Viewpoint: Colombia’s future rests in citizens’ hands
This past Monday, I sat in front of a computer screen in California and watched as Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC leader Rodrigo “Timochenko” Londoño signed a peace agreement four years in the making, marking the end of a five-decade war, Latin America’s longest.
“We’ve lived, we’ve suffered for 52 years in an armed conflict between sons of the same nation,” Santos said during a ceremony with 2,500 foreign dignitaries and guests. “The horrible night of violence that has covered us with its shadow for more than half a century has ended.”
“Let’s open our hearts to the new dawn, to the bright sun and full of possibilities that are hovering Colombia’s sky,” he added.
olding back tears, I watched as the crowds dressed in white shouted “Si se pudo” (Yes we could) and wished I could have been there, surrounded by other Colombians.
I was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia, and I have never been in a warless Colombia. Neither has my mother.
