Tens of thousands of Colombian Americans in Miami filled several blocks around the Colombian Consulate in Coral Gables Monday to say 'no more' to the Colombian rebel group FARC.BOGOTA, Columbia: Feb. 5th. (Miami Herald) -- In 165 cities from Bogotá to Tokyo, millions of Colombians and supporters marched Monday to demand that leftist FARC guerrillas free all their hostages in one of the largest protests ever against rebel abuses. Rivers of people wearing white T-shirts and chanting ''No more FARC'' and ''Freedom'' filled the main avenues of 45 Colombian cities while other marches went on in Coral Gables, Japan, London, Panama, Spain, India, Argentina, Sweden, Venezuela, Hungary, France and Italy. ''I hope . . . the FARC listens,'' said Clara Rojas, a politician freed last month after six years as a FARC hostage in the jungles of Colombia. ``With all my soul, I ask them to listen to this message that Colombia sends them.''
More than 2 million turned out in Bogotá, said city police chief Gen. Rodolfo Palomino. All public offices and schools were closed and TV and radio stations broadcast the marches live. ''Our gratitude to all those Colombians who today have expressed, with dignity and strength, their rejection of kidnappings and the kidnappers,'' President Alvaro Uribe told the marchers in the northwestern city of Valledupar. But relatives of those held by the FARC did not join the marches, instead gathering in churches to pray for their loved ones out of concern that publicly attacking the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, would only lead the rebels to dig in their heels. ''All of us who are in the government understand that this march also is a demand of us by the Colombian people, that we deploy all our energies, all our efforts, for the definitive eradication of kidnappings,'' Uribe added. The idea of a day of Colombian marches against the FARC started on the Internet site Facebook but quickly spread around the world as Colombians and supporters abroad signed up for protests in their own cities.
FARC fighters are holding an estimated 700 hostages, most of them for ransom to finance their war but about 45 of them are well-known personalities whom they want to exchange for some 500 jailed rebels. The hostages include three U.S. citizens and former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. The FARC unilaterally released Rojas and another politician last month -- and have promised to release another three hostages soon -- as a sign of good will toward leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. But it has denounced the marches as an attempt by Uribe to divert attention away from criticisms that he has not done enough to negotiate the broader "humanitarian exchange.'' ''If the suffering of those in captivity has been unjustifiably prolonged . . . that has been because of the inhuman intransigence and worthless pride of President Uribe,'' the rebels said in a statement last week. Uribe opponents have complained that the conservative president has said little about the estimated 550 persons held hostage by right-wing paramilitaries. But even Carlos Gaviria, president of the opposition Alternative Democratic Pole, a left-of-center coalition, turned up at the Plaza Bolivar in downtown Bogotá, where the marches ended. Organizers reported 35 marches in U.S. cities, including one four-hour march in front of the Colombian consulate in Coral Gables that drew thousands of people wearing white T-shirts and waving the flags of Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela, and other Latin American nations. ''I am here making a small sacrifice for peace in Colombia,'' said Otília Díaz, who works nights but gave up a part of her morning sleep to attend the march. because several of her relatives have been kidnapped by the FARC. ''Some day I'd like to return to a safe Colombia, without the risk of being kidnapped, extorted, or murdered,'' added Diáz, a Colombian who has lived in the United States for 20 years, as tears rolled down her cheeks.
''This is not a political act or a show of support for President Uribe, but an act of support for the country because we all have to fight against the FARC's terrorism,'' said Dolcey Martínez, 37, a Colombian who said he came to Miami in 1999 and knew several kidnap victims. Some of the signs at the Coral Gables march also attacked Venezuela's Chávez for his support of the FARC. ''FARC, Chávez and Terrorism, All the same,'' said one. Another said ``Venezuela wants peace. Chavez wants war.'' Cubans, Venezuelan and Nicaraguans also turned up for the Coral Gables march in solidarity with their Colombian neighbors. ''It is a privilege to accompany the Colombian people in this struggle for the rule of law and against the FARC,'' said Miami Republican Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart. Juan Fernández, a Chávez critic fired from a senior position in Venezuela's state-owned oil company, said it was time ``to tell the world that the FARC and Chávez are in cahoots against peace in Colombia.''
El Nuevo staff writers Guillen and Ocando reported from Bogotá and Miami, respectively.
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