This blog saddens me to write. I speak of Colombia, a land and people I love.

I visited Colombia in 1997, staying with friends outside of Medellin, the capital of the state of Antioquia. The beauty of the land is staggering, rolling mountains covered in a sumptuous dark carpet of green. Sprawling valleys give the otherwise overwhelming landscape a sense of human scale. Cities are cradled within them, testifying to the harmonious distinction between human and divine works. Here is a sample. After clicking on the hyperlink below, select the first thumbnail to the left, in the top row. It is a panoramic view of a guerilla camp situated in one such valley.

That beautiful panorama was the scene of tragedy, one of many that have rocked Colombia for decades.

With respectful sorrow in memory of Guillermo Gaviria, governor of Antioquia, and Defense Minister Gilberto Echeverri (in Spanish), who were brutally murdered by the Colombian rebel guerillas, I offer my condolences to the family, friends, and associates of these fine gentlemen and to the Colombian people at large. They are suffering a terrible loss that opens, or exacerbates, deep wounds.

In April, 2002, the two men were kidnapped during a peace rally in which they willingly encountered guerillas of FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). They were executed, along with eight Colombian soldiers when the government forces attempted to rescue them.

This tragedy is part of a long and bloody struggle in Colombia, called "La Violencia." It is almost forty years in the making. The war-weary Colombian people have indeed had enough, and for a very long time now. For all the differences between the war in Colombia and the U.S. war on terror, there are interesting similarities.

First, both nations are faced with nihilistic forces bent upon their destruction, even in the name of "liberation." Because one speaks of a "spiritual" revolution to usher in the new caliphate once the American beast is crushed underfoot, does not mean one cannot also speak of Marxist guerillas who murder their own people, even the campesinos (the peasants), the very ones whom they pretend to seek to "liberate." The Colombian guerillas and the paramilitaries, who are also no happy bunch, are terrorists if you define that term by a will to murder as a means to gain absolute power; that is, the murder of innocents, of civilians, without regard at all for the sanctity of human life and for a goal, a form of government, whether a Koranic theocracy or Marxist dictatorship, that would squelch all semblance of human life, happiness, and dignity.

Contrast this kind of brutality to the hyper-civilized warfare exercised by the United States and allied forces: a laudable but politically shrewd concern to avoid civilian casualties - a new development in warfare, not without risks to those fighting it and made possible by ultra-accurate technology - as well as an exaggerated characterization of the Iraq war as a war of liberation, which it certainly also was but to the detriment of the truth that it was, first and foremost, a war fought in defense of the United States and its allies.

Al Qaeda and FARC operate differently. They act in a moral void where, in the case of FARC, murdering peace demonstrators after holding them for over a year is seen as justifiable when the government comes to rescue them. Like Al Qaeda, the FARC means business. There are to be no conditions. They make a mockery of any peace process because they have no love for the peaceniks whom they hold in contempt.

Not long ago they also kidnapped Ingrid Betancourt, another peace activist who ran in the last presidential elections, having sent her children to New Zealand after receiving death threats. She, a young mother, had to continue her fight without her children. Such a sacrifice. So noble. So selfless. But for what? So she could be kidnapped by murderers? Her removal from the presidential race helped the right-wing Uribe come into power. I'm not sure what the guerillas were thinking, either acting rashly in kidnapping a peace activist or plotting to have a committed fighter elected to battle with them and bring things to a head. I really don't know.

Think about an enemy, like the FARC, that has no qualms about kidnapping and murdering peace activists. Imagine, God forbid, if marchers in a peace rally in San Francisco were attacked by an Islamist group. Betancourt wanted to make peace, as did Gaviria and Echeverri after her, and what did that get them or the Colombian people? This is not to say they deserve their fate. No one can make such a heartless claim. Their tragic fate serves to remind us, instead, just how dangerous these enemies are, how much suffering and pain they inflict on others, on their own people, for a cause they can't possibly believe in.

Secondly, the wars the U.S. and Colombia are waging against terrorism are opposed by an appeasement movement. In Colombia the peace movement may be a far more powerful one than that in the U.S. It has been a feature of politics during past Colombian presidencies. In the aftermath of the tragic deaths of Gaviria and Echeverri, last Monday, there is a renewed call among some Colombians to seek peace with the guerillas. That means negotiations. Sincere, intelligent, and civilized, those seeking to wage peace are ultimately fodder for the guerillas' terrorist war. By their deaths, the guerillas show determination to overthrow the Colombian government and install a dictatorship. How the guerillas have behaved so far would indicate how their government would behave toward its citizens: the guerillas intend no good for the Colombian people.

Beyond being faced with ruthless enemies, whose only goal is to acquire ultimate power by any means necessary, and the presence of a protest movement of well-intentioned but misguided idealists, the situation in the U.S. and Colombia also reveals important differences. Not least of which is that Colombians have had to deal with widespread violence of one form or another, on their own soil, whether at the hands of guerillas, paramilitaries, and the drug lords and their cartels, for several decades, causing rougly 4,000 deaths annually with thousands more displaced. Many Colombians have left the country, finding the situation intolerable. Americans, however, have always felt secure on their own soil - until Septmeber 11th, 2001. Another difference is that the Colombian conflict is brother to brother, sister to sister, making it particularly ugly and heart rending. It is a civil war, after all.

The Colombian government has appeased these forces for a very long time, as the U.S. government did the Islamists beginning in 1979. Both countries are currently fortunate to have a stong leader: Alvaro Uribe Velez in Colombia and George W. Bush in the U.S.

But Uribe faces problems the anti-Bush peace activists would love the U.S. president to have. Uribe, a native of Antioquia and associate of the two murdered government officials, did not attend the funeral in Medellin. Why? Because the crowd gathered to mourn are not happy with the president. As the AP quotes: Gaviria's wife said Uribe had broken a promise with the family to contact them before any attempt at rescue.

The rescue operation was botched. Why were loud give-away helicopters used, signaling to the guerillas that trouble was afoot? They lived up to their vow to kill the hostages if any attempt to rescue them were to be made. The Colombian Army Commander, Jorge Enrique Mora, claims the operation had no design errors. The Colombian people will not, and should not, believe his claim. The operation was a terrible miscalculation and the government should be held accountable for it but only so that the war continue with the full and vigilant support of the Colombian people. This defeat, despite the guerillas being apprehended and cleared from the compound where the hostages where held, is a real setback for Uribe. The Colombian people are used to appeasement though they have by and large supported Uribe's commitment to fight to the end. Will they stand by him now? How will this tragedy pan out?

Uribe must continue the war against the guerillas, who, by now, are the most formidable of Colombia's various internal enemies. At such a heart-breaking moment it is understandable the widows eloquently and movingly seek peace in the name and memory of their late husbands who gave their lives for peace. Yet these martyrs died for a peace that cannot be had with appeasement. They did not die in vain but for a renewed conviction that Colombia's enemies must be fought to the finish, till the guerillas and paramilitaries and drug lords are vanquished. It is an all or nothing gambit as is the war against the Islamists. Anything less will continue "La Violencia" for years to come or until Colombia's enemies win their victory, which is something unthinkable.

Yet, my acquaintance with Colombians tells me they are a resilient and dignified people. They have weathered terrible and prolonged suffering with an equanimity I find truly admirable. I have met a number of Colombian exiles in the U.S. Some return to their homeland periodically. Others claim both the U.S. and Colombia as their homeland.

In any case, the Colombians must prevail for, like Americans, they are a proud people with a rich history. I wish them my best. Because their nation, and the rest of the Western Hemisphere, cannot afford them to fail.