[Marxism] On the so-called FARC "hostages"

[Aaron Aarons <listsubs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

[I sent the first item below a few days ago, but the email address I sent it 
from was apparently not the one that this list recognizes for me. - Aaron]

>Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:38:57 -0400
>From: "=?UTF-8?Q?Joaqu=C3=ADn_Bustelo?=" <jbustelo@xxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: Re: [Marxism] English translation of FARC statement
>
>Some things that should be noted about the FARC statement:
>
>It confirms that there was no FARC decision to release these hostages.
 [SNIP]
>The FARC's reiteration of a policy of "exchange," and the statement
>that freeing FARC prisoners in the hands of the government, which FARC
>has for a long time sought through exchange, seem to be a promise that
>a) they will keep their current hostages and b) hostage taking will
>continue to be a top priority.

Of the fifteen prisoners lost by FARC to the Colombian state, only one of them, 
Betancourt, might NOT be considered a prisoner of war. For anybody on the left 
to call them "hostages" is just doing the propaganda dirty work of imperialism. 
And since when is one side in a war expected to release its prisoners while the 
other side doesn't?

>In this sense, the FARC's response to the overwhelming majority of Colombians 
>who want the hostages [sic!] freed,

I'm sure that, if a pro-FARC Colombian gets a phone call from a polltaker 
asking whether he wants the FARC "hostages" freed, he's going to give an honest 
answer -- if he's suicidal! Moreover, anybody who really wants FARC-held 
prisoners to be released but not FARC fighters held by the Colombian state and 
the United Snakes is not someone whose desires should influence 
revolutionaries, or even left reformists!

>as well as revolutionary and progressive governments in the region that have 
>called on the FARC to
>release its hostages unconditionally is: drop dead.

So the revolutionary fighters in one country should subordinate themselves to 
the diplomatic needs of one socialist country and of a few left 
bourgeois-nationalist governments? It seems that those who tell the FARC to 
release its prisoners unconditionally are, in a very real sense, telling the 
FARC fighters and supporters to "drop dead".

--------------------------

Here's another post I drafted a week ago but didn't send:

>Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2008 18:36:49 +1000
>From: "Stuart Munckton" <stuartmunckton@xxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: [Marxism] Colombia: Behind the freeing of Betancourt
>
>Colombia: Behind the freeing of Betancourt
>Stuart Munckton
>5 July 2008
 [SNIP]
>The liberating of the prisoners was widely celebrated, including by the 
>Venezuelan government of Hugo Chavez, which has been involved in negotiating 
>with the FARC for the release of its prisoners. According to a 
>Venezuelanalysis.com article, Chavez stated: "We share the jubilation ? for 
>the liberation of these persons ?"

According to Venezuelanalysis.com, the Chavez government specifically included 
the "three United States citizens", i.e., mercenaries, among those whose 
"joyous liberation" it "joins in the jubilation over"!

DISGUSTING! If Chavez endorsed this statement, his socialist and/or 
anti-imperialist credentials have gone from ambiguous to dubious.

>Chavez reiterated his call, first made in January, for the FARC to release all 
>of its remaining prisoners, and Venezuela's foreign affairs ministry stated 
>"we wish that this event will open the path to humanitarian accord, the 
>dismantling of war, and the extraordinary achievement of peace".

So FARC is supposed to release all its bargaining chips, including captured 
military, not in exchange for its own people who are prisoners in Colombia and 
the U.S., but in exchange for the hope for "the extraordinary achievement of 
peace" with a vicious landlord/capitalist ruling class that has, going back at 
least to 1948, slaughtered more leftists, workers and peasants than the rest of 
the mass-murdering rulers of Latin America put together!

>While the liberation is welcome,

... welcome to people who reject class war, as well as to those who fervently 
practice class war on the side of the capitalist class.

The release of those prisoners, especially the U.S. mercenaries, however it was 
accomplished, is a defeat for the anti-imperialist struggle. One can only hope 
that the FARC can reverse its recent downhill slide, correct its errors, and 
continue the struggle against U.S. imperialism and the Colombian oligarchy.

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