My wife and her family are over the moon after the daring rescue of Ingrid Betancourt and fourteen other hostages from the clutches of the FARC in Colombia. My mother-in-law was born in Colombia, and my wife and I have made several visits to her relatives in various parts of that magnificent country that has suffered so much for so long.
Whatever one thinks of American foreign policy in Latin America — and there is much one could say at this point — our backing of Colombian president Alvaro Uribe has brought a great degree of peace to the most populous Spanish-speaking country south of Mexico. In my visits, I’ve seen abundant evidence of increased security and prosperity in even remote, rural farming regions. My wife’s family, who live on simple fincas in Cesar and Norte de Santander departments, have finally stopped paying regular “head taxes” to the FARC thanks to the success of the American-backed Plan Colombia.
In any event, it is a glorious day for Colombia, a land near and dear to my heart and a place where, God willing, our future children will visit in peace. We even talk, my wife and I, about buying some land and spending some of our future retirement in her mother’s homeland. Events like today’s make that more and more of a viable possibility.
1 Response to “Hurrah for Colombia”