Americas
an examination of current affairs in the hemisphere
Ecuador Bombing Survivor was No Accidental Tourist
We all want to change the world, and there's no better time
to try than in our university years. Youth is—or so goes the
widespread belief—synonymous with freedom, carelessness,
rebellion and questioning the status quo. But to what extent can
idealism—or naïveté—be used as an excuse to explain
involvement in criminal activities?
On March 1, the Colombian military destroyed a guerrilla camp 1.8 km inside Ecuador's territory. Raúl Reyes, the second-in-command of the guerrilla group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC), was killed in the attack along with 26 other men. Only three people, all women, survived the attack. One of those women, 26-year-old Lucia Morett, was a Mexican student.
Every year, many Canadian students travel to remote places of the world, their reasons as varied as their destinations. Many join NGOs working on development issues in the most impoverished places on earth; others teach English or backpack through challenging regions.
Some are just seeking fun, others to learn and grow. Some risk their lives aiding in natural disaster areas, and many are activists who lend their strength and energy to their chosen causes.
Whether we agree with them or not, we celebrate and support their contributions; their actions in the world and what they bring back home help us make a better Canada.
Sometimes these bright stories have had a dark side where terrorist or criminal organizations have recruited students.
And then there is "revolutionary tourism." It has always been a very powerful draw. Thousands of young people were invited to festivals, congresses, encounters or other events—to visit the communist countries, turning them into mouthpieces for the ideology in their home countries.
Regimes like the one in Cuba know that their main supporters abroad are often to be found in academic circles: university students seduced by the revolutionary propaganda; or cubicle radicals, lending their ascendancy to exulting living conditions they would never accept at home.
Lucia Morett was no accidental tourist. She was in Ecuador attending the Second Bolivarian Continental Congress in Quito. The Bolivarians are a heterogeneous conglomerate of social movements, which includes everything from legitimate activists' organizations to terrorists like the FARC.
The Venezuelan regime funds these encounters, as the movements are seen as the grassroots support for Hugo Chavez's continental revolution.
It was in this event that Ms. Morett and the other students made arrangements to visit the guerrillas' camp. They were not the first to do so. This modality of "revolutionary tourism" had been practiced at the very same camp before, as revealed by the photos of some visiting Chilean students found in one of the computers seized by Colombia after the attack.
Ms. Morett and a friend travelled to the remote jungle area in time for a celebration. She says they were shown where they would sleep, and introductions were left for the morning, but the camp's activity log describes a party held that night. At midnight, the Colombian bombs fell on the camp, followed by another attack three hours later, and then the military arrived. It was already daylight when the Ecuadorian forces arrived and found only three survivors: two Colombian women and Ms. Morett.
In her own version, already posted on video over the Internet, Ms. Morett speaks of wanting to learn more for her thesis on Latin American movements as the reason for visiting the camp.
Based on her account, a human rights lawyer is already speaking of presenting the case to the International Criminal Court, arguing it was a military attack against a group of entirely civilian Mexican students who legally entered Ecuador to perform legal activities.
But the FARC is the hemisphere's worst terrorist organization. Everybody knows their drug-trafficking, kidnapping, extortion, money laundering and murderous activities. Ms. Morett knew all this and willingly went to visit the Colombian camp in Ecuador. Bad luck placed her there on the night that the Colombian forces launched their cross-border attack.
Ms. Morett's father says his daughter is a leftist, not a guerrilla, and has called for the Mexican government to condemn Colombia's action. I can sympathize with a father's distress, but cannot lose sight of the circumstances. The Colombian parents of the thousands of children killed or maimed by the FARC's homemade landmines, or robbed from their homes as forced recruits, are also victims. It was a terrorist camp Ms. Morett visited, a terrorist camp that the Colombian military bombed.
I can't help thinking about some of our Canadian students, full of idealism and a genuine desire to change the world. It worries me that some of them might come across Ms. Morett's video without realizing that it presents only one-side of a troubled reality.
