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Colombia: Bloggers Campaign for the Release of a 3-Year Old Hostage

Categories: Latin America, Colombia, Digital Activism, Human Rights, Humanitarian Response, Youth

In other instances, bloggers have gotten together to ask for the release of journalists, bloggers or political figures. This time, Colombian bloggers are bringing their voices to request the liberation of someone who doesn´t even know what freedom feels like. This time it is for Emanuel, a 3 year old born to Clara Rojas and a guerrilla fighter. Rojas was kidnapped along with presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt as they were traveling for campaign purposes. [1] on February 23, 2002 by members of the FARC [2]

In Libertad para Emanuel [ES] [3], a blog created for the sole purpose to provide visibility to this child, today's post [4] does a great job summarizing blogger comments and support for this campaign:

Thanks for supporting our campaign on behalf of Emanuel [4] (Read the original post here).

Thanks to all our blogger colleagues who yesterday (some are still doing it today) showed their support to this campaign to provide visibility to Emanuel. The blogs who supported this initiative are registered on the right-hand column and there, they will stay, in the hope that they will accompany us in the future on similar campaigns.

It is worth highlighting the diversity of opinions expressed regarding Emanuel's kidnapping. Some citizen bloggers emphasized the necessity to demand the freedom of ALL kidnapped victims.

We completely support this. We are not looking to bring Emanuel out into the public spotlight in order to hide all the other hostages. We are simply looking to bring Emanuel's case out into the open, for the unique circumstances of his kidnapping, and to complement or add emphasis to the general idea of demanding the release of all the hostages. While it is true that all the hostages should be freed immediately, the most urgent and vital need is in the case of Emanuel, for obvious reasons.

This wasn't a campaign launched by an NGO or a social movement, it simply launched by a group of citizens -who support this and who believed it was possible to saturate some pixels for a just cause. If it is true what some cyberspace fanatics say, that if it doesn't exist on the Internet, then it simply doesn't exist (questionable perspective, though with some validity), then yesterday we gave a strong push towards making Emanuel visible on the web.

What follows now? Over the next few days we will launch a mini-campaign to try and take this same message to two international organizations that could possibly play a part specifically in regards to Emanuel´s kidnapping. These are the International Red Cross and UNICEF.

It is necessary to open a slight chink in the armor of the notion that this kidnapping is only the concern of the Colombian government, the guerrillas and influential family members of some hostages. It is their business. But it is also the civil society, the common citizens and the international community (the French have campaigned to demand the liberation of Ingrid, because she is a French citizen, while we – the common citizens- still wait for the miracle to fall in our laps.) We need for these organizations to tell us whether they have the will to play a unilateral role to demand the liberation of Emanuel and his mother.

Once again, thanks to all the bloggers who supported this campaign. Here are some quotes taken from our blogging friends:

Pirata Subterráneo [ES] [5]

Soy el Pirata Subterráneo, un colombiano mas, paisano tuyo, un bogotano del Barrio Ricaurte. Nací en una gran ciudad, Bogotá, y crecí entre la ciudad y el campo. Mis padres, como muchos colombianos en los últimos cincuenta años, llegaron de la provincia, eran campesinos que se fueron a la ciudad huyendo de la violencia, buscando un futuro que el campo no les ofrecía.

Si algún día llegas a leer este mensaje, si sobrevives y no te matan los hombres que te rodean, guerrilleros de las FARC, o los que supuestamente quieren rescatarte, soldados del Ejército de Colombia, te sorprenderás al enterarte de que muchas de las cosas que te voy a contar, que sucedieron muchos años antes de que nacieras y que son las causantes de que hayas nacido y estés en la selva, secuestrado, separado de tu madre, muchas de estas cosas, aún no han cambiado, por el contrario, han empeorado, se han degradado (…).

I am the Subterranean Pirate, just another Colombian, a fellow countryman, someone from Barrio Ricaurte in Bogotá. I was born in a great city, Bogotá, and I grew up between the city and the country. My parents, like many other Colombians during these past fifty years came from the province, they were farmers who fled to the city running away from violence, seeking a future the countryside couldn't offer.

Someday if read this message, and if you survive, and if the men who surround you don't kill you, the FARC guerrilla fighters, or those who allegedly want to rescue you, the Colombian army soldiers, you will be surprised to find out about the tall tales that I´m going to tell you about, which happened many years before you were born and for the reasons that you were born and are in the jungle, kidnapped, separated from your mother, many of these things, they haven´t yet changed, on the contrary, they have gotten worse, they have degenerated (…).


OIMC [ES]

Todos los colombianos, y Emanuel entre ellos, tienen derecho a vivir una vida libre y digna, y el Estado tiene la obligación de garantizar la seguridad de todos sus ciudadanos, bajo el principio fundamental de que todos somos iguales ante la ley, y tenemos los mismos derechos y deberes (…).

All the Colombians, and Emanuel among them, have the right to live a free and decent life, and the state has the obligation to guarantee security to all its citizens, under the basic principle that we are all equal under the law and we have all the same rights and duties (…)

Más allá del Ecologismo [ES] [6]

Más allá del ecologismo se une al llamado de varios blogs colombianos y del escritor Héctor Abad Faciolince, quien citó lo siguiente: “Señores de las Farc: ¡Suelten ya mismo a Clara y a Emmanuel o considérense asesinos!…”

Beyond Ecology joins this call of various Colombian blogs and writer Héctor Abad Faciolince, who quoted the following: “Men of las Farc: Free Clara and Emmanuel immediately, or consider yourselves murderers!”

