June 28, 2007

Current mood: hopeful

In April of 2002, 12 lawmakers of El Valle de Cauca were kidnapped. I remember when this happened because my mom called me right away, since my uncle Ruben Dario is also a lawmaker of the state. He was late to work that fateful day, he arrived after the kidnappings occured (his habit of being late saved him). Since that day he has recieved threats to him and his family, but it has gotten better. There was a period where he and each member of his family had to be accompanied by a bodyguard, now he is the only one that has a bodyguard. Anyways…today the news came out that 11 of the 12 men had been killed ten days earlier. All day it was more and more breaking news featuring the president's speech over it, family members' reactions, and people trying to define why. The worst part was the news channel Caracol released a video tape that had been sent to them the year before but in respect to family members they decided not to release it until now. The video tape contained the footage of the entire kidnapping by the Farc. It showed the arrival to the building where all the politicians worked, and it shows military soliders standing in front of the building, only the soldiers aren't really military soldiers, they were Farc soldiers, with that disguse no one was going to figure it out. Then it showed the fake bomb scare that vacuated the builiding , and the "soldiers" who leaded the men and other workers on to a bus who was though to lead them to safety. Once they were on the bus and heading to the outskirts of Cali, the "soldiers" revealed that they were actually the Farc. The video showed the faces of the lawmakers and it was heartbreaking to see their faces fall from a sense of relief to fear. The Farc next lead them off the bus and onto the back of a truck. The Farc released another video this past April with speeches from the kidnapped lawmakers with messages to the government, and to their families. I watched all this yesterday and I cried without knowing these men or their families and without understanding the difficulty to deal with the years of disapperance and now the death of a family member or friend, it's not something easy relate to unless it's happened to oneself. I can't imagine how it would have been if my uncle would have been on time that day to work, to see his face in that video. To see his two children continue their life without their father, my mom (and all her siblings) without their brother, Andres and I (and all our cousins) without our uncle. The country was in silence yesterday with a lot of people in church praying, lighting candles for the 11 killed. It also made a lot of people angry considering the lack of security and lack of attempt to rescue the men.. The mystery remains of the 12th lawmaker who's body was not found, he is said to still be alive, there is hope that he still is.

One thing I have learned in the two months living here so far and in the nineteen years I lived in the United States, is how different the security is. Kidnapping news had almost become everyday news in Colombia, people have become accostumed to live with it. I kept thinking about that video of the Farc kidnapping, how easy it was to accomplish. The building was protected by one police officer, one. The fact that important people that the are conintually in danger are barely protected unless they provide their own puts me in complete amazement. How is a community supposed to know who is there to protect them and who is there to harm them if they can be so easily disgused? And even if there is no disguse, this country is corrupt. I suppose there is corruption within every government, but I am stunned at how visable it is and nothing is done. Colombia is incredibly rich in it's land and exports, people know this and use it to their advantage. Everything is about power and money, even if they have to get it through drugs, so be it. A minimal amount of people care about the important issues that could allow the country to be one of the richest countries.