On March 1, the Colombian military destroyed a guerrilla camp 1.8 km inside Ecuador's territory. Raúl Reyes, the second-in-command of the guerrilla group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC), was killed in the attack along with 26 other men. Only three people, all women, survived the attack. One of those women, 26-year-old Lucia Morett, was a Mexican student.
Every year, many Canadian students travel to remote places of the world, their reasons as varied as their destinations. Many join NGOs working on development issues in the most impoverished places on earth; others teach English or backpack through challenging regions.
Some are just seeking fun, others to learn and grow. Some risk their lives aiding in natural disaster areas, and many are activists who lend their strength and energy to their chosen causes.
Whether we agree with them or not, we celebrate and support their contributions; their actions in the world and what they bring back home help us make a better Canada.
Sometimes these bright stories have had a dark side where terrorist or criminal organizations have recruited students.
And then there is "revolutionary tourism." It has always been a very powerful draw. Thousands of young people were invited to festivals, congresses, encounters or other events—to visit the communist countries, turning them into mouthpieces for the ideology in their home countries.
Regimes like the one in Cuba know that their main supporters abroad are often to be found in academic circles: university students seduced by the revolutionary propaganda; or cubicle radicals, lending their ascendancy to exulting living conditions they would never accept at home.
Lucia Morett was no accidental tourist. She was in Ecuador attending the Second Bolivarian Continental Congress in Quito. The Bolivarians are a heterogeneous conglomerate of social movements, which includes everything from legitimate activists' organizations to terrorists like the FARC.
The Venezuelan regime funds these encounters, as the movements are seen as the grassroots support for Hugo Chavez's continental revolution.
It was in this event that Ms. Morett and the other students made arrangements to visit the guerrillas' camp. They were not the first to do so. This modality of "revolutionary tourism" had been practiced at the very same camp before, as revealed by the photos of some visiting Chilean students found in one of the computers seized by Colombia after the attack.
Ms. Morett and a friend travelled to the remote jungle area in time for a celebration. She says they were shown where they would sleep, and introductions were left for the morning, but the camp's activity log describes a party held that night. At midnight, the Colombian bombs fell on the camp, followed by another attack three hours later, and then the military arrived. It was already daylight when the Ecuadorian forces arrived and found only three survivors: two Colombian women and Ms. Morett.
In her own version, already posted on video over the Internet, Ms. Morett speaks of wanting to learn more for her thesis on Latin American movements as the reason for visiting the camp.
Based on her account, a human rights lawyer is already speaking of presenting the case to the International Criminal Court, arguing it was a military attack against a group of entirely civilian Mexican students who legally entered Ecuador to perform legal activities.
But the FARC is the hemisphere's worst terrorist organization. Everybody knows their drug-trafficking, kidnapping, extortion, money laundering and murderous activities. Ms. Morett knew all this and willingly went to visit the Colombian camp in Ecuador. Bad luck placed her there on the night that the Colombian forces launched their cross-border attack.
Ms. Morett's father says his daughter is a leftist, not a guerrilla, and has called for the Mexican government to condemn Colombia's action. I can sympathize with a father's distress, but cannot lose sight of the circumstances. The Colombian parents of the thousands of children killed or maimed by the FARC's homemade landmines, or robbed from their homes as forced recruits, are also victims. It was a terrorist camp Ms. Morett visited, a terrorist camp that the Colombian military bombed.
I can't help thinking about some of our Canadian students, full of idealism and a genuine desire to change the world. It worries me that some of them might come across Ms. Morett's video without realizing that it presents only one-side of a troubled reality.
1 Comment
Annette Hester
I hadn't heard this story...thanks for bringing it to my attention. Before everyone goes up in arms over this one, it would be good to remember the story of two supposedly innocent Canadian students - Spencer and Lamont, who single-handedly sour Brazil-Canada relations for a good part of a decade. The two were "doing the right thing" in Central and South America, and everyone supported them in spite of the fact that they were caught in the kidnapping of a Brazilian industrialist. The whole story was about how horrible the Brazilians were.... in the end, we found out that they were not so innocent after all.....