Many people around the world are reluctant to believe that Colombia's long and violent history could ever have a happy ending. I dont know if they are right, I hope not. Its true that the light at the end of the tunnel seems pretty dimmed, but every once in a while certain events occur which give hope to all of those who, like me, dream of a country where future generations will talk about 'war' in past-tense.The ELN (National Liberation Army) has recently announced that they wont try to prevent people from voting in the upcoming elections. This breaks up with a 40 year old "political aim" and opens space for a mututal understanding with the central government. For the past months the ELN, Colombia´s second biggest guerrilla with 5,000 men on arms, have made some small but important steps for building up the path to peace. They have sat down with negotiators, national and foreign, in an attempt to show that they are still a guerrilla with ideals who wants a more equitative country where everybody could live in an honorable way.
In no way I am a supporter of armed-groups, but i praise the fact that they, as opposed to the FARC, have opened roads for talks, negotiations and peace. I believe that the message which the ELN is trying to give is that they understand that politics is the only way to solve the conflict, but they will stay in the mountains and jungle as long as there is government who only takes care of the very few, rich, powerful and influential families of Colombia.
This should tell us that if we want to have the chance to bring back these 5,000 guerrilleros to the 'legal world' , plus all of those people kidnapped by this group back to their families, we might think about electing a government who reflects and works for the great majority of the people, who, in the case of my country, are millions of poor and forgotten colombians. There are some presidential candidates which I believe have the will and power to do this. Unfortunately, the one who is ranking high in the opinion-polls is not in my list.
