San Vicente del Caguan, Colombia April 14, 2001.
Seated by her bunk, a FARC combatant holds her pet parakeet.
San Vicente del Caguan, Colombia, April 14, 2001
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Late in the night I talk with one young commander who is part of a team advising the peace negotiators. He is intelligent with a broad-ranging and inquisitive mind. When the conversation turns to international human rights law I'm unsurprised but deeply disheartened by views he expresses. His ideologically predictable logic--citing US sins as an excuse for FARC refusal to comply with protocols requiring the abandonment of practices such as the use of gas tank bombs or kidnapping--may serve a narrowly conceived military strategy, but in human, moral and political terms?
Changing subject he asks if I've read a book called Angela's Ashes. I'm amazed that Irish American writer Frank McCourt's memoir of impoverished Irish childhood has made it all the way to the jungles of Colombia. We talk about Ireland about the legend of Cuchulain and laugh over some of the memoir's more humorous moments. Suddenly he grows earnest. "You know what part of the book moved me the most. I remember that despite that terrible poverty McCourt describes a teacher at school who told his class: 'you may be poor but your mind is a castle to be filled with treasures.' I'm reading McCourt's second book now."
I wonder what my friend will make of McCourt's descriptions of American immigrant experience. I picture him surfing the web on his laptop. I hope he finds many new treasures there for himself and his earnest younger comrades--treasures to bridge 19th and 20th century struggles and to inspire 21st century dreams.
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