Betancourt: Revolutions Not So Nice

After six years in FARC captivity deep in Colombia’s jungle, Ingrid Betancourt is over revolution and ready for cake.

From the NPR story on All Things Considered:

Betancourt says her time in captivity dispelled any romantic illusions she had about the FARC and their mission. “I am of a generation where we like Che Guevara, you know, the very romantic kind of revolution thing,” she says. “And in a way, I thought that the FARC was kind of a romantic rebellion against a system that… I didn’t like either.”

In the course of human events men are indeed occasionally required to overthrow the system in place.  History books and legal lit are all written by a revolution’s victors.   Yet the majority of revolution is this Che bloody hell: guerillas and lawlessness and theft.

Ingrid Betancourt went through hell. Ignorance insulated by a socialistic culture may excuse her admiration for Che. Yet it is just this type of admiration that perpetuates a guerilla mentality in much of the world.

Politics aside, Che Guevara was a brutal murderer who tortured his ideological counters. Rather than promote a liberty-friendly environment, Betancourt spent her career supporting structures that permit guerillas like her captors to exist.

Che Guevara was no more a “romantic revolutionary” than were the guerillas that tortured Betancourt. In many critical ways FARC is identical to Che Guevara’s revolution. As long as people hold on to the notion that these revolutionaries are “romantic,” many, many more people will suffer the same hell that befell Ms. Betancourt.

Che Guevara was a mass murderer.  Killing in the name of ideology is not above the law.

Photo Credit: NPR