Colombia’s “Civil Conflict” : 1948-2013?

During Christmas season one of Colombia’s guerrilla groups declared a unilateral cease-fire from Nov. 20, 2012 to Jan. 20, 2013. The Colombian organization which analyzes the “conflict” says the guerrillas have realized 13 attacks during this cease-fire, most of the attacks have been in the Southwest part of Colombia, in the state of Cauca, between the cities of Popayán and Cali. 

I am now living in Cauca, about 10 miles from Popayán, not far from Piéndamo. Almost every day I see military helicopters like this one flying over my house.

Credit: El Espectador, 1/1/2013


Today, the first day of 2013, these were two of the newspaper headlines:

“Attack on Police Station in Cauca”  “13 Guerrillas Die in Military Operation Against the FARC”

I moved to Colombia in 1984, and the conflict was going strong then. The conflict started on April 9, 1948 with the assassination of Liberal leader and presidential candidate Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, in what is referred to as the Bogotazo. There are many theories about The Assassination of Gaitán.

The conflict in Colombia is often out of sight as you go through your day, though it appears regularly in national news. But tens of thousands have died in the last 64 years and millions have been internally displaced, forced to leave rural areas and move to urban areas. The conflict becomes a personal tragedy when it strikes your family, and almost every family has been touched at some time. Yet daily life goes on, and most of the time Colombia does not feel like a country at war.

The government and guerrillas have been meeting to negotiate a peace settlement. Maybe 2013 will be the end to the long "civil conflict" in Colombia.

May all beings know peace.  Happy New Year to all!