Comunes: Old Farc wanna live like common people

@wwaycorrigan

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So Colombia's Farc has rebranded.

The old rebel group that for over five decades waged guerrilla warfare across the country until signing a peace agreement with the government in 2016 is looking to put further distance between its political party of today and its bloody past.

Old Farcs: The party is changing its name to Comunes. (Photo from Twitter.)

Long live Farc?

Thus, Farc is officially dead — bar for some dissidents — and it's long live the Comunes (roughly translated as 'Common folk' in English).

Considering the fact that an armed Farc never enjoyed anything close to widespread support in the country, except for a few remote pockets, the idea that a political party with the same name could do well at the polls was always far-fetched.

For a greater understanding for Irish/UK readers, imagine the IRA being listed on a ballot paper — it would, and no offence intended, bomb. OK, some will say IRA equals Sinn Féin, but at least the latter has a long-standing, even rich, political past.

Comunes has, on the face of it, a much more accepting ring to it than Farc, the Spanish acronym for the Alternative Revolutionary Force of the Common (people) [not to be confused with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the old military Farc]. Not exactly a title that warms the heart, is it?

Changing one's name, however, is one thing. Changing the negative opinion that others have of you, quite another.

It will take some time for a traditionally conservative Colombian electorate to disassociate this "new" party from Farc.

'Centro Democrático is, in many ways, simply the Conservative Party minus its sheep's clothing.'

Yes, it can be reasonably argued that Colombia has been far more accepting of new political movements since the turn of the millennium compared to the Conservative/Liberal duopoly of the 19th and 20th centuries which saw, amongst other acts of purging, the effective extermination of the Union Patriótica (UP, Patriotic Union) party. The election of Álvaro Uribe Vélez under the Primero Colombia (Colombia First) banner as president in 2002 and 2006 is a case in point.

Uribe and others would go on to found in 2013 Centro Democrático (Democratic Centre), the party of incumbent president, Iván Duque. It is, nonetheless, in many ways simply the Conservative Party minus its sheep's clothing. It fits in nicely with the Colombian psyche.

Bad branding

Comunes, in contrast, purely as a signifier before one even studies its actual politics, looks and sounds too much like Communist. 'Eh, don't call us guys, we'll call you.'

Come on, could Farc's powers that be not have come up with a name that wouldn't be so anathema to so many Colombians? How about the People's Party of Colombia, El Partido del Pueblo Colombiano? (I must get that registered forthwith, it's mine.)

As things stand, there's a greater chance that I'll have Colombian residency before the artists formerly known as Farc make any significant political inroads here. Yes, that long.

Nonetheless, if they need some additional rebranding help more in tune with the Colombian masses, they know where to find me. I come at a reasonable price.
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What the Farc?!

There have been a few developments since we took our what-might-be-called slightly tongue-in-cheek look at the early candidates for Colombia's 2018 presidential election.

Rather than having a clearer picture of the state of play, things have got even more muddled (heck, we might throw our hat into the ring yet; well, if everyone else is ...).

Former defence minister under outgoing President Juan Manuel Santos, Juan Carlos Pinzón, has entered the running, distancing himself from the now unpopular Santos in the process; a man's got to do what a man's got to do.

'The Farc is dead, long live the Farc!'

On the female front, Angela Merkel lookalike Clara López is making another bid for the top job while the Conservative Party's Marta Lucía Ramírez is gearing up for a third attempt; suckers for punishment, eh? 

Very much on the other side of the political spectrum to Ramírez we've Piedad Córdoba on the list for the 'loony left' (don't shoot the messenger; it's how Córdoba and her ilk are generally viewed here).

Speaking of the left, arguably the most eye-catching move has been the founding of the political party for the former guerrillas, Farc. 

In a bid to distance themselves from the image of death and destruction that they represent for most Colombians, they've come up with a novel name: Farc.

The, um, devil is the detail. This Farc stands for Common Alternative Revolutionary Force (Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Común), different to what the armed Farc stood for, which was Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. See the difference?

We could say it's a case of 'keep it simple, stupid'. At least it will make it easy for both supporters and opponents alike to know who they are. 

No need to copy the Northern Ireland scenario where people said (and some still say) Sinn Féin-IRA, linking the party to the armed group it represented/represents. Farc was/is Farc, a rare instance of efficiency in Colombia that, to look at it positively.

