Gustavo Moncayo controversy: Grieving father or rebel sympathizer?

Before Gustavo Moncayo became a household name he lived a quiet life in rural Colombia. Every day he would attend Catholic mass and walk just two short blocks to the public high school where he taught social studies. However, since making his “Forest Gump-like trek” across Colombia to draw attention to the “cruelty of kidnapping,” Moncayo has become a fixture of the evening news, has engaged in fiery public debates with President Álvaro Uribe, and has even been personally invited to meet with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to discuss ways of resolving the hostage crisis.

This small, wiry man with a salt-and-pepper goatee wears silver chains draped across his shoulders and securely fastened to his wrists to symbolize the suffering of kidnapping victims and their grieving families. Frustrated by the government’s inability and unwillingness to negotiate for the release of his son, held hostage by the FARC for the past 10 years, Moncayo has even offered to exchange his own freedom for that of his son.

Gustavo Moncayo is an outspoken supporter of proposals that would demilitarize two towns in southwest Colombia for talks over the exchange of jailed rebels for more than 50 FARC-held hostages.

Opinion polls in Colombia show broad public support for President Uribe and his hard-line stance against negotiating with the Marxist rebels. Therefore it is not suprising that many people are quick to criticize Moncayo’s audacity to criticize the president and his policies. They seek to delegitimize Moncayo by labeling him as a “traitor” and “rebel sympathizer.” Why, just the other day I was among a large crowd that had gathered around Moncayo’s big white tent and temporary home in the Plaza Bolivar when a neatly dressed, gray-haired man passed through the crowd saying, “They are nothing but guerrillas in those tents! Traitors and guerrillas! You’re all traitors and guerrillas!”

I couldn’t help but question the logic of this outspoken critic. I asked myself, “Why would a father whose son has been held hostage by the guerrillas for the past 10 years be sympathetic of the guerrilla movement?” It defies logic, doesn't it? I also wondered what this gentleman would do if he were in Moncayo’s shoes and it was his son that was held shackled somewhere in middle of the Colombian jungle? Would he just sit back and happily support the president’s unwavering stance against negotiating with the FARC? Or would he also do whatever it took to free his son even if that meant walking from Bogota to...say, Washington D.C.? I would really like to know.

Photograph courtesy of Gustavo Moncayo.