The FARC agree to hand in their weapons and become a normal politicalparty
Scenes from the Colombian guerrillas’ last conference as an armed group
The Americas
Close to peace
BY NIGHT it was a music festival. Bands took to a massive stage, dappled with coloured light and shrouded in artificial fog, to belt out reggae and traditional Colombian cumbia for a crowd consisting mainly of fighters from the leftist FARC guerrilla army and its supporters. The concert’s location—a fairground in the grasslands of Colombia’s central Meta province—put foreign visitors in mind of Glastonbury or Woodstock, though the location was rather more remote. The nearest town was five hours away by car on unpaved roads. One rapt guerrilla said he had never been to a concert before.
By day, delegates to the FARC’s tenth conference deliberated on the fine points of an accord to end their 52-year-long war with Colombia’s government, the culmination of four years of negotiations that took place in Havana. They debated its provisions for setting up a special justice system to try leaders who have committed war crimes, and laid out plans for becoming an unarmed political party. At the end of seven days of debate and music, the FARC is expected on September 23rd to approve the deal and agree to hand in their weapons. Their leaders will travel to Cartagena, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, to sign the peace agreement alongside President Juan Manuel Santos on September 26th. Colombia’s citizens will have a chance to vote on the deal in a referendum to be held on October 2nd.
The conference showed that the FARC are beginning their “transformation from a clandestine guerrilla insurgency into a media savvy, culturally hip movement, primed for politics”, said Alex Fattal, an American anthropologist who has been studying the group’s media strategy. Judging by its coming-out party, the transformation will take a bit of time. The 200 or so journalists who made the trek were invited to stay in a rebel camp to experience the “conditions of guerrilla life”. Initially, they were allowed to talk to, photograph and film their camp-mates but needed permission to interview them on the record. Faced with an avalanche of requests, the FARC waived the rule on day two.
FARC commanders tried to perfect their media patter in ten-minute interviews, but some were gaffe-prone before the cameras. At a briefing on gender issues, Pastor Alape (not a cleric) waxed poetic about women preparing balms to soothe the chafing suffered by fighters after days-long marches. The FARC are a machista group, he confessed. “That’s who we are.” But they are trying to improve, Mr Alape added. Mauricio Jaramillo, a member of the FARC’s seven-man ruling secretariat, looked uncomfortable as he dodged questions at a press conference on the first day of deliberations. Journalists were not permitted to ask follow-ups.
Such awkwardness is not surprising in an organisation that has long preached revolution while spreading terror and committing crimes. In the FARC’s final conference as an armed group they decided to become something completely different. Provided Colombians approve the peace deal on October 2nd—and the polls now suggest they will—the FARC’s new weapons will be sound bites and sound machines.
Be the first to comment
Comments