No mas FARC!

Last Monday we joined a march under the banner of No mas FARC - no more FARC. The last time we marched, it was against the war in Iraq and that did not do much good! This time it was against FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the guerilla/terrorist movement
I don’t suppose it will do much good either but Colombia is far away and few people know or particularly care what goes on there. They just know that that is where drugs come from. What they don’t know is that FARC underpin and collect the revenue from the drug trade. They also kidnap people - 300 are held currently. They kill and torture the innocent and they have driven out 2 million Colombians from their lands and made them homeless. People who started off poor and are left even poorer, often having to beg on the streets to survive. The FARC claim to be guerillas but they are terrorists and to many, on a par with El Quaeda.

The march was good-humoured and friendly. T-shirts, scarves and flags with the red, blue and yellow stripes of Colombia were much in evidence, as were distinctive brown and cream panama hats. Many women held white flowers (for peace) to give to curious onlookers.

We had a full police escort, from the Strand via Trafalgar Square to Whitehall and, interestingly enough, the traffic was diverted although this was a Monday. We only numbered a few hundred, certainly under a thousand but it was a march which was duplicated in every town in Colombia and in towns all over the world.

Hopefully it will make people more aware of what goes on in Colombia and perhaps put pressure on the terrorists. Certainly Colombia’s president Uribe is pursuing a hardline attitude.

For more of what it feels like to be in Colombia, read on.....