Rodrigo Londoño regrets.
The ex-guerrilla leader of the Farc (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) who signed peace with the government in 2016, said on Tuesday (September 15th) that he had come to "hate" his organization for the atrocities committed during five decades of conflict.
The leader of what was the most powerful guerrilla on the American continent reiterated Monday's demands for a public apology for the more than 20,000 kidnappings carried out by the organization and the recruitment of minors into its ranks.
"The kidnapping was a very serious mistake of which we can only repent," the leadership of what is now a political party under the name of the Common Revolutionary Alternative Force said in a statement Monday.
It was the strongest demand for forgiveness expressed by the ex-guerrillas since a peace agreement was signed in 2016 with the Colombian government.
"Introspection"
Listening to the victims and recognizing the truth about what happened, "I come to hate the Farc that I have in front of me and which looks nothing like the one I joined", said in an interview with Rodrigo Londoño, aka "Tymoshenko".
"We do our introspection (...) we internalize things, it's difficult when we have defended something for so many years, that we believed in it, and we must say that we were wrong, that it was wrong, "admitted the leader.
Founded in 1964, the FARC recognized that "the kidnappings (....) wounded to death" the "legitimacy and credibility" of the armed uprising against the Colombian state and expressed their regret for the "pain" and "humiliations" inflicted on the victims.
"This burden (...) weighs today on the conscience and the heart of each one of us", it is added in the press release.
The former guerrillas are answerable for their actions before a special peace tribunal (JEP) created by the peace agreement which enabled the demobilization of around 13,000 Farc rebels, including 7,000 combatants.
Testimony of Ingrid Betancourt
The main ex-guerrilla leaders pledged to confess their crimes before the JEP and to compensate the victims or their families, in exchange for alternative sentences to prison.
If they do not keep their commitment, they will be brought before ordinary justice.
Tymoshenko said he was "struck" by "the generosity of the victims" and stressed that the poignant testimony of Ingrid Betancourt, Monday in videoconference in front of the JEP, "influenced" his repentance.
The Franco-Colombian, kidnapped by the Farc, testified about the six years she spent in the hands of the rebels.
“The kidnapping has no expiration date, it does not end on the day of release. It is murder because the person who goes through it, even if they are lucky enough to be released, is already someone else when she comes out of captivity, "said the former presidential candidate, released during a military operation in 2008.
The former rebellion must also answer for the recruitment of thousands of children and adolescents during more than half a century of armed conflict.
Rodrigo Londoño admitted that these forced enlistments were "a mistake".
With AFP
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