Sideshows aplenty have emerged during peace talks between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government, from the intrigue surrounding the participation of FARC’s Dutch national Tanja Nijmeijer, to the anti-imperialist rants of the rebels’ lead negotiator Iván Márquez and the familiar war of words over hostages.
Theatre aside, however, both sides know that the land – a central issue when FARC’s peasant guerrillas first took the fight to the government in 1964 – looms as large now as it did half a century ago. Now, as ever, those caught in this territorial tug-of-war are living a nightmare.
