Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Why Would Anyone From Holland Want To Join FARC?

Photo: Tanja Nijmeijer

The Dutch Woman Who Ran Away With Colombia's FARC -- Miriam Wells, Christian Science Monitor

Tanja Nijmeijer moved to Colombia in 2002 where she joined the FARC guerrillas in their fight against the Colombian state. She will be a part of their negotiating team during peace talks in Cuba this month.

Smiling into the camera, a young female guerrilla picked up her guitar and dedicated a song to her family. "Don’t Cry For Me Argentina," Tanja Nijmeijer sang to her parents in Holland, who had not seen her in years.

This scene in a 2010 documentary provided the first images of Ms. Nijmeijer since she abandoned a comfortable life in Holland eight years earlier to fight a communist war against the Colombian state.

This fall, her startling story was brought back into the international spotlight, following the launch of the first official peace negotiations between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government in more than a decade. Colombia's internal war has persisted for more than 50 years.

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My Comment: Her goal in life was definitely not to be a stay at home soccer-mom.

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