Library:Interview with "Insurrección" Newspaper
Interview with "Insurrección" Newspaper | |
|---|---|
 Manuel Pérez, author. | |
| Written by | Manuel Pérez |
| Written in | 1990 |
| Source | Memoirs - Manuel Pérez Martínez |
Interview with "Insurrección" Newspaper
1990
INSU:The political solution to the conflict being sought in the country and participation in the National Constituent Assembly (ANC) are two issues that have demanded a clear position from the Simón Bolívar Guerrilla Coordinating Committee (CGSB). Manuel Pérez Martínez, one of its commanders, addresses these issues and also refers, in this interview, to the articles published by the newspaper El Tiempo in July of last year concerning the UC-ELN.
INSU: The Coordinating Committee has publicly demonstrated its internal divisions at this juncture. What possibilities exist for unifying their positions on peace and the constituent assembly?
Manuel: So far, there are common elements within the Simón Bolívar movement, especially regarding participating in the Constituent Assembly together, and without the prerequisite of demobilization; that is truly very encouraging. This even transcends the internal differences within the EPL. Where some difficulties are arising is in the peace proposals. Our expectation is that the agreements of the V Summit of the CGSB will become a point of reference for initiating a process of further strengthening our tactical unity on these issues. However, there are other elements, such as greater communication among the rank and file, the search for a shared understanding of Colombian identity, and the tendency toward greater consensus based on tolerance, the ability to coexist respectfully despite some differences, which will allow us to envision real and significant leaps forward on the path to a true collective vanguard of the revolution.
INSU: The newspaper El Tiempo has offered an interpretation of the difficulties in the Coordinating Committee. It says that the negotiation proposal presented by the UCELN is just another war tactic. What do you think of that?
Manuel: We are making a genuine peace proposal, a political solution, a comprehensive negotiation. We honestly want peace. The thing is, our proposal is not a proposal for surrender, demobilization, capitulation, or disarmament, because we understand that peace can only be the fruit of social justice and democracy.
INSU: How, then, does UCELN understand the political solution to the conflict?
Manuel: We understand the political solution to the conflict as the search for resolving the major social, economic, and political problems through the transformation of unjust and dehumanizing structures. We understand comprehensive negotiation as a treaty between contending parties, through which we seek agreements to humanize the armed conflict in accordance with international treaties, and through which we seek a new social pact in which all parties to the conflict participate, under a new constitution and a new government that represents the interests of the majority. We believe that a genuine peace proposal implies that, for peace to be achieved, the causes of violence must be overcome, and to this end, the parties in conflict must be willing to implement a real political solution.
INSU: At this moment, President Gaviria is moving forward with his proposal for a Constitutional Assembly. To what extent does this Assembly meet the expectations for a political solution raised by the Guerrilla Coordination?
Manuel: No, no, it really doesn't satisfy the expectations of the proposals made by the Simón Bolívar group. First of all, because it completely excludes the participation of the armed movement. It also excludes the social and popular movement, because it wants to reduce its participation to only the very few members that the government wants to handpick. It wants to control the Constituent Assembly through a political pact of the organizations that represent 30% of Colombians, leaving out, precisely, that 70% who didn't vote, those who are dissatisfied, those who are the majority, those who demand that a New Constitution be drafted.
INSU: Given Gaviria's proposal, what options remain for the Simón Bolívar movement?
Manuel: The Simón Bolívar movement intends to fight for the opening of pathways toward a new constitution. It aims to fight for a new government based, logically, on a social pact, one that will transform the content of the constituent assembly in such a way that it becomes the first step toward peace, so that a dynamic emerges in the country that serves as the prelude to a real political solution to the conflict.