Laura Castro Lindarte, a sophomore double majoring in journalism and political science, is a Hatchet opinions writer.
I have judged people. Not because I think it’s right, but because despite my best efforts, my prejudices get the best of me. And anyone can understand that. For me, I’ve always held prejudices against the Colombian guerrilla militant group, FARC, which is known for violent attacks against civilians and soldiers in Colombia, where I am spending the summer and where my family is from. I expected current and former FARC members to be evil, but I found out first-hand that they all are not.
The FARC developed in the 1940’s as a group of left-wing extremists. What started as a political movement turned into a violent military movement that profits from drug trades, kidnappings and extortion. Based on those actions, the assumption is that the people involved in the movement are all-around bad.
But that stereotype did not hold true after I sat in a room with four ex-members of the FARC in the Colombian Agency for Reintegration headquarters. The pretty young woman sitting in front of me was nothing like the violent person I have pictured.
The young woman joined the FARC when she was 13 years old because it was the norm in her small town. She was captured by the Colombian army on her way home, after she decided she didn’t want to be part of the FARC anymore. Since then, she earned a degree in mass communication and got married, and now she is attending law school.
The people who I met showed me that they were not monsters at their cores, or that they are even very different than I am.
But the prejudices in Colombia about ex-FARC members, like the ones I used to hold, have made it difficult for demobilized guerrilla group members to reintegrate into society. I learned that many have been fired from their civilian jobs when their bosses found out they were part of the group.
It’s hard for us in the U.S. to understand this intense level of prejudice seeded in violence, because we haven’t dealt with a civil war at this scale in our lifetimes. But this level of prejudice is a reality for young people in Colombia.
The prejudices against former FARC members will become a bigger issue in the near future when about 7,000 ex-FARC members demobilize, following an agreement to cease fire. If there is one thing that I’ve learned from my class in Colombia, it is that Colombian society is going to face many obstacles once peace does come, and the country can’t overcome those challenges if Colombians continue to hold these prejudices.
It won’t be an easy task: Countries with less domestic violence, like the U.S., have faced the challenges of prejudice. But overcoming our prejudices isn’t an impossible task, which I learned when I met some ex-FARC members.
When I sat and listened to them talk, I felt my distrust disappear. Once the talk was over, I thanked them for sharing their stories with us. Everyone, whether Colombians or GW students, should take simple steps to understand the people behind the prejudices we hold. You can ask to hear one person’s story, which could very well break down some of the stereotypes you have built up.
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