Crime Cannot ‘Liberate’ Colombia

In the past six months, more than 1,500 Colombians have been kidnapped as currency in the long civil war. Kidnapping for ransom is a highly profitable enterprise practiced by the country’s many armed factions.

According to most accounts, the ELN, the National Liberation Army, and FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, are responsible for more than 80% of the kidnappings.

Now shadows of these horrors have reached beyond Colombian territory. The newspaper El Tiempo reported last week that relatives of some kidnapping victims had followed ELN leaders to Geneva, where the rebels were engaged in peace talks with Colombian officials. The relatives sought to beg the rebels to free their hostages, many of whom have been held for more than a year.

According to two recent national polls in Colombia, only 6% of the population supports the insurgents. Now, as the guerrillas seek support of international institutions like the European Union in their campaign against the Bogota government, they must know that their actions cannot help their cause; hostage-taking is just plain criminality. Human Rights Watch, an influential monitor, has sent a letter to the ELN calling on the rebels to release all their captives.

Colombia is bleeding. The rebels are the main provocateurs. They have no moral rights in this drama. By pursuing violence they have invited retribution, but they can begin to redress the balance by liberating the innocents they hold. The world is watching.