Medea Material [ES] [7]

Entonces, me hago presente. No sólo por la libertad de Emanuel, sino de todos los otros secuestrados, las mujeres, los niños, los jóvenes policías, los adultos mayores, los enfermos y los sanos, porque no hay derecho que nadie esté retenido en contra de su voluntad y sin que medie un juicio justo. (…) Y carajo, mientras los sueltan, que por lo menos les den toallas higiénicas a las mujeres. Por pura dignidad.

So, I come forward. Not just for Emanuel´s freedom, but for all the other hostages as well, the women, the children, the young police officers, the elderly, the sick, the healthy, because it just isn't right for anyone to be held against their will and without a just trial. (…) And damn, while they are freed, they could at least give some sanitary napkins to the women. For dignity´s sake.

Der Latin Lover [ES] [8]

(…) Y lo mas triste: saber que ese bebe ya camina y habla…y cumplió tres anitos…en “cautiverio”. No te parece una monstruosidad? A mi si. Por eso quise escribir este par de líneas sobre el tema. (…) Saludos y un abrazo a la familia de Emanuel. Que mi Dios los proteja y acompañe en este momento tan puto.

(…) and the saddest thing: to know that this baby already walks and talks… he's three years old, and raised in captivity. Don´t you think this is a monstrosity? I do. That's why I wanted to write this couple of sentences on the topic. (…) greetings and a hug to Emanuel´s family. May God protect them and be with them in this f¿cking moment.

Crítico Latino [ES] [9]

(…) hoy es un día para reflexionar y pedir, sin importar razas ni religiones, creencias políticas o sociales, el derecho a la libertad y a la vida es un derecho que no debe ser quebrantado, por eso, hoy rezamos por la paz y la liberación de este pequeño y de todos los secuestrados, en Colombia y el mundo entero.

(..) Today is a day for reflection and requests, without taking into consideration races or religions, political or social beliefs, the right to liberty and life is a right which shouldn´t be violated, that's why, today we pray for the peace and liberation of this young one and all the hostages, in Colombia and the rest of the world.

Con senos y con sesos [ES] [10]

Pues no sé si mi post clasifique dentro de la jornada, porque yo no sólo quiero que se de la liberación de Clara Rojas y de su hijo Emanuel -el cual (contrario a lo que han manifestado algunos columnistas) sí tiene un padre y es guerrillero; sí señor, “no nos hagamos tarugos”-, bueno ése es otro asunto… (…) Lo que quiero decir es que me parece muy bien que se den este tipo de iniciativas en la blogosfera, pero no creo que se deba ser tan excluyente e ignorar la situación de los otros 23.144 secuestrados (…)

Well, I don´t know if my post classifies within this campaign, because I don't just want the release of Clara Rojas and her son Emanuel – who (contrary to what some columnists have manifested) does have a father and he´s from the guerrilla; yes sir, “let´s not play stupid”-, well, this is something else entirely… (…) What I mean to say is that I believe it is a good thing for this type of efforts to begin in the blogosphere, but I don´t believe it should be this exclusive and ignore the situation of all the other 23,144 hostages (…)

Comunicación? [ES] [11]

En ninguna circunstancia es admisible el secuestro, pero adicionalmente ¿Es justo que un niño nazca y crezca privado de la libertad? Por supuesto que no.(…)

In no circumstance is kidnapping admissible, but to add to that, is it fair for a child to be born and raised with no freedom? Of course not. (…)

Calicanto [ES] [12]:

Emanuel no es víctima del Estado sino de las Farc, y a éstas corresponde las consecuencias de un intento de rescate de Clara Rojas, su madre. Emanuel es un nombre que hoy se repite en muchos blogs, se espera que no solamente nacionales sino también extranjeros, para hacer visible su caso.

Emanuel is not a victim of the State but of the Farc, and these are the ones who should have to deal with the consequences for an attempted rescue for his mother, Clara Rojas. Emanuel is a name that today is being repeated in many blogs, we hope that not only in national blogs, but also international blogs to make his case visible [3]


Ciudad de pensamiento plano [ES]

Este Blog se une a la campaña Libertad Para Emanuel. Hagamos visible a Emanuel. Exijamos su liberación inmediata!

This blog joins the campaign Freedom for Emanuel. Let´s make Emanuel visible. Let´s demand his immediate liberation!”

Astrolabe- JSA [ES] [13]

Uno quisiera en estos casos, no que muchos blogs se sumen para hacer visible la situación de Emanuel y la barbarie de las Farc, sino que no fuera necesario hacerlo. Pero también es notable el hecho de que los blogs no solamente sirvan para soportar las tonteras que se nos ocurren, sino que se ejerciten en la loable tarea de crear redes con fines sustantivos.

One would like in these cases, not that many blogs join to make visible Emanuel´s situation and the Farc savagery, but that it wasn´t necessary to do so. But it is also remarkable that blogs not only are good to support the foolish things that come to our minds, but that they are good in exercising the praiseworthy task of creating networks with substantial ends.

Once again, thanks.

Translated by Juliana Rincón