A STORM that filled Bogotá’s streets with ice on November 1st was the second freakish event of the day in Colombia’s capital. The first took place in a hotel conference room, where the FARC, a guerrilla army turned political party, announced its candidates for presidential and congressional elections to be held in 2018. Before a screen emblazoned with the FARC’s pacific new logo—a rose with a red star at its centre—its leaders did their best to sound like normal politicians. Imelda Daza, the vice-presidential candidate, promised a “more inclusive model” of government that would overcome poverty, hunger and barriers to education.
Most Colombians know the FARC as a lawless army whose 52-year war against the state was at the centre of a conflict that caused more than 200,000 deaths and displaced 7m people. The party is not trying hard to disguise its origins. Its new name, the People’s Alternative Revolutionary Force, uses the old bloodstained acronym. Its presidential candidate, Rodrigo Londoño, aka Timochenko, has led...Continue reading
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