I was once kidnapped and held hostage by political terrorists in South America. My ordeal only lasted about an hour — but it was rather frightening. Like Ingrid Betancourt, it was partly my own fault for ignoring obvious security advice. Unlike her, I was able to talk my way out of it. It is hard to imagine the six years of continuous terror and abuse this doughty lady experienced at the hands of the Marxist terrorist group, FARC, in Colombia. Her release, in a bold exercise by the Colombian Armed Forces, is, rightly, a matter of universal rejoicing and a triumph for President Uribe.
This remarkable rescue sends an encouraging message to the free world, poses some interesting questions, and it is hoped may raise the level of interest in Britain towards this democratic, civilised, friendly state.
Democratic? Civilised? Friendly? Yes. Yes. Yes. Colombia is the oldest democracy in Latin America. Ever since independence was won in the battle of Boyacá in 1819 Colombia (with one two-year interruption) has been a democratic country. But it had the misfortune that, when the Berlin Wall collapsed and left-wing terrorist groups lost the support of the Soviet Union, the drug money came on stream in a big way, enabling FARC to continue to fund their criminal activities. Civilised? How else to describe the country of Gabriel Garcia Márquez and Botero; a country in one of whose great cities, Cartagena, the Hay-on-Wye Book Festival was held; one of the few countries that has never defaulted on a sovereign debt and, where, by common consent, the finest and most refined Spanish in the world is spoken. Friendly? At the Battle of Boyacá, under the leadership of Simón Bolivar, the British Legion fought with a distinction that led the Liberator to describe Britain as Saviours of America. Colombians do not forget that. Nor should we.
One might think, therefore, that the free world would show total solidarity with Colombia. Well, up to a point. To be fair, the United States has been pretty steady — though one hopes that this incident will quell the protectionist voices in Congress against the free trade agreement with Colombia. The British government — in particular the minister of state Kim Howells — has been pretty steady too. But the government has to contend with a group of its own back-benchers and party activists operating under the banner Justice for Colombia.
It may be unfair to describe this group as supporting FARC. But the agenda they pursue is one with which FARC would be entirely sympathetic.
It has always mystified me that support for so-called progressive positions seems to enjoy some sort of ‘high ground’ (one hesitates to use the word ‘moral’) denied to right-wing ideologues and even moderate centrists. Thus Pablo Neruda, the rightly admired Chilean poet and Nobel Laureate, escapes all opprobrium for his part in the assassination of Trotsky. But then he was a communist, so that’s all right. Meanwhile, Borges (no progressive he), a giant of 20th-century literature, still fails to join Neruda on the ‘A’ List. Mario Vargas Llosa (along with Márquez the greatest living Latin American writer) has no Nobel prize — yet. But then, apparently, he admires Margaret Thatcher — and that’s not all right! Castro and Che Guevara adorn T-shirts throughout the world. But there is no such recognition for Cardoso, who laid the foundations for modern democratic Brazil, or President Zedillo, who oversaw Mexico’s move from a one-party state to a multi-party democracy; no T-shirt for Aylwin, Lagos or Oscar Arias.
And, lest we think this is a Latin American phenomenon, how about Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir? These distinguished philosopher-writers spent a good part of their lives finding elaborate justifications for murderous tyrants across the world. In 1946 de Beauvoir described the United States as a ‘moral threat’. In 2006 Chris Patten described Sartre and de Beauvoir as ‘political fatheads’. I go with Patten.
Alas, where Latin America is concerned, this failure to understand the political dynamics goes much wider than mere left/right prejudice. Just as the Left refuses to accept that, under President Uribe, Samuel Moreno was able to stand against Uribe’s chosen candidate for Mayor of Bogota and win, so the neocon Right persist in describing President Chávez as a latter-day Castro. The facts that he holds elections every five minutes, that when defeated (as in the recent referendum) he accepts the result, that Venezuela poses no threat to world peace and has a perfect right to pursue socialist policies, are ignored. It is very hard to predict where Venezuela’s socialist experiments will lead. But it is easy to predict that if Washington persists in describing Chávez as a new Castro, it may well make that come true.
The time has come for the mass-production of Uribe T-shirts. Colombia has struck a blow against all those who believe that political progress in a ‘progressive’ cause justifies the use of violence and against so-called intellectuals ready to defend that proposition.
My advice to FARC and to Justice for Colombia is simple — come out of the jungle. Disband. Support democratic Colombia. Enough is enough. ¡Basta ya!