Tag-Archiv für 'freedom'

Gustavo Moncayo - the Colombian Forest Gump

Published
by
Nicole
on 13. August 2007
in Politik und bewaffneter Konflikt
. 3 Kommentare

auf deutsch | en español | en français

When I first read on the papers about Gustavo Moncayo I immediately remembered the movie “Forest Gump”: A touching story of a man that runs and runs and runs.

On June 17 Gustavo left his home town Sandoná in Nariño (State in the Colombian south-west) heading to the 1000 km distant Bogota, where he arrived 46 days later.

His driving force for this adventurous march was his son, who had been kidnapped by the FARC-guerrilla almost ten years ago and been held hostage ever since. In December 1997 a radio station of the Colombian army in Nariño was attacked by the FARC – the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Ten soldiers died, four were injured and 18 young militaries were taken as hostages. Amongst them was Pablo Gustavo Moncayo. In 2001 sixteen hostages from this group were released, consequence of an agreement between the State and the FARC, in exchange for fourteen ill guerrilla fighters. Pablo was not part of the released soldiers. He has now become the hostage who has been kept imprisoned the longest by the FARC.

“We are tired from all these swindling – almost ten years have gone by to win back freedom for the hostages!” says Pablo’s father.

He started his journey alone with his youngest daughter Yuri but after a few days more and more people joint the wanderers: former hostages, family members of kidnapped persons and people who wanted to show Gustavo their solidarity escorted him. Entire towns lined up on the streets when he passed by, many offered him and his escorts meals and accommodation, others were just aiming for a snapshot with Gustavo.

The “caminante por la paz” – walker for freedom – has become the symbol for a humanitarian way out of the hostage conflict and the source of hope for many Colombians. His objective is to win the governments and the FARCs attention to the urgency of an exchange of prisoners. He demands the hostages to be released through a humanitarian solution, meaning a peaceful and negotiated way instead of a military release operation. The last one is considered to be life threatening to the hostages for many reasons.

After his arrival in Bogota he has received enormous support, which generates pressure on the political leaders - but not on the FARC. This is why his way still must go on to places where the FARC is forced to listen to him. Gustavo planned originally to stay at the Plaza Bolivar until his son had been released. However by now it has become obvious that from here he only speaks to one party.

The FARC reacts rather to international pressure, specially that one coming from Europe. Over the years their effective PR efforts in Europe managed to create the image, the FARC was the rightful representative of the regular Colombian, the majority in the country.

According to what is planned Gustavo will march in September from Brussels to Paris. His journey aims to make Europeans aware, that Colombians are peace minded people and their own spokespersons when it comes to the liberation of the hostages. The FARC must deal with the proposals and tell the public the date by when the hostages will be released.

For more information read:
- Signatures in favour of a humanitarian release

Popularity: 16% [?]

Signatures in favour of a humanitarian (not military) release of the hostages

Published
by
Nicole
on 13. August 2007
in Politik und bewaffneter Konflikt
. 3 Kommentare

auf deutsch | en français | en español

Last June 16 Gustavo Moncayo left his home in Nariño to betake himself on a long journey. Initially nobody paid any attention to him and his daughter, something that changed after very few days when the interest for their enterprise begun to rise. Today the Moncayo family, namely Gustavo, is spotted by the public’s attention in a way we only know from pop stars. His story has become known abroad and reached the U.S., where three of the FARC hostages come from, and Europe.

Not only has Gustavo become the symbol for a humanitarian solution for the freedom of the FARC hostages, through his journey, which he started almost two months ago, he too has assumed enormous responsibility and has become the source of hope for many Colombians. We are convinced that we owe much to the “walker for freedom”: The events during the last weeks and a lot of what is going on now. The country is moving and stepping out with the peace walker…

… we also want to go a leg with Gustavo and support him by collecting signatures backing up his endeavour. We aim for an increased international awareness for his story and to raise pressure in favour of a peaceful, negotiated release of the hostages.

By commenting this article with a valid email address your opinion well be counted as a signature supporting Gustavo and as your backup for a humanitarian way to free the hostages. This is opposite to the military operation, which puts the hostages life in danger, as the FARC shoots them in a case of an attack. It would be appreciated if you wrote in Spanish – however this is not a requirement.

Gustavo Moncayo will receive this list from us in person and he will hand it over to the president, together with the more than two million signatures he has collected so far. It is not possible for him to hand the list over to the FARC, but they will get the total number from the media

Popularity: 10% [?]