High profile prisoners remain in the hands of the FARC rebels but the deaths of 11 politicians from Cali has appalled a hardened nation. On July 5 Colombians protest.
On July 5 at midday the streets and clamour of Bogota, Medellin, Cali, Cartagena and other major cities throughout Colombia will come to a momentary halt as the people mobilise. Buses, taxis and metro systems will freeze. Public workers have been given permission to march and the President has called upon all Colombians to exit their offices and congregate on the streets. Then there will be aural mayhem for a further three minutes while Colombian citizens the country over, shout, scream, sound car horns, hammer on pots and pans set to the backdrop of the tolling of church bells.
Colombians are set to become one voice against kidnapping, a scourge that has plagued their fractured nation for several decades.
Perhaps the population of this long suffering country have suffered too much this time. One wonders how much more they can take, but one thing is for certain, the wrongful deaths on June 18 of the 11 politicians abducted five years ago from Cali in the department of Valle de Cauca has pushed a nation already on the edge, further.
In Bogota, President Alvaro Uribe and his ministers will stand alongside the capital’s mayor Luis Eduardo Garzon in the Plaza de Bolivar in the Candelaria district to hammer home how seriously his government is taking this recent outrage involving the FARC guerrilla group.
President Uribe is to demand that the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) – who have been involved in a five decade long armed struggle against the Colombian establishment – return the bodies of the 11 deceased politicians and liberate all those citizens that remain held in captivity by the rebel group.
Should the bodies of the politicians be returned then some light can be shed on the cause of their actual demise. Presently there is a war of words between the Government and the FARC as to what actually happened.
One thing is certain, there was a military operation to free the captives and some way or another 11 of the 12 politicians held there were killed. The Government claims that the FARC executed them and in turn the FARC have declared that they were killed in the crossfire and will not return the bodies until all military pushes in the region cease.
On Tuesday night 24,000 candles were lit and placed in the Plaza de Bolivar to commemorate the deaths of the 11 politicians and on July 5 plans are afoot to create human chains spanning up to 40 city blocks in the capital signifying the nation’s solidarity against kidnapping.
While Colombia’s cities and provinces will be at a standstill on July 5 at midday to the cacophony of solidarity as the killings of the politicians has appalled a nation already hardened to so much, there is also a feeling of despair prevalent. Citizens have blamed the arrogance of both the FARC and the Government to not succeed in reaching a humanitarian agreement for the handing over of hostages.
Hear Colombians cry out “NO AL SECUESTRO”
