Íngrid Betancourt and other 14 FARC hostages (Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces) are finally free, thanks to God and many people).
When Marc Gonsalvez (one of three Americans kidnapped in 2003, all freed with Betancourt) recalled two days ago some of his experiences in a press conference, he called upon the fact that FARC are terrorists "with a capital T". But he also said : "the majority of FARC's forces are children and young adults (...) They come from extreme poverty and have very little or nor education. So they're easily tricked into joining the FARC, and they're brainwashed, believing that their cause is a just cause". That statment made us remember tof Pablo Rodríguez (*), an acquaintance of ours who was kidnapped in the Venezuela-Colombia frontier five years ago by irregular groups (not FARC). The ones that took care of him were teenagers who would talk about Marx, the revolution and Simón Bolívar, but would also call their hostage "dad" and were sad to see him go after his ransom was paid.
Are they still roaming through the jungle now? Could they be dead or still alive by now?
Many historical reasons should be accounted to justify FARC´s existence, but both Gonsalvez and Pablo´s experiences show, once again, that poverty is one of them.
The day after Betancourt´s release I looked at some titles while being in a workshop with other journalists: Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism , by Muhamad Yunus (Nobel Peace Prize Winner 2006) and The Fortune at the end of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits , by CK Prahalad, professor. These books bring both theoretical and practical reasoning on the benefits of entrepreneurship, micro-financing and inclusive business for development. I have read just bits of Yunus´ but both books should not be overlooked.
Microfinancing not as the magic pill for solving inequalities in Colombia and Latin America, but to affirm that Íngrid´s release seems to mark an excellent time to remember that peace in our region should not be only achieved by the completion of military targets or political agreements.
(*) Changed name
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