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The harsh letter in which the senior leaders of the FARC party, former members of the secretariat of the guerrilla of the same name, acknowledge the kidnapping and its cruelty emerged after hearing the testimony of Ingrid Betancourt, a former presidential candidate who was in the power of more than six years. that group, until 2008.
This was acknowledged this Tuesday by Rodrigo Londoño, president of the FARC party, in an interview with W Radio in which he also said that the guerrillas did have recruitment of minors and forced abortions, among other serious crimes.
(Read here: Rodrigo Londoño recognizes abuses and forced abortions in the Farc)
The priest Francisco de Roux, president of the Truth Commission and who was in the interview with Ingrid, explains why, from his point of view, this letter is important on the road to reconciliation in the country. In conversation with EL TIEMPO he says that although it is true that more truths are lacking, it is necessary to accept these acknowledgments with the same greatness that it implies for the ex-guerrillas to accept that they caused deep pain to thousands of Colombians.
This is not the first recognition of the Farc about the kidnapping, but it seems to have touched deep fibers, why do you think this happens?
First, because as far as I know it is the first time that the FARC recognizes “kidnappings.” She had accepted holds, but had never accepted kidnapping. Secondly, because it is the first time that they do it with a very deep rawness, and rawness because this is a very cruel crime, and they say it with all their words: “We produced hell, we snatched the freedom and dignity of people, we caused immense pain to the families, we produced untold suffering “. At the same time they say something that is extremely important: “We recognize that we inflicted a wound that destroyed our dignity and destroyed our legitimacy.” And, on the other hand, they add: “We are willing to submit to justice for this, to fight so that no one is ever kidnapped in Colombia and to work for the peace of Colombians.” I believe that this is a text that has a very great depth.
The other thing I would like to say is that, in my opinion and that of those of us who were participating in Ingrid Betancourt’s interview, it was an interview very well conducted by her, which shows a lot of spiritual depth in a woman who elaborated a lot after the kidnapping. She is another Ingrid, she is not the audacious young woman of the times who was in politics, but the mature woman who has made a career in theology and who has meditated a lot on the depth of things. Ingrid generated something that is very important: that these men for the first time looked with love at a female victim who was speaking to them; when the victim is looked at with love, things change. And they looked with love at a woman who was telling them that kidnapping is murder: “You murdered me, the person I was; it is a murder that never ends, it is a death that is always carried with it”, that He touched them deeply.
(We also suggest: ‘The kidnapping has no expiration date’: Ingrid Betancourt)
Rodrigo Londoño said that the letter arose precisely from having listened to Ingrid Betancourt this Monday and that it touched them deeply. Did you expect something like this to happen with that interview with her?
The Commission’s job is always to try to create conditions for things to happen that are unpredictable. The recognition is almost a miracle. One cannot force or develop a methodology for these things to occur, but it is an act of great freedom. We work to create conditions, but we do not know when they can occur, it depends a lot on everyone who participates or is touched by the things that happen.
Does this give you lights to open more spaces for victims of other crimes and other actors, for example, recruitment and others?
Yes of course. In fact, in Medellín we had already held a public act of recognition of the recruitment of minors, at the end of last year. Every time we learn more that we have to do it with extreme respect for the victims and all those who come close to always protect human freedom and the pain of the victims, which are such delicate and spiritual things. They cannot be political, but scenarios where we recover as human beings.
But I want to say something. On Twitter and on the radio I see the enormous difficulty of accepting the recognition that the members of the former FARC secretariat who made peace are making. A large sector of the population, instead of accepting what that means, takes a controversial attitude, instead of understanding that recognizing is of enormous human greatness and accepting recognition is also of very deep human greatness. It is very important, in order to open space for the construction of peace among all of us, that we all ask ourselves: when will the things that remain to be said be said? When will the missing ones come? May they also speak out and acknowledge in front of the entire country, with a scene of 9 million victims awaiting recognition.
Of course, the FARC have to recognize many other things!
There are those who celebrate this recognition of kidnapping, abuse, forced abortions, and at the same time the question remains as to what is missing … how to balance this welcoming attitude and also continue demanding from them for the rest?
When you recognize you have to respect. One of the questions they were asked was why do they come to recognize now? No, men and women, we all know it personally, it takes time for us to mature the moment when one realizes that he has committed a crime or a very serious mistake and that he has to have the courage to admit it to others. Once that is done, the normal thing is that a person who recognizes opens up to the other recognitions, but people deserve respect and they deserve time.
Of course, it is very bad milk that when a person is acknowledging they are not listened to. Those who ask the questions do not also ask themselves: does not the whole society have to recognize? I do not want to go into details, but who is going to recognize the massacres of the paramilitaries? Who will you recognize for the hors d’oeuvres? Who will recognize for the extrajudicial executions, called ‘false positives’?
Of course, the FARC have to recognize many other things! But whoever begins to speak, and begins to speak sincerely, falls on her to turn her recognition into a wound and dig into it, making her feel, instead of gratitude, adversity and confrontation. That is the worst thing to do if you want to acknowledge the attitude of greatness of whoever is speaking, rather than question yourself.
(More of your interest: In a harsh letter, the FARC apologizes for the kidnappings they committed)
Sometimes it seems that an inventory of horrors is expected from the FARC, a kind of list of grievances, but is that the recognition that should be expected in a transition process like this?
Expecting that is frankly denying the possibility of peace and reconciliation, because the depths of what has happened in the Colombian armed conflict are of such dimensions, from all sides, that we will never be able to get to know in detail everything that happened, and if we demand it in order to reconcile, it will never be possible.
We have to be confident that whoever opens up to tell the truth puts it into clear evidence and does not refuse when the victims ask specifically, they are showing what we need: the availability to accept the seriousness of what was done and put it into practice. concrete examples, but not in all cases. If we are going to pay one minute of attention to each of the 9 million victims, we would need 17 years of listening. To pretend that is to deny the possibility of building a different country and reconciling ourselves. It takes generosity to say ‘enough is enough, we have heard enough, we give each other confidence, come and build together’.
There are several recognition scenarios, the judicial one of the JEP, the extrajudicial one of which the Truth Commission is a part, but there is also the need for public recognition that leaves these scenarios … What should be expected from public recognition, assuming the respect for the dignity of the victims that should not be completely put in public?
Well, what we can hope for, what we really want is for all those responsible, from all sides, to honestly acknowledge to the country what they did. That they understand that recognition, instead of damaging their reputation, increases it. Of course, today the Farc gained in reputation and gained in legitimacy, a legitimacy that they did not have, for having recognized.
We hope that all those responsible will acknowledge to the country what we know from the victims that they have done, but that the victims expect them to say it in public. Now, we have several scenarios, but we have to be very respectful. There are people who want to talk, but in private; there are victims who do not want to meet yet, because they are not prepared for the pain suffered, with their own victimizers. This is a process of maturation between all of us to move towards there, just as we do not dare, you cannot tell a victim to forgive, you have to welcome her, understand her; Forgiveness will always be an act of immense freedom and perhaps the victims will forgive one day when they find that they are spoken with the truth, that is an extraordinary spiritual act, but we cannot force things in this process.
JUAN DAVID LÓPEZ MORALES
Justice Writer
Twitter: @LopezJuanDa
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