Walking Ghosts

During a peace accord with the Colombian government in the early 1980’s, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Colombia’s largest guerrilla group, established the Patriotic Union party (UP). The party, created after decades of civil war, was intended to be a means through which the FARC rebels could ingratiate themselves into the nation’s political mainstream. However, the UP, like the peace process, would be short-lived. Acting out of fear and vengeance, right-wing paramilitary groups working closely with government officials and personnel assassinated thousands of UP members, decimating the party and extinguishing nascent efforts toward national harmony. In `Walking Ghosts’ Steven Dudley, a journalist who lived in Colombia for five years, expertly chronicles the life and death of the UP through stories of the politicians, drug kingpins, revolutionaries, and mercenaries who play key roles in Colombia’s civil strife. Dudley maps out the complicated and murderous absurdity that is present-day Colombia, where daily life has devastating consequences: 30,000 murders per year; seventy-five political assassinations per week; ten kidnappings a day. As the conflict gets bloodier, international pressure and influence mounts: Worried about the FARC’s strength and its role in the drug trade, the United States has recently sent close to two billion dollars in aid to help the Colombian government fight FARC. Steven Dudley seeks to make sense of this conflict by focusing on the stories of key actors in the struggle, from the earliest days to the present. He has seen the civil war up close: dead bodies; paramilitaries; guerrillas; victims; and survivors. He has witnessed political parties grappling for power by any means necessary, and he’s spoken to all sides and asked the difficult questions.