By CHRIS HERLINGER
c. 2002 Religion News Service
WASHINGTON -- Ricardo Esquivia has heard all of the arguments before and can recite them better than those who actually agree with them. They go something like this: The peace process in war-torn Colombia has failed. After three years of negotiations, peace efforts are in tatters; President Andres Pastrana leaves office with little to show for his work. The largest leftist guerrilla group -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC by its Spanish acronym -- is more determined than ever to topple the Colombian government and is terrorizing Colombians in the process. So it is time, many argue, to support Alvaro Uribe, the Presidential candidate who has vowed to "show no mercy" and wage all-out war against the FARC. Colombia holds its presidential elections May 26 and Uribe leads in the polls.
Esquivia, 55, isn't surprised by such reactions -- even progressive friends of the peace activist have vowed to vote for Uribe, saying they are weary of Pastrana's vacillations and the FARC's intransigence. Esquivia shrugs and says he understands. In a recent interview in Washington, where he was a guest of Lutheran World Relief and spent several days meeting with U.S. church representatives and lobbying members of Congress on Colombia-related issues, Esquivia said he, too, is profoundly tired of the war -- a war he has known for most of his life; a war that claims some 3,500 lives a year. His visit came just before reports from Colombia detailed one of the worst tragedies of the long war -- the deaths of some 117 civilians, including 40 children, who had taken refuge in a church during fighting between FARC and right-wing paramilitaries and died when a mortar shell hit the church. But he is convinced Uribe's solution will ultimately fail, too, because Colombia's social fabric cannot absorb any more war. He believes further war waged by the Colombian government will, paradoxically, strengthen rather than weaken the FARC because it will stiffen, rather than weaken, the FARC's resolve.
The delegation will participate in an all day consultation that will bring together Colombian leaders from various conflict zones and other church-based Colombian activists. Please keep the members of the delegation, and the Colombian leaders and activists in your prayers as they listen to one another.
God of love, may we show compassion for our sisters and brothers in Colombia. Give our elected leaders courage to seek policies that promote peace, not war. Amen.
