THE mood was despondent as Carlos Antonio Lozada walked onto a makeshift stage in a plaza in Fusagasugá,a town 70km (43 miles) south-west of Bogotá, on March 3rd. He was the main speaker for the final campaign event of the FARC, and once a guerrilla army,now competing in an election as a political party for the first time. The former commander gave a listless speech to a rain-spattered crowd of perhaps 400 people. They listened with indifference while FARC functionaries handed out lunch boxes, soft drinks and flags with the partys novel rose-and-star symbol.
The FARC’s participation gave historical significance to the congressional election held eight days later. But it also showed that Colombians have no intention of giving the ex-guerrillas the power they failed to gain in 52 years of war against the state. The FARC won just 53000 votes in the election for the senate, or 0.34% of the total. Under the peace agreement signed by Colombia’s president,Juan Manuel Santos, it will nonetheless have five...
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Source: economist.com