Luis Eladio Pérez was kidnapped by guerrillas of the extinct FARC in the jungles of Colombia for almost seven years from 2001 to 2008. In Infierno Verde, the book he published after regaining his freedom, he confesses that he thought about the idea of taking his own life. At several moments during this long captivity, she thought that she was worth more dead than alive because her family’s grief reached to the depths of her soul and she had taken out insurance for enough money to overcome this difficult ordeal. He spent many years in chains, suffering from leishmaniasis and a heart attack. “The conditions were absolutely inhumane” and included “indescribable physical and emotional torture,” he said some time later as a victim before the Special Peace Jurisdiction (JEP).
Luis Eladio, as everyone knows him, is one of the most notorious cases of a scourge that became an epidemic in Colombia. Kidnapping, one of the most cruel crimes condemned by society, is once again sparking public debate through the ELN’s actions. The liberation of the last armed guerrilla fighter took twelve days, and last week the father of the footballer Luis Díaz held about 30 hostages and was reluctant to abandon this practice, despite sitting at the dialogue table with delegates from President Gustavo Petro.
Government negotiators had to stress in a statement that this is a crime that cruelly violates human dignity, causes immense suffering to families and violates the humanity of the kidnapped person at his core. The kidnapping “causes serious damage to the confidence of Colombian society in the possibility of achieving peace,” said the document signed by delegates, who acknowledged that “it generates a hatred against its perpetrators that is difficult to overcome.” “It is an ongoing crime -” because it goes beyond the actual act of restraint and creates lasting fear in the abducted person and his or her relatives and complete rejection by the national and international community.
The chains of kidnapping will continue to be carried even after freedom is regained, according to the truth commission’s final report. The physical, psychological and economic effects have been permanent for most victims, changing the way they are, the way they feel and even the way they relate to others. The kidnapping changed his way of living and seeing life. It’s an open wound that never heals. The final report describes it as “a suspended death.” For the Jesuit Father Francisco de Roux, who chaired the commission, it is “the crime that has broken and divided Colombians the most.”
It was not an easy task to determine the total number of victims. Several institutions have carried out their measurements. A few years ago, a study by the National Center for Historical Memory, recorded in the report “A Kidnapped Society,” documented 39,058 people who had been kidnapped at least once in 40 years. The Truth Commission has increased this number to at least 50,770 in connection with the armed conflict between 1990 and 2018, although it estimates that under-registration could increase the number of victims to as many as 80,000 cases. The main culprit was the extinct FARC guerrillas, accounting for 40% of cases, followed by paramilitary groups (24%) and the ELN (19%), which carried out 9,538 kidnappings during this period.
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Beginning in the 1970s, kidnappings became more frequent and spread throughout the country. It rose in the 1980s, and although it temporarily declined after the 1991 constitution, it experienced an exponential increase between 1996 and 2002.
The scale of the phenomenon was roughly reflected for nearly two decades in “The Voices of Kidnapping,” a radio station to which relatives of kidnapped people went at dawn to deliver messages of encouragement to their loved ones, many of whom were trapped in the depths of the jungle send. The program became widely known at the beginning of the century, when the issue was high on the public agenda due to both the numerous kidnappings for blackmail by various groups and the kidnappings of politicians and military personnel by the FARC. The rejection of the kidnapping brought millions of people to the streets in mass marches.
The lengthy kidnappings of politicians with the aim of forcing an exchange with the government were among the FARC’s most cruel crimes. This strategy intensified during the downfall of the Andrés Pastrana government (1998–2002) following the failed El Caguán negotiations. The families of the abductees relentlessly pressured the government of Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010) to reach a humanitarian agreement, which never materialized. The painful chapter of political kidnappings, which shocked a society devastated by violence of all kinds, resulted in 13 deaths, eight unilateral surrenders – including that of Luis Eladio Pérez -, 15 people rescued by the army – including Ingrid Betancourt – and two refugees. Many of the survivors wrote books detailing the details of their captivity.
After the peace signing, the FARC acknowledged that the kidnapping was a war tactic and asked for forgiveness. It was a “systematic and massive” practice that was carried out for at least 30 years between 1982 and 2012, the JEP said in 2021 when it accused the former guerrilla leadership of a series of war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the deprivation of citizenship. and civil rights accused military. It is one of the most advanced major trials – or “macro cases” – in the transitional justice system.
By the time they met in Havana to negotiate, the FARC had already discouraged the practice. “I share the self-criticism of Jacobo Arenas and Alfonso Cano towards the ELN [líderes históricos de las FARC] They instilled in us and we reacted late: the kidnapping is inhumane, apolitical and unnecessary,” Rodrigo Londoño, Timochenko, the guerrilla commander who signed the peace agreement, wrote in X last week.
“The guerrilla practice that has contributed most to the right wing of Colombia is kidnapping,” stressed journalist Marta Ruiz, the Truth Commissioner, this weekend. “The country, and not just the establishment, resolutely rejects this human trade in people’s freedom and dignity. Rejects the participation of civilians in a perpetual war in which they have nothing to do. If these guerrillas do not stop the kidnappings, it is because of a political decision and not because of economic necessity. “They see kidnapping as a weapon of blackmail, a military advantage in their favor to exert pressure to achieve their diffuse political goals,” he noted.
The last armed guerrilla insists that the “withholdings” are part of their “financial operations,” even though this is a violation of the already agreed ceasefire – and prohibited by international humanitarian law. This was a recurring obstacle in attempts to negotiate peace. “Ethically speaking, it is untenable to argue that human trafficking is legal, even under conditions of armed conflict,” government negotiators responded. The cry against kidnapping has resurfaced in Colombian society, a loud and clear cry. The ELN is still hesitant to listen to him.
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