Ingrid, wherever you are...
International Greens convene in Bogotá
By Joanne Cvar
Pacific Green Party of Oregon

	Ingrid Betancourt

In the first-ever joint action undertaken by International Greens, representatives of 10 Green parties from four continents met in solidarity with the Partido Verde-Oxigeno (Green Party of Colombia) in Bogotá Oct. 31-Nov. 6. Carl Romanelli represented the International Committee of the Green Party of the United States at the conference. Organizers also invited Colombian dignitaries, church leaders, NGOs, union leaders and families of the Colombian hostages, with the goal to have all sides participate in the process. 

A resolution at the May 2005 meeting of the European Federation of Green Parties had called for the conference to demonstrate international support for a negotiated peace in Colombia and the release of all the hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Among the 59 prisoners the FARC are willing to exchange for 500 FARC guerilla fighters jailed by the Colombian government, the most prominent are Green presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and her vice-presidential candidate and aide, Clara Rojas, kidnapped on Feb. 23, 2002 (see "Rescuing Ingrid Betancourt" in the fall 2005 issue of Green Pages).

According to Grazia Francescato, spokesperson for the European Green Party, the three major (linked) issues discussed at the Bogotá conference were the liberation of Betancourt, Rojas, and all the hostages; the complicated issue of reaching a humanitarian agreement between the FARC and the government of Colombia; and the promotion of a political negotiated way out of the armed and bloody social conflict that has devastated the Colombian populace for 50 years. Other issues concerned the apparent legalization of the paramilitaries by the Uribe government in the guise of dismantling them; the desperate social situation of the desplazados (some three to four million people forced off the land into urban favelas); and the "dramatic" conditions encountered by any kind of political opposition, such as union leaders, social movements, indigenous peoples, students and teachers. Some 14,000 of them became desaparecidos (disappeared) between 1985 and 2003. It may be that the forced silencing of Ingrid Betancourt, a courageous and outspoken voice against corruption and for the people of Colombia, benefits both the FARC and the government.

The Greens in Bogotá knew they would be unable to work miracles; they could only add their weight to that of the international community and civil society in favor of the release of the Colombian prisoners. They were able to reach a common position on the social, political and environmental issues and to state the goals and objectives Greens should strive for in Colombia. They proposed to leave a young Green studying in Bogotá, Dario Ghilarduccci, as their representative in Bogotá, at least until the presidential elections in 2006, in order to see that the activities they had agreed upon were carried out. Most of all, International Greens were able to demonstrate their capacity for united action in the face of a complex and difficult situation.

"We cannot forget how much our interlocutors thanked us for the arrival of our delegation," said Constantin Fedorovsky, international assistant for Les Verts in her final report, "in consideration of the importance of reinforcing international pressure for a humanitarian agreement…. World Greens are from now on an actor recognized in the resolution of the Colombian conflict."

Other international Greens in attendance at the conference were:
Alain Lipietz (France, Green member of the European Parliament),
Jacqueline Bot (Netherlands, member of the National Board of the Groen Links), 
Sergio Coronado (France, spokesperson of Les Verts), 
Patrick Farbiaz (France, international secretary of Les Verts), 
Milan Bastinac (Green Party of Bosnia-Herzégovine), 
Margaret Blakers (Australian Greens, member of the Global Greens Coordination), 
Rikiya Adachi (Japan, The Green Table), 
Candido Jovino (Green member of the Brazilian Parliament), 
Md. Mujibul Alan Khan (Green Party of Taiwan) and 
Marie Nagy (Belgium, member of Parliament Ecolo).

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