I will try to be more brief in my postings, because I am not getting any comments and maybe this is because my postings are too long!
Columbia rebel group breaks off peace talks
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/07/27/colombia.rebels.reut/index.html
Basically, the Columbian government has asked the communist rebel group ELN to concentrate their troops in one area as part of the cease-fire agreement, and the rebel groups have refused. Apparently, this group got started in the 1960's along with another larger revolutionary group, and they are all branded as terrorists by the U.S. government. Of course, they are communists, so go figure. This war that has been going on kills thousands of people every year, and forces millions from their homes because of the violence between government and rebel forces.
Obviously with a civil war going on, it is hard if not impossible to proceed towards development, socially or economically. However, I think that if so many people are willing to fight and die for their communist ideals, perhaps the government should take those concerns into serious consideration. I am assuming the rest of the country (not the rebels) are more capitalistic?
Was that a short enough post to extract some comments?
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2 comments:
My thoughts on this article are a little randomly presented, so I apologize. First off, I agree with you that the government should definately take into consideration the reasons just why so many people are fighting against them in their own country, especially since there is more than one rebel army doing so. This fact alone speaks volumes for the social situation there. However, I also think that the fact that the groups finance themselves through kidnapping innocent civilians for ransom and dealing cocaine speaks volumes about them as well. I would brand these people as terrorists too, regardless if they're communists or not. I don't know enough about how the situation started (did the rebels first try to be heard, and then move to terrorism later when they weren't heard? Or did they start with it?) but I think that that should definately be taken into consideration as well. If the groups did start off by aggressive means, then I think it drastically shifts my allegiance to the government, because I don't believe in giving in to such actions. However it started though, I think that peace talks show that both groups want to reach an agreement, and this is very good. My final thought is that the demand from the government to the rebels that they must put all their troops in one area and reveal who they are is a terrible request to make, and the rebels did right in refusing it.
It's unfortunate that what the US says matters so much in the way people are percieved. Just the fact that the US considers the rebels to be terrorists makes a lot of people instantly think of the rebels as evils that should be gotten rid of. Yet, without the label we see yet another revolution happening in South America. Yes, as Andrew said, they have hostages and deal cocaine. However, if those were reasons for being labeled "terrorists" then the US would be considered a terrorist as well for reasons of similar importance. I'm interested to see this Columbian revolution run its course and hope the US doesn't interfere anymore.
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