Colombia as the Next New Jerusalem

March, 1999

It is happening again... Never mind the failures of the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, Albania or Nicaragua. It seems the revenants of the World's communist parties and Marxoids are moaning with excitement about events in Colombia. Yes, once again, it seems that a truly revolutionary regime is in the offing and this time (of course) it will finally be the shining new Jerusalem for all the weary political pilgrims.

The phenomenon of this blinkered attraction for any "Progressive" regime has been explored before. For generations, liberals and leftists have been able to overlook deliberate famines, economic disasters and wholesale totalitarian slaughter to bubble about the state that "finally got it right". These idiotic political pilgrims have been matched by even more credulous cretins in their home countries who emotionally bond with the new regime while seldom bothering to emigrate there -- more's the pity. These are the folks who can insist that the likes of Stalin, Hoxha or Ortega can teach Western democracies about civility and proper behavior.

Brace yourself, dear reader, 'tis about to happen again; this time the paladins of virtue are the cocaine-supported thugs of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Colombia has been bedeviled by violent left-right politics since the 1890s. Perhaps 200,000 people died during la Violenca, 20 years of vicious civil conflict that ended in the early 1960s. However, the Partido Communista de Colombia (PCC) wanted no part of the Liberal-Conservative reconciliation, and as the violence wound down they refused to lay down their arms. Formed in 1966, FARC was the PCC's military arm. The guerrillas decided to emulate Cuba and developed many links to the Castro government over the years. FARC's other linkage is with the cocaine industry. The combination has proved potent and these Communist Party guerrillas have been active for decades.

FARC has not been alone in perpetuating guerrilla warfare in Colombia. In 1990, Maoist and Castroist groups were still on the loose. A fourth group, M-19 had just agreed to throw down their guns and operate as an open political party. There were also a clutch a smaller groups in "armed resistance" to the Colombian government. Still, FARC was the largest and best organized of the lot.

Cocaine has been Colombia's curse since the 1960s. While violent political extremists have been vexatious everywhere in Latin America, the only ones that lasted beyond the end of the Cold War (and the resulting implosion of the Cuban economy) have been those with access to the narcotics industry. Of course, FARC is not the only group in Colombia with a nose for business.

Cocaine also powered a dangerous set of criminal cartels whose extreme wealth corrupted much of the country. The Cartelistas also had an off-and-on relationship with FARC. At times they have been at each other's throats (usually in a squabble over the spoils), and other times they have actively cooperated to weaken the Colombian government.

In the 1990s, the other Marxist Guerrilla groups slowly faded in numbers and many gave up their arms as a result of the appeals from the government for peace. However, the Colombian crackdown on the Medellin Cocaine Cartel in the early 1990s broke the back of the biggest single business rival to the Marxists. FARC quadrupled in size from 5,000 active "rebels" to 20,000. Its Maoist rival, the ELN merely grew from 2,000 to 5,000. FARC was also able to make enormous improvements in the quality of its arms and accoutrements. As early as 1996, Colombian troops in the field became out-gunned by an enemy with secure communications and better surveillance equipment.

In true revolutionary practice, FARC went on to spread its influence and divide society. Where it could, it destroyed the structure of the government's authority to replace it with what passed for its own. Otherwise it engaged in terror to goad the usual action-reaction cycle of spiraling atrocity. Typically, the often stung police, military and endangered civilians rose to the bait and fought terror with terror -- often with a savagery in excess of that of the guerrillas. Death squads have always appeared in FARC's presence, and have become more desperate in recent years.

And so to the present pass. As of November 1998 and the opening of peace talks with the Government, FARC controlled some 40% of the country. As far as the PCC is concerned, the rest is up for grabs. Victory, of sorts, is at hand. Of course, while FARC has been busy in the countryside, its PCC partners have been busy in the cities. The trade unions have turned in a series of strikes -- for legitimate reasons, the economy is in a shambles, but austerity measures are widely resented. Also, death squads, in the absence of easy guerrilla targets, went for many leftists instead. FARC negotiations with the Pastrana government are also a sign that the authorities are on the ropes.

Enter the wonder-struck international support. As blind to reality as ever, Canadian leftist organizations have been praising FARC and are attempting to campaign on their behalf. The National Action Committee on the Status of Women will debate a resolution of support for the Narcoterrorists er, selfless defenders of Colombian dignity and champions of Social Justice. A prize assortment of Canadian progressives (calling themselves the Tribunal on Human Rights in Colombia) held a mock judicial inquiry into the behavior of one death squad. Somehow they managed to overlook the behaviors that stung these squads into re-emerging.

The die-hards of the Canadian Communist Party have started raising money for FARC -- not that the cocaine-rich guerrillas need it. They also sent Central Committee member Helen Kennedy to Colombia at FARC's invitation. She has been gushing with endless enthusiasm in the People's Voice (the Party Paper) about the nose-candy revolutionaries. One February 1999 article says it all. "One lasting impression was the lineup of children to get autographs from FARC commander Fabian Ramierez, as he patiently took time to talk to the children. The atmosphere of isolation and intimidation in Bogata was replaced with an overwhelming sense of community."

Given what happened in other countries Helen Kennedy has favored, the children had better get used to lineups. Kennedy, by the way, is the Chair of the Metro [Toronto] Network for Social Justice, one of the architects of the Anti-Harris "Days of Action" protests that attempted to shut Toronto down in 1996.

The Party and some of its allies have been sponsoring tours by FARC members. In early March, for example, the UofT Communists and the Student Christian Movement (an old ally) arranged for one FARC commander to speak on campus. FARC has even set up a Canadian office and has undertaken letter-writing campaigns to Canadian parliamentarians.

It is unlikely that FARC will really be interested in governing any part of Colombia -- although their political arm will be extremely useful in ensuring that the country remains ungovernable. FARC has long since made the transition from revolutionary guerrillas to a narcotics-oriented militia, and the responsibility of real government seems to have little appeal. What is important, however, is the illusion of respectability and the legal protections afforded by a faÁade of political power.

A long time ago, Lenin referred to the first of the starry-eyed political pilgrims and their enthusiastic supporters as "useful idiots". Lenin is gone, the USSR is gone, and the respectability (such as it was) of Marxism is gone. The useful idiot remains.