A 'Thousand
Terrorist Tentacles': Latin America Knows Boston's Pain (El Pais,
Uruguay)
"At all
costs, these acts of murder must be avoided, the activities that mobilize these
ideologues curbed, and the guilty parties punished and made examples of. With
good grace, we must resign ourselves to the inconveniences that we as citizens must
endure, such as an erosion of civil liberties, privacy, and respect for individual
rights that play such a fundamental and distinctive role in democratic
societies. This is a terrible fight against an enemy in the shadows."
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, mother of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the two men accused of setting off the Boston Marathon bombs, refuses to accept their likely guilt.
Imagine that sunny day in Boston last Monday. A great
sporting event, a tradition in this beautiful and historic city. Flags,
balloons and posters decorate the streets. Crowds throng awaiting the end of
the marathon. Family and friends are there to cheer on their relatives and
friends. There are voices of encouragement, and all around is jubilance and the
determination of the athletes.
Suddenly, a terrible explosion rings out, followed by screams,
and pieces of bloodied, shredded human flesh flying through the air. The smoke;
the anxiety; the scrambling; the wail of sirens - and the fear. A daughter sees
her father, who seconds before was running behind her, kneeling on the sidewalk
in a pool of blood without his legs. A mother cries and embraces her dead
little son.
The more horrifying the spectacle, the greater the damage
and pain inflicted, the more satisfied those who conceived the tragedy will be.
Their central objective is to sow terror and uncertainty throughout society,
with the ultimate aim of creating havoc and destroying the established order.
There may be any number of nuances and goals that these
criminals sought to achieve. A form of retribution to avenge some real or imagined
damage that they, in their minds, have suffered, perhaps along with a sense of omnipotence
in knowing they are capable of inflicting panic and destruction. The victims,
although not always, are people without any connection whatsoever to either them
or their causes.
This despicable practice, far from new, began to spread with
ever-greater intensity in the middle of the 20th century, through new media
that unfortunately enhanced the impact of such attacks. The tentacles of
terrorism are varied. Sometimes they are religious, even evoking the name of
God - even though politics and a lust for power are always intertwined.
In this part of the world, we understand the scourge of "liberation
movements." These movements can be separated into two strands; the rural,
for example Peru's "Shining
Path," or, with support from Cuba, the revolutionary forces led by Che
Guevara in Bolivia; and the urban, like the Tupamaro
guerillas in our Uruguay, or by the Montoneros
and People's
Revolutionary Army in Argentina - although this group made a foray into the
countryside, eventually controlling a "liberated zone" in Tucuman for
a time.
That is to say nothing of the terrible suffering still
suffered in Colombia. Nor were the guerillasof Sierra Maestra [Cuba] completely defeated. Taking
Havana by force more than 50 years ago, they turned the island into a prison -
even if it is presented as a revolutionary paradise.
Neither were the European countries exempt from homegrown
terrorists in the post-war years. Remember the BaaderMainhof of Germany or Italy's Red Brigades? Both were
defeated in their countries without those governments having to resort to state
terrorism - although some suspicions arose in respect to prisoners who
committed suicide in Germany. And in Spain, the U.K., France, Belgium etc.
But enough recollecting. We are now faced with Islamist
fundamentalism, the consequences of which are being suffered both within and
outside their countries of origin. What to do? Obviously, we should try eliminating
what is at the root of what motivates the fundamentalists, listen to their
complaints and grievances, and avoid provocations that provide them with
excuses for clinging to their seditious activity; while at the same time,
strengthening the elements of society that most effectively serve to inhibit this
dreadful activity - and without the state itself acting like a terrorist.
There is no alternative but to continue training special
forces and spending huge sums of money to confront these dangerous and
delusional misfits that all too often are well trained and better motivated.
Free and open societies not only spark feelings of envy and hatred, but because
of these characteristics, become easy prey to these disturbed individuals.
Public officials salute the American flag at a ceremony at
the Boston
Marathon blast site on Boylston Street, between Dartmouth and Exeter
Streets, near the finish line of the marathon, April 22.
The European Union enacted police and judicial cooperation in
the Treaty of Maastricht, and the results can be seen in the steady erosion of
the Basque organization ETA,
since the French began firmly supporting the Spanish authorities. In the Middle
East, the difficult and never-ending conflict between Palestine and Israel is at
the root of many problems, deaths and attacks, and the . complicated consequences
of the conflict with Iran have even had an impact on Argentina, where criminal
attacks remain unresolved [the AMIA
bombing - an attack on a local Jewish organization]. The agenda is a
lengthy one.
At all costs, these acts of murder must be avoided, the activities
that mobilize these ideologues curbed, and the guilty parties punished and made
examples of. With good grace, we must resign ourselves to the inconveniences
that we as citizens must endure, such as an erosion of civil liberties, privacy,
and respect for individual rights that play such a fundamental and distinctive
role in democratic societies.
This is a terrible fight against an enemy in the shadows.
