One of our many doomsdays
By: Juanita Gonzalez
An open scar that never heals and bleeds profusely; the pure and mere definition of the mark that Colombian violence has left on more than one heart. Sadly, throughout Colombian history, there has been more than one dark chapter that transformed us into the grieving and oppressed society that we nowadays are. We have shed tear over tear for each victim of the cruel reality that never stops, asking ourselves if someday we will stop sobbing. Inside that seemingly infinite list of events resides "La toma del Palacio de Justicia." A historical milestone of Colombian violence.
Thirty-five years ago, a cloud of uncertainty and fear covered the sky of Bogotá city. The M-19 guerrilla took about six months to plan the disgrace of a whole country. Urged by the idea to judge president Belciario Betancourt for not complying with the treaty previously made; they planned a step by step attack. Nevertheless, the nature of this movement was against any ideal of justice. They are, not just, accused of being financed by Pablo Escobar, which kind of biased their objective, but also, they killed 98 persons. How could a movement of those scopes be taken as fair?
As circumstances evolved, things couldn't have gone worse. Everything endangered each and every life of the hostages, putting the government in a pretty uncomfortable situation. Both parts, the M-19 and the government, weren't acting to conceal, which led to deaths, explosions, disappearances, and more. The confrontation persisted till November 7th, until the president couldn't do anything more but to agree to meet them. Finally, the 28 hours of terror and confusion ended, leaving 98 dead and 11 disappeared. All of this only because we wanted a better country and couldn't manage to use words.
Life was never the same again. Savagery has slowly taken over our country; turning violence justified by creating a better society into the greatest euphemism to refer to cowards who are unable to use their voices to make a change. To tell the truth, hope was lost a long time ago, it was lost after the death of each victim, it was lost after each attack. The Colombian society is submerged in a sea of oppressions, of unfulfilled promises, of melancholy. Asking a society as numb because of all the punches that it has received as ours, to hope sounds sarcastic, but is important to understand that the height of our society would be to lose our historical memory. That is why it is extremely important that events such as “la toma del palacio de justicia” are not forgotten. So today i stand here not asking you to hope, but not to forget. To act against violent movements with not more violence, but with your voice.