy classes and oppose U.S. influence, the privatization of natural resources, multinational corporations, and rightist violence. Therefore, FARC cannot be labeled as terrorist group. Nevertheless, counter terrorist organizations ask, what has been the result of the FARC’s armed struggle? Colombia’s entrenched poverty is closely linked to its long history of socio-political violence which has left 200,000 dead since the 1960s. Therefore, the previous pro-arguments are irrelevant and insufficient because there is simply no excuse for using indiscriminate weapons against the Colombian population. Beyond any cause to justify the existence of FARC, the truth is that this terrorist organization has broken down respect for life and leads to bloodshed and cruelty. Because of their pain, victims often retaliate, which leads to further repression and, in turn, to more retaliation. Nowadays, terrorism influences events on the international stage to a degree never seen before. Largely, this is due to the attacks of September 2001. Overall, the consequences of subversion in Colombia have not been freedom, equal opportunities, civil rights and happiness, but instead; death, misery, and ruin expressed in bombings, mortar attacks, narcotrafficking and kidnapping. Many would say that rather than the solution, FARC is one of the problems. Overall, not only terrorism will be unsolvable, (to paraphrase Pillar) but it also risks becoming unmanageable. (ODI, 2008) Definitely, leftist guerrillas like FARC, right-wing paramilitaries and in general, armed forces in Colombia have been guilty of a long history of human rights violations.
On an average, every 22 minutes someone loses a limb or his life for stepping on a land mine. There are an estimated 60 to 70 million landmines scattered about in over 60 countries, and Colombia is one of them. (UN 2004) Apart from the climate of fear which citizens must endure, global terrorism also threatens to undo a generation that is making an effort to achieve goals like social justice and human rights. According to the Department of Defense of the United States, terrorism is defined as “the calculated use of unlawful violence to inculcate fear, intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological”. In accordance with this, the Colombian guerrilla organization called FARC should be considered terrorist, because their violence has mainly resulted in millions refugees and displaced people, drug trafficking, kidnapping and scattering landmines which have disabled and killed thousands of people over the years. Initially, the violence generated by FARC has created half a million refugees in neighboring countries and forced the internal displacement of more than 2 million inhabitants, the largest number in the world. Thus, in the battle to establish control over strategic territories and expand the cultivation of narcotics, people are forced to choose between supporting the armed groups for protection or fleeing to the relative safety of urban areas where they live in dire sanitary conditions. In sum, Colombia's guerrilla war has forced more than 2.7 million people from their homes. In addition, mostly peasants have been caught in the crossfire of violence between leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitary outlaws, say human rights groups. (Awake, 2008) Successively, drug trafficking is the common denominator of FARC’s violence in Colombia, superseding social and political goals that may once have inspired the guerrillas. The country is the world’s biggest exporter of cocaine and the second biggest of heroin. The profits of this business are fuels for the war and many of the combatants are disinclined to sacrifice these rewards for peace. Many Colombians believe this group has abandoned the communist ideology as the movement has come to rely chiefly on drug trafficking as its main funding source. FARC has well-documented ties to the full range of narcotics trafficking activities, including taxation, cultivation, and distribution. (New York Times, 2008) Likewise, FARC as a terrorist machinery also makes a habit of kidnapping foreigners as well as Colombians to extract exorbitant amount of money. Thus, kidnapping has become a further source of funds for weapons and drug trafficking. FARC holds as many as 60 high profile hostages as bargaining chips. The government says that FARC currently holds 700 hostages, including three U.S. military contractors and the French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt, who was running for president when the rebels kidnapped her in 2002. (One World Net, 2008) Lastly, FARC is a terrorist organization because this group is blamed for landmines which disabled or killed thousands of people over the decades. Guerrillas’ landmine use takes heavy toll on civilians “By using antipersonnel landmines, FARC are leaving Colombian civilians who have no part in the conflict maimed, blind, deaf or dead,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas’ director for Human Rights Watch. When suffering a landmine injury, survivors’ whole lives are seriously affected. The incident not only causes physical effects, but also often impacts their mental health, their ability to support themselves and their families, and their ability to remain in their homes. On the other side of the coin, the opponents of the idea of considering FARC as a terrorist organization state that there is a multitude of causes that could lead this group to resort to subversion. Such causes could be extreme poverty, social disadvantage, high unemployment and underdeveloping. Some other believes that neoliberal democracy and corrupt management of resources in Colombia may also be a contributory factor to the appearance of this group. Originally, FARC emerged in reaction to the power-monopoly established by the traditional parties. In this context, FARC’s supporters say that the group represents freedom and equality for the rural and urban poor population, against Colombia’s wealthy classes and oppose U.S. influence, the privatization of natural resources, multinational corporations, and rightist violence. Therefore, FARC cannot be labeled as terrorist group. Nevertheless, counter terrorist organizations ask, what has been the result of the FARC’s armed struggle? Colombia’s entrenched poverty is closely linked to its long history of socio-political violence which has left 200,000 dead since the 1960s. Therefore, the previous pro-arguments are irrelevant and insufficient because there is simply no excuse for using indiscriminate weapons against the Colombian population. Beyond any cause to justify the existence of FARC, the truth is that this terrorist organization has broken down respect for life and leads to bloodshed and cruelty. Because of their pain, victims often retaliate, which leads to further repression and, in turn, to more retaliation. Nowadays, terrorism influences events on the international stage to a degree never seen before. Largely, this is due to the attacks of September 2001. Overall, the consequences of subversion in Colombia have not been freedom, equal opportunities, civil rights and happiness, but instead; death, misery, and ruin expressed in bombings, mortar attacks, narcotrafficking and kidnapping. Many would say that rather than the solution, FARC is one of the problems. Overall, not only terrorism will be unsolvable, (to paraphrase Pillar) but it also risks becoming unmanageable. (ODI, 2008) Definitely, leftist guerrillas like FARC, right-wing paramilitaries and in general, armed forces in Colombia have been guilty of a long history of human rights violations.
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Ubaldo Gandica
Ubaldo Gandica
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