Mono Jojoy, also known as Jorge Briceño, whose real name was Víctor Julio Suárez Rojas, was the military commander and No. 2 man of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). He was killed on Sept. 21 by the Colombian military during a raid on his terrorist camp.
The Colombian authorities have released a video of Mono Jojoy addressing the FARC troops 20 days before his death at one of their main camps on the occasion of welcoming new initiates (h/t Shane). Here is the video:
My translation (if you use the translation, please credit me and link to this post):
"If the comrades Marulanda and Jacobo, for the political circumstances in this country, made the political decision to organize this guerrilla army, [it was] due to causes that justify the existence of this guerrilla.It is a very interesting speech, which casts a few revealing glimpses into the mind of a sociopath."Because of that, being a guerrilla is the highest responsibility.
"What we do here is to shape, to improve the character, the thinking, of people coming from a capitalist society, a gossipy society. We, men and women who integrate this army, do it because we had no other opportunity, not because we are violent. We say, let's talk, but they don't pay attention. They want the peace of the kneeling, and that's not us.
"We respect ourselves to be respected. We're not going to spend 50 years to say that the armed struggle is useless.
"That's what I wanted to tell you today. Thank you comrades."
Fausta Wertz blogs at Fausta's blog.
