Colombia, that perennial theatre of violence and democratic farce, is once again convulsing. As the presidential vote approaches, the brutal internal conflict has escalated to a pitch that has forced the UK to issue a humanitarian warning. How quaint.
The British government, that bastion of moral clarity, now tuts at the bloodshed in the Andes. But let us not pretend this is a mere ‘escalation’. This is the logical endpoint of a failed state built on narcotics, paramilitaries, and revolutionary romanticism.
Colombia’s tragedy is not a sudden eruption; it is a chronic haemorrhage that the political class has managed, not cured. The candidates promise peace, but they offer only pacts with devils. The FARC, the ELN, the paramilitaries – they are not aberrations; they are the system’s shadow.
And as the UK wrings its hands, I am reminded of Rome’s late Republic, where every election was a prelude to civil war. Colombia is not exceptional. It is a mirror.
The West should look closely, for our own complacency breeds similar fractures beneath a veneer of order. The lesson? When a state loses its monopoly on violence, democracy becomes a charade.
And we, in our smug towers, are not immune.