Adelaida Gaviria Letter
CSN-MADISON, APRIL 27, 2002
Dear Friends,
I write to ask your help. As some of you may know, my brother Guillermo
Gaviria is the governor of Antioquia, our native province in Colombia.
I am
writing to ask for your help in saving his life. Guillermo was kidnapped
last Sunday, April 21, by the FARC, the largest and most ruthless guerrilla
group in our country. I believe the best hope that my brother has to
live
rests in the hands of people from abroad, people like you.
Over the past year, my brother organized a nonviolence movement inspired
by the ideas of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., among others, with
the conviction that there is no other viable option to end the violence
that has
plagued Colombia for over 40 years, and that has by now mired our people
in
fear and hopelessness. It was at the end of a 120-mile march of some
1,000
unarmed peaceful civilians, unaccompanied by any police or military
forces, that my brother and seven other marchers were abducted. During
the
following 24 hours, the rebels released six hostages, including Bernard
LaFayette, a renowned Afro-American activist who worked with Martin
Luther
King and now heads the Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies at the
University of Rhode Island. Two people, my brother and Gilberto Echeverri,
a former governor and defense minister, and presently the peace commissioner
for Antioqua, are being held captive.
My brother's nonviolent initiative comes at a time when the country
as a
whole seems to have exhausted its tolerance with the guerrillas. As
it
happens, this march comes only three months after almost four years
of peace
negotiations between the central government and the FARC were halted
by President Pastrana. After being widely criticized for the management
of the negotiations, the Pastrana administration is finally responding
to
tremendous and mounting public pressure by an indignant majority of
Colombians that have come to reject unequivocally the continuous violations
of human rights that this group carries out on a daily basis, including
numerous assassinations of abducted civilians. Since the break-off of
negotiations, there has been an escalation of violent acts by the FARC;
most
significantly, they have carried out several successful operations aimed
at
kidnapping government officials. The guerrillas hope, through assassination
of hostages if necessary, to press the government to exchange hostages
for
guerrillas now in Colombian jails.
Given the situation in the country, it would seem that only sheer
insanity
or the most obtuse naiveté could drive my brother and his peace
commissioner
to enter FARC-dominated territory unaccompanied by any type of security
forces. Clearly, my brother's request that no military or police forces
should accompany the march was intended to embody the laying down of
arms as the first and perhaps most important postulate of nonviolent
struggle. Many in Colombia who have come to see the FARC as an irreparably
corrupt and criminal organization, masked by false revolutionary ideals,
have criticized my brother as naive and irresponsible.
But Guillermo and Gilberto, who usually ride on cars with 4-inch thick
windows and dozens of bodyguards, fully understood the danger they were
in.
Guided by the principles of nonviolence that nurture his courage and
by a
deep love for the Colombian people, Guillermo had left explicit and
detailed
instructions in the event that something happen to him during the march.
In
a letter addressed to the entire province and made public after his
kidnapping, Guillermo requested that no concessions of any kind be given
to the guerrillas in exchange for his freedom, either by the government
or by his family. "The only means that should earn my freedom,"
he wrote, "the only reason I am willing to accept, is that my captors
finally comprehend the inalienable right to liberty belonging to all
human beings."
I don't think my brother's action was either naive or stupid. It was
deliberate and courageous. You see, we Colombians have been driven to
hopelessness and haplessness by violence. In order to survive emotionally,
many Colombians, especially the most marginalized sectors of our society,
have come to quietly accept violence as a part of life. I strongly believe
that my brother's action is a fully thought-out and heroic effort aimed
at
sparking the rebirth of our hope and at fueling a massive transformation
toward an active, peace-demanding civilian population. To realize the
dream
of peace, Colombians must regain our hope and regain our courage in
order to
be able to face the dangers of the struggle that must be resolved for
the
sake of the generations to come.
Please, you can help my brother and help Colombia by sending this letter to all the people who you think may be interested in helping us, and by writing to the following email address condemning the kidnapping, and demanding the unconditional and immediate release of the two hostages:
colombia-noviolencia@gobant.gov.co
Your responses will be forwarded to human rights organizations
to enable
them to pressure the guerrillas. My brother and Gilberto will come back
to
their children, their wives, their families, their country and the world
of liberty only if enough attention is brought to their kidnapping as
soon as possible. With the world watching and listening to our voice,
it is possible that the guerrillas will be pressured to free them. It
is my fervent hope that the guerrillas will understand the opportunity
they face, for in choosing to liberate my brother and Gilberto, they
would be telling Colombia and the world that they too want to hear the
timeless message of peace promoted by Dr. King and Gandhi ring loud
through our beautiful land. That message that is the greatest poem of
man, the poem of a true and
possible but not yet realized humanity.
We are working on a website that will contain more detailed information
concerning Guillermo's nonviolent initiative, more detailed information
and
more background on his kidnapping, and on the progress of the various
efforts to free him and Gilberto. I will be sending that URL to you
in the next couple of days.
Thank you all for your expressions of support and for your help.
Please, do
not hesitate to contact me if you can help in any other way.
Adelaida Gaviria