Carta de las FARC a la UNASUR / Letter from the FARC to UNASUR

  1. neosyndic
    [the following letter was sent by the FARC-EP command to the UNASUR summit back in August of this year. it asks the Presidents of UNASUR for an audience in order to introduce into the deliberations the perspective of the Colombian Insurgency. It makes the point that while some (i.e. Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales and Rafael Correa), frequently allude to the obsolecense of the revolutionary armed struggle, they never talk about conditions and guarantees for political-electoral work in Colombia. This is a reference to the experience of the ex-guerrilla Union Patriotica movement in the late 1980's, whose candidates where assasinated by the DAS working in collusion with the paramilitaries and the U.S. Embassy. The letter also points out (correctly) that while the insurgency is blamed for the violence, no attention is paid to the brutality of the neocolonial counter-insurgency estrategies promoted by the government of the United States. /n2]


    ***

    Carta abierta a UNASUR
    [Open Letter to UNASUR]

    "Aunque el gobierno de Colombia mantiene cerrada la puerta del diálogo con la insurgencia acicateado por el espejismo de una victoria militar y la injerencia de Washington, queremos reiterar a la Unión de Naciones del Sur, UNASUR, nuestra irreductible voluntad de buscar una salida pol*tica al conflicto."

    [Despite the fact that the Colombian government continues to close the door on dialogue with the insurgency due to the mirage of an alleged military victory and the interference of Washington, we want to reiterate to the Union of Nations of the South our firm willingness to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict.]

    "Es un hecho que éste desbordó, desde hace años, el marco de las fronteras patrias como consecuencia de las estrategias “preventivas” impuestas a Bogotá por el gobierno de los Estados Unidos. Si Colombia hoy está ocupada militarmente por una potencia extranjera, lo es en desarrollo de un interés geoestratégico, de predominio continental y no en razón de una guerra local contrainsurgente Nadie discute que la Casa Blanca asume con preocupación la presencia pol*tica, cada vez mayor en este hemisferio, de gobiernos que optan por el decoro patrio y la soberan*a. En nuestro pa*s, el Plan Colombia, la estrategia neoliberal, la violencia institucional y para institucional, han agravado a niveles insospechados el conflicto, haciendo muy dif*cil superar esta etapa de confrontación fratricida sin la ayuda de pa*ses hermanos."

    [It is a fact that this conflict has transcended, since many years, the limits of the national borders of out Fatherland as a consequence of the pre-emptive estrategies imposed on Bogota by the government of the United States. If Colombia today remains occupied militarily by a foreign power, it is as a consequence of the development of a geoestrategic interest, relative to continental domination and not because of a local counterinsurgency war. No one denies that the White House assumes with preocupation the political prescence, always greater, of governments that opt for the natiojnal honour and soveregnity. In our country, Plan Colombia, the neoliberal estrategy, the pattern of institutional and para-institutional violence, have aggravated the situation to previously unthinkable levels, making it much difficult to supercede this phase of fatricidal confrontation without the aid of sister nations.]

    "El drama humanitario de Colombia clama la movilización y solidaridad continental. La obsesión oligárquica por someter militarmente a la guerrilla desde hace 46 años, y la ejecución de los planes guerreristas y represivos de Washington han costado innumerables masacres, fosas comunes como la de la Macarena que esconde más de 2000 cadáveres: la más grande de América Latina, cr*menes de lesa humanidad llamados eufem*sticamente “falsos positivos”, un desplazamiento forzoso de cinco millones de campesinos, desapariciones de ciudadanos por causas pol*ticas, detenciones arbitrarias, 30 millones de pobres en un pa*s de 44 millones de habitantes…"

    [The Colombian Humanitarian drama calls for the movilisation of continental solidarity. The oligarchical obsession with the military supression of the guerrillas for the past 46 years, and the execution of the militarist and represive plans dictated by Washington have costed innumerable massacres, mass graves like that of the Macarena which hid more than 2000 corpses: the largest in Latin America, gross human rights abuses euphemistically termed "false positives", a forced displacement of five million peasants, dissapearances of citizens for political reasons, arbitrary detentions, 30 million poor in a country with 44 million inhabitants.]

    "Algunos aluden frecuentemente a la obsolescencia de la lucha armada revolucionaria, pero nada dicen de las condiciones y garant*as para la lucha pol*tica en Colombia. Otros ubican la amenaza en la insurgencia y no en la estrategia neocolonial del gobierno de los Estados Unidos, pareciendo ignorar que con guerrilla o sin ella el imperio dará curso a su agenda de predominio. Y los hay también proclives a presionar a una sola de las partes contendientes, casi siempre a la insurgencia."

    [Some frequently allude to the obsolecense of the revolutionary armed struggle, but these people never talk about conditions and guarantees for political struggle in Colombia. Others place the threat on the insurgency and not on the neocolonial estrategies of the government of the United States, ignoring that with or without the guerrilla the empire will continue on its course of domination. There are also those who always apply pressure against one of the contenders, almos always the guerrillas.]

    "La paz con justicia social y no la guerra por la guerra, ha sido el objetivo estratégico de las FARC desde su surgimiento en 1964 en Marquetalia. Si las conversaciones de paz de Casa Verde, Caracas, Tlaxcala y el Caguán, no llegaron a feliz término, fue porque las oligarqu*as no quisieron considerar ningún cambio en las injustas estructuras pol*ticas, económicas y sociales que motivan el alzamiento. Hoy enfrentamos, enarbolando incuestionables banderas pol*ticas, la más grande maquinaria bélica que haya enfrentado guerrilla alguna, pero siempre luchando la posibilidad de una solución pol*tica."

    [Peace with social justice and not war for wars' sake, has been the strategic objective of the FARC since it was founded in 1964 in Marquetalia. If the peace dialogues in Casa Verde, Caracas, Tlaxcala, and El Caguan did not end happily, it was because the oligarchies did not want to consider any change to the unjust political, economic and social structures that motivated the armed uprising. Today we confront, raising unquestionable political flags, the greatest military machine ever confronted by any guerrilla movement, but always fighting for the possibility of a political settlement.]

    "Señores presidentes: cuando lo estimen oportuno estamos dispuestos a exponer en una asamblea de UNASUR nuestra visión sobre el conflicto colombiano."

    [Honorable Presidents; when you consider it pertient we are disposed to expose to the assembly of UNASUR our vision about the Colombian conflict.]

    "La paz de Colombia es la paz del continente."

    [The peace of Colombia is the peace of the continent.]

    "Reciban nuestro saludo"

    [Our warm greetings]

    "De ustedes atentamente,"

    [Yours sincerely,]

    "Compatriotas"

    [Compatriots]

    "Secretariado del Estado Mayor Central de las FARC-EP"

    [General Secretariat of the Head Quarters of the FARC-EP]

    "Montañas de Colombia, Agosto de 2010,"

    [Mountains of Colombia, August of 2010]

    "Año bicentenario del grito de independencia."

    [Bicentenarian Independence Year.]