Of course, as mentioned here on umpteen occasions and alluded to above, the left is a dirty concept for not only middle-class Colombia but large swathes of its lower-classes as well. Come on guys, not all leftists are unwashed, miserable hippies. We shouldn't generalise now.

So the fear in some quarters that the political Farc could be a force to be reckoned with at the polling booth next year — we've parliamentary elections in March, before the presidential contest — seems quite irrational. 

Yes, it did register a less negative image than the other political parties in a recent opinion poll (the biggest thing that this poll highlighted was the lack of confidence in politics here in general).

However, if there's one thing we can rely on in Colombia, it's the electorate's unfailing support for the centre/centre-right when it comes to election day. Thus, the guaranteed seats Farc is to be given, five in each chamber as per the 2016 peace agreement, might be the party's lot for now.

What's more, the mess that we have in socialist Venezuela weakens further Farc's chances of making any significant political inroads in the near future. 

We must note here that just because a government says it is socialist doesn't mean it actually is that way in practice. The 'whatever you're having yourself' political experiment that Venezuela currently is has done more to damage the left than the right ever could.

That aside, what 'post-conflict' (no sniggering down the back there) Colombia needs is a massive clampdown on corruption — we're talking generations to achieve that; a culture doesn't change overnight — and, as far as we're concerned, a healthy dollop of social democratic thinking and policy.

The question is, do we have a political party here that can actually deliver that? You cynics will say no, but we live in hope -- honestly, we do. 

Failing that, Venezuela might sort itself out in the next decade or so.
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Whose land is it anyway?

Independence Day celebrations are novel events for us here at Wrong Way. The fact that the freedom of our own island from colonial rule has never been achieved to the majority of our past liberators’ wishes means independence is an awkward subject for us Irish. 

So instead of a national day commemorating a political foundation, we celebrate our submission to Christianity – or what is commonly referred to as St Patrick’s Day. 

In the past year, though, we’ve been able to witness at first hand a couple of nations getting all patriotic and merry to mark their birth as free countries – Chile last 18 September and more recently Colombia on 20 July. 

Independence Day celebrations in Bogotá, Colombia.

Both national days celebrate the defeat of the Spanish colonisers by, um, the previous Spanish colonisers. The kids grow up so fast, don’t they? The initial Spanish conquest was so successful that the indigenous populations they encountered were quite literally blown away by their new masters. 

These natives – well, those who remained – were reduced to mere silent and powerless spectators as the Old World invaders divvied up as their own what is Mother Nature’s earth. 

OK, there was some interbreeding between old natives and new settlers but for the indigenous that meant surrendering to the Spanish way of life – the opposite seldom occurred. Of course, this isn’t a unique story, the same happened in North America and in many colonised lands.

The lesser-spotted Kogi Indians of Colombia.

Hence, we can only imagine that these Independence Day celebrations are met with, at the very least, indifference among the indigenous. It must be like having a party in your own house that not only you do not want but the organisers didn’t even invite you or ask for your permission to hold it. And then you’re left to clean up the mess. 

For some of the old natives – particularly the tribal indigenous – the country and its borders that is Colombia or Venezuela or wherever doesn’t even exist. They live in a world – or at least tried to – without man-made borders. (For a previous article related to this topic, see Phantom Freedom at: http://bit.ly/SOQUl0.)

This whole indigenous versus Latino question is very topical in Colombia at the moment. In the country’s south-western department of Cauca, where both the indigenous populations and the outlawed Farc are at their strongest, the old natives have taken it upon themselves to defend what they see as theirs. 

They claim that the presence of the Colombian military in the area – to "pacify" the region as far as the Government’s official line goes – only attracts more Farc attacks, which have been numerous in recent times. Their lack of confidence in the state’s security to adequately protect them is deeply rooted in history. 

Meanwhile, for many Spanish Colombians living in the big cities, their belief is that the indigenous are in the pocket of the Farc – the removal of the army will only serve to strengthen the rebels, no more, no less. There could, certainly, be some truth to that. But it’s quite arrogantly dismissive of the indigenous’ own, unique concerns. 

Life before the Spaniards — the Incas Machu Picchu in Peru.

Of course, any group of people that feels it is being mistreated is quick to point to the rights it believes it is entitled to. The indigenous in these parts have a strong case going back hundreds of years in this regard. But as we all should know, with rights come responsibilities. 

