A Memory, and a Warning

Tables and photos on Plaza Bolivar today memorialize murdered members of the Union Patriotica political party.

Supporters of the Union Patriotica political party held a memorial on Plaza Bolivar today honoring the 3,000 to 5,000 members of the party who were assassinated in the late 1980s and early '90s in what is remembered as the 'genocide of the Union Patriotica.'

The U.P., founded in 1985, was linked to the FARC, and many saw it as the guerrillas' tentative effort to integrate into Colombia's political system. The killings, carried out by right-wing paramilitaries support by the regular Colombian military, ended that initiative. 

The U.P. killings carry a special resonance today as the FARC guerrillas demobilize and integrate into society. Although the paramilitary groups formally demobilized in the mid-2000s, many people claim they continue operating in remote parts of Colombia. 

Ironically, the FARC carried out their own political 'genocide' in the early 1990s against demobilized members of another leftist guerrilla group, the Ejercito Popular de Liberacion, EPL, who had formed a political party. In the best Stalinist fashion, the FARC called them traitors to the guerrilla movement and proceeded to murder about 200 ex-EPL members.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The Union Patriotica: Back on the March

Union Patriotica members ready for their march. 

The Union Patriotica party kicked off its Fifth Annual Congress today with a march down Ave. Septima.

The far-left party was born in 1985, out of FARC-government peace negotiations, and the UP's precise relationship to the guerrillas has always been controversial. Some referred to the UP as the FARC's political wing. During the late '80s and early '90s more than 3,000 UP members were assassinated by right-wing forces, in what is recalled as 'The Genocide of the Union Patriotica.' Those killings are still being investigated, and most recently prosecutors have been probing big businesses' role in financing the killings. 

I was struck by the image of this old man,
evidently a true believer, waving his UP
banner and wearing his communist cap. 

In 2002, the UP lost its legal status as a political party because lacked the necessary support. But recently the party was reconstituted. Now, its political future is to be defined. If the ongoing FARC-government peace negotiations going on in Havana, Cuba produce a treaty, the UP could be the FARC's vehicle for integrating into politics. 

A bike tourist photographs street art memorializing the assassination of thousands of UP leaders during the late '80s and early '90s, remembered as the 'genocide of the Union Patriotica.'

A bit bizzarely, the march also included this Afro-Colombian dance troupe.

The Campasa Abisina.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Rebirth of the Union Patriotica?

A mural on Calle 26 across from the Central Cemetery commemorates the victims of the genocide against the Union Patriotica Party.

The Union Patriotica, a far-left political party which was decimated by assassinations during the late 1980s

and early '90s, may soon return to Colombian politics.

In its first appearance, the UP was widely believed to be linked to the FARC guerrillas, but whether it was a FARC creation or just sympathized with the guerrillas' Marxist rhetoric is still disputed. Some observers also say that, whatever its origin, the UP later became more independent of the guerrillas.

For some, the UP was the guerrillas' tentative effort to integrate itself into Colombia's political system.

The possibility of peace for Colombia, however, turned into tragedy when thousands of the party's members were murdered in what is comemorated as the 'Genocide of the Union Patriotica.'

A cartoon in El Tiempo shows a FARC guerrilla 'unburying' the Union Patriotica Party.

Now, the UP's supporters - or its survivors - want to rescuscitate the party. Interestingly, the initiative coincides with peace negotiations between the FARC guerrillas and the Colombian government, being held in Havana. Could the possibility of UP's return mean the guerrillas are arranging the scene for their political participation?

If nothing else, the news seems like a positive sign for peace in Colombia - and maybe for Colombian politics, as well.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Jaime Pardo Leal: A Lesson for Today

A graffiti in Bogotá's Central Cemetery promises: 'Jaime Pardo, we promise victory.'

Today is the 25th anniversary of the assassination of leftist politician Jaime Pardo Leal. He's a little-remembered figure, except in leftist circles, but his killing and its consequences contain important lessons for Colombia's peace efforts today.

Jaime Pardo Leal's tomb in Bogotá's Central Cemetery.
His funeral and burial were carried out amidst
rioting and chaos. 

Pardo Leal was the presidential candidate for the far-left Union Patriotica (U.P.) political party, which many remember as the political arm of the FARC guerrillas. Pardo Leal's assassination, on a country road in Cundinamarca Oct. 11, 1987, was the most prominent of the killings of hundreds of Union Patriótica members by right-wing forces. It is widely believed that many of the killings, often termed a 'genocide,' were carried out by a collaboration between paramilitaries and Colombia's military.

Four men were convicted of gunning down Pardo Leal, but the masterminds behind it remain unidentified. Pardo Leal's relatives recently asked for the case to be reopened.

The killings destroyed the U.P. and ended the FARC's tentative move into politics. More than a decade passed before the government and FARC sat down to negotiate in the Caguan, which came to nothing. Today, with peace talks starting up again, the UP genocide and Pardo Leal's killing provide important lessons about both respect for human rights and the not to bring peace to Colombia.

'Our battle is not in vain' Juventud Communista. Graffiti on a tomb near the grave of Pardo Leal and other communist leaders.

Pardo Leal is remembered for several moving quotes, most of them about death:

"What is life worth when it seems like death? Life is to be lived, felt. That justifies our visit to this Earth.'

'Some of us are threatened with death for our loyalty from the time when we were young, to the fatherland, the people, the workers and the cause of socialism.'

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours