Out on the marketing campaign path with the FARC : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4032x3024+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F00%2F13%2Fa02c6f37428f8712b62b6fb63016%2Fmoreposters.jpeg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4032x3024+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F00%2F13%2Fa02c6f37428f8712b62b6fb63016%2Fmoreposters.jpeg" class="img" alt="Election posters for FARC candidate Luis Albán, who is campaigning for a seat in Colombia’s congress on the 8th March." fetchpriority="high"/> Election posters for FARC candidate Luis Albán, who's campaigning for a seat in Colombia's congress on the eighth March. John Otis/NPR cover caption

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John Otis/NPR BUGALAGRANDE, Colombia—Ten years in the past, former Marxist guerrillas in Colombia signed a peace treaty with the federal government. The deal allowed them to put down their weapons and run for elected workplace.

Now, a decade later, they're discovering that profitable votes might be more durable than waging conflict.

Amongst them is Luis Albán who's campaigning to maintain his seat in Colombia's congress. At a get-out-the-vote rally within the western Colombian city of Bugalagrande. the stocky, bearded candidate appears shy and disoriented. He neglects to inform people who legislative elections are on Sunday and even to state his personal identify. Albán, 68, is extra accustomed to hiding who he's. At age 12 he joined a clandestine communist youth group then spent 40 years on the run as a high-ranking member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Generally known as the FARC, it was once the nation's largest, and most feared, guerrilla group. Chatting with NPR from a crowded espresso store, Albán admits: "I by no means thought I would be a congressman."

That modified after the FARC signed a 2016 peace treaty that ended greater than a half century of preventing. The guerrillas agreed to put down their weapons, face justice, and compensate their victims in trade for political ensures and authorities guarantees to develop poor, rural areas that gave rise to the FARC within the Sixties. To assist the FARC transition to electoral politics, the accord gave the previous guerrillas 10 seats in Colombia's Congress for 2 four-year legislative phrases – a grace interval that ends this 12 months. As a FARC congressman for the previous eight years, Albán discovered methods to write laws and perform debates. However to hold onto their jobs, Albán and different FARC lawmakers must win hundreds of votes. "That is our first severe marketing campaign," Albán says. "It's extremely tough." Different former guerrillas have managed to drag this off -- chief amongst them Gustavo Petro. Within the Nineteen Eighties Petro belonged to a Colombian insurgent military referred to as the M-19. After the group disarmed, he served in Congress and as mayor of Bogotá, the Colombian capital and in 2022 was elected president. "Petro's rise to energy reveals that it may be completed should you take sound political selections," stated Javier Florez of the Bogotá-based Concepts for Peace Basis. "However from the start the FARC has taken dangerous selections." A elementary downside is the identify "FARC." It evokes terror due to the group's involvement in massacres, extortion and kidnappings in the course of the conflict. But its leaders initially insisted on calling their new political celebration the "FARC." By doing so "they shot themselves within the foot," says Beatriz Gil of Seen Congress, a suppose tank that displays Colombian lawmakers. "They remained caught up to now relatively than fascinated about their future." As an alternative of selling new faces, the FARC allowed veteran commanders accused of conflict crimes and drug trafficking to occupy a number of of the group's congressional seats. Some lawmakers claimed they need to have first confronted justice earlier than a particular conflict crimes tribunal earlier than being allowed to serve in Congress and a few boycotted the legislative periods in protest. Many citizens additionally take a dim view of the rebels-turned-politicians.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4032x3024+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F90%2Ffd%2Ff79c3b5247d9af0ac1fcfb198752%2Falbancampaigning.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4032x3024+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F90%2Ffd%2Ff79c3b5247d9af0ac1fcfb198752%2Falbancampaigning.jpg" class="img" alt="Luis Albán out campaigning to keep his seat in Colombia’s congress." loading="lazy"/> Luis Albán out campaigning to maintain his seat in Colombia's congress. John Otis/NPR cover caption

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John Otis/NPR <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4032x3024+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fde%2F49%2Fba5b795248b4a36dc701784c40b4%2Falbancampaignbus.jpeg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4032x3024+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fde%2F49%2Fba5b795248b4a36dc701784c40b4%2Falbancampaignbus.jpeg" class="img" alt="Luis Albán, next to his campaign bus. Albán, 68, is more accustomed to hiding who he is. He spent 40 years on the run as a high-ranking member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Known as the FARC, it used to be the country’s largest guerrilla group." loading="lazy"/> Luis Albán, subsequent to his marketing campaign bus. Albán, 68, is extra accustomed to hiding who he's. He spent 40 years on the run as a high-ranking member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Generally known as the FARC, it was once the nation's largest guerrilla group. John Otis/NPR cover caption

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John Otis/NPR Equipment salesman Nielson Muñoz factors out that in the course of the conflict the guerrillas killed his brother-in-law whom they accused of being a military spy. Talking from the identical espresso store the place Luis Albán is seated, Muñoz eyes the FARC candidate and says: "It is arduous to vote for an individual who has been at conflict for thus lengthy." Florez, of the Concepts for Peace Basis, says the FARC mistakenly believed that Colombians dwelling in guerrilla territory in the course of the conflict – and who had been obliged to comply with insurgent orders – would proceed to help them as soon as they disarmed "They had been very naïve," he stated Additional muddying the waters, lots of of ex-FARC rebels who turned disillusioned with the peace course of, have rearmed and shaped a brand new era of felony teams. They name themselves "FARC dissidents" which undercuts FARC candidates making an attempt to persuade voters that they're now peace-loving democrats. "They could be good folks however you all the time have your doubts," stated Luz Martínez, a 70-year-old from the Colombian city of Sevilla who stated she wouldn't vote for a former guerrilla. The FARC identify is so poisonous that different left-wing events and politicians that share among the former rebels' targets, like land reform, have stored their distance. Consequently, Florez is predicting an electoral wipeout on Sunday, with the FARC shedding all 10 of its assigned congressional seats in addition to the authorized standing of its political celebration. "The FARC had eight years to organize for these elections," Florez stated. "However they didn't put together and these are the implications." Nonetheless, Albán presses forward. For his marketing campaign occasion in Bugalagrande, he is employed a five-piece band to draw extra consideration. Nonetheless, only a handful of townsfolk present up and the one one expressing a lot enthusiasm is a lottery ticket vendor. He pledges to assist move out Albán's marketing campaign leaflets, however solely after the candidate whips out his pockets and buys a lottery ticket.