Too often, different minorities are quick to demand the former, yet fail to face up to the latter. For one, if you claim you don’t recognise a certain authority or state and thus will not be bound by its rules, it’s a little bit rich to be asking for benefits and assistance from said authority or state. 

In an Irish context, the IRA and Sinn Féin know all about that. Sometimes you just have to face up to the reality of a situation, no matter how disagreeable it may be for you.

As ever in such conflicts, and as alluded to above, the lack of trust in the motives of the other side is at the heart of the problem here. 

The gun, however, has rarely provided a long-term, satisfactory, solution. These Independence Day celebrations could be seen as proof of that.

"Dangerous" Colombia Part II

We’re returning to a theme we first touched on a couple of months back (see http://bit.ly/Je5pxC) – happenings here in Bogotá last week being the reason for this. 

Firstly, for those of you in the English-speaking world, a brief synopsis of these events is probably required considering the lack of coverage this story received there (a point we’ll touch on later). 

We’re referring to the deadly bomb blast of Tuesday 15 May, which left two people dead and injured dozens more. The attack was, it is believed in some quarters, carried out by Colombia’s proscribed left-wing paramilitary group Farc. 

The apparent intended target was the country’s former Interior Minister Fernando Londoño, an outspoken conservative. He managed to escape with minor injuries. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said of his bodyguards.

Police State? Nope, just your regular blockade at the local supermarket.

So that’s what happened. For many, it just reinforces the preconceptions they have about Colombia. Maybe that’s why, as alluded to above, the Western media gave this story a wide berth – ‘sure this kind of thing happens all the time there’ type of attitude. But, thankfully, we can state it does not. 

Indeed it is, we’ve been told, the first bombing like this in three years. That the story did seem to escape international attention could be seen as a good thing in the state’s efforts to project a more positive image abroad.

However, judging by the comments of some journalists based here, both foreign and local, that the world wasn’t talking about this was shocking. These will be the first guys, though, to go on the offensive if Colombia’s reputation is tarnished in other areas. There’s just no pleasing some.

In relative terms, the international English-speaking press’ scant coverage of the story was probably justified. The body count was low and, while any loss of life is terrible, the two men who were killed, the bodyguards, did knowingly sign up to work that wasn’t exactly low-risk stuff. For Farc, Londoño, was and still is a ‘legitimate’ target.

Now, while we don’t condone any act of terrorism, this wasn’t a random bomb in a busy city centre where hundreds of innocent lives would have been put in jeopardy - á la the IRA in its heyday – or some crazed gunman going on a murderous rampage. 

OK, it was far from what you might call a clinical assassination attempt, but it seems Farc (or whoever the perpetrators were) did at least think about minimising civilian casualties. There’s a small bit of comfort in that.

What’s more, contrary to what some of our journalist friends here apparently experienced, we didn’t get a sense whatsoever that ‘Bogotanos’ felt ‘under attack’ after the blast. In fact, it was business as usual from the people we encountered – almost as if nothing untoward had just happened. 

 

Some might say that’s a sign that they’re used to this kind of thing but, as we mentioned above, considering the rarity of such incidents these days, that’s not the case. It just seems that the locals’ mindset is not to dwell on these events – worrying about such things, or anything for that matter, doesn’t get you anywhere.

At your service - Colombia sends for outside help to deal with Farc.

For those few who think this might be the start of a renewed Farc campaign in Colombia’s major cities, such a nightmare scenario seems highly unlikely. 

 

For one, its strength has been on the wane for some time now. 

Moreover, the organisation is positioning itself for ‘peace’ talks with the government – its recent release of long-held hostages and a pledge to end kidnappings, signs that it is, perhaps finally, changing course. 

The Bogotá bomb was possibly just a little reminder to the country’s administration that, to use an old IRA line, 'we haven’t gone away' and that, if not taken seriously, it can still cause bloodshed.

It must also be pointed out, again, that it's not certain that it was in fact Farc that carried out this attack. That's something we'll address at a later stage.

It’s certainly not time, though, for the US State Department to start warning its citizens against travelling to Colombia (although, on second thoughts, we could always do with fewer Yanks visiting). 

In fact, we wager you are more likely to get attacked in any of the USA’s big cities than you are here – that is, of course, if they let you into the country in the first place. 

But that might not be a concern for Colombians in the near future – the way things are going, it may be just a matter of time before the country officially becomes the ‘51^st State’. The perfect cure that for Hugo Chávez’s cancer.