Esta semana ha sido testigo del final de la guerra civil en Sri Lanka tras varias décadas de violencia aterradora. Para lograr este objetivo el Gobierno en Sri Lanka (Colombo) tuvo que tomar una postura de línea dura, que le costo miles de vidas – ¿Será esta la respuesta para la guerra en Colombia ó hay una mejor salida?

Whilst working in London during the mid 90’s I remember vividly phoning our local office in Sri Lanka early one Monday morning to ask for my execution prices for stocks we were buying in the local stock exchange that day, strangely there was no reply. Two hours later there was still no answer which was curious. Eventually my phone line rang and it was the local office manager Harsha calling from his home. He was profusely apologetic for the lack of service however during the weekend a terrorist bomb had destroyed the building where the office was located. It is absolutely typical of a person from the Indian Sub Continent to apologize first before clarifying the reason.

The civil war in Sri Lanka has reached it climax at a cost of at least 80,000 lives and has in common with most domestic conflicts been filled with unspeakable atrocities on both side, its ideological beginnings are lost in the sands of time with the official conflict being 26 years old but the roots of the issue going back to the 1940’s . It has led to the assassination of not just a Sri Lankan Prime Minister but also a multitude of other Ministers. The Ex Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi was also assassinated, at the time he was guilty of little more than sending a peace keeping force to Sri Lanka..

In the end after years of attempted peace talks, truces & international intervention the new hard line Govt. decided enough was enough and during 2009 has launched a brutal offensive which has led to the death of the guerrilla leaders and the effective end of the main conflict. The crucial matter for Democracy is that the defeated Tamils are now given a voice in the Sri Lankan parliament and take their place in an inclusive society..

There are many parallels to the conflict here in Colombia and eventually we too have be an inclusive society and put the sins of the past behind us, the question of course is how we get there. The end game is upon us however the hope has to be that there is no need for a Sri Lankan style final battle which could costs 1000’s of Colombian lives in order for this country to find peace.

Following the Govt. victory in Sri Lanka the global press is discussing a new Machiavellian paradigm in the struggle against terrorism under which as opposed to a long drawn out combination of military tactics and diplomacy an all out offensive takes place in order to end the suffering quickly, countries such as Turkey & Colombia are mentioned amongst those who might do better choosing this new more aggressive strategy.

On the opposite side of the argument is another period from my own experiences and that is Northern Ireland case where in the end after decades of terrorism a diplomatic solution prevailed, it is still at times an uneasy peace but cities such as Belfast have returned to relative peace after years of violence fueled by religious bigotry.

Here in Colombia there is the common theme that the original principles and ideology of the FARC have long since disappeared under a mountain of cocaine money and that is going to be most complicated of puzzles to solve. The simplistic answer we hear both here and in Mexico is that the substance should be legalized however the stark reality is that  it will not happen in the countries where consumption is at its highest.

If one wanted to be totally Machiavellian then the FARC should be crushed as soon as possible and the Govt. surely has at this point the military intelligence and hardware to deal the group a fatal blow. This would bring tremendous economic benefits as the country would be open for the first time in 50 years and trillions of Pesos that are currently spent on armaments could instead be directed towards badly needed social programs. The problem of course is that the human cost could be enormous, not just in lives but in terms of a society divided for years to come by the experience.

In the case of the FARC the majority of the evidence appears to point to an organization bleeding to death so perhaps it is better to continue the very successful carrot and stick approach. The military pressure that has brought about an improved lifestyle for millions of Colombians has to continue but equally the overtures to the FARC members to lay down their arms and to return themselves to everyday life with no recriminations are very important.

Sri Lanka is one of the most beautiful islands you could hope to find on this earth, rich in culture and heritage. The people are warm and generous and fully deserve the peace that hopefully lies ahead for them. I have frequently heard Colombians described by my foreign guests in the same terms and the people of this country equally deserve to be free to walk every last inch of this beautiful land should they desire – a Utopian concept right now I accept but lets hope not for too long and not at too high a price.