The Flight of the Condor: Stories of Violence and War from Colombia

My Father Was Blue

My Father Was Blue Nicolás Suescún Red or blue? In Colombia, the color red has traditionally been associated with liberals and the Colombian Liberal Party, which in political jargon is—or was—progressive, freethinking, and left of center. Associated with those right of center, blue has been the color of the conservatives and the Conservative Party of Colombia, of the status quo, of centralized regimes intent on “law and order,” regimes often allied with the Catholic Church hierarchy. The time came, however, when this nomenclature ceased in large part to be a matter of ideology or political convictions. One was born blue or red by tradition, family, or inertia. One lived as blue or red with many of the consequences and in some areas with its horrific implications . And sometimes one was even buried blue or red; some Colombian towns particularly ravaged by the violence went so far as to have separate cemeteries for liberals and conservatives. Nicolás Suescún’s story reveals a critical moment in this division when a group of hot-headed troublemakers from one of the two political parties appears in a town like any other and demands that the mayor immediately proclaim himself blue or red. My father was blue. The town mayor. One day a group of bandits that had spread panic throughout the region came to our town on sweaty and hungry horses. In the plaza they swept up enormous pillars of dust. My father came out to meet them. 29 They spoke first. “Are you blue, or red?” “I’m the mayor,” he said. “That was not the question. What we want to know is if you are our friend or our enemy.” “Why don’t we make a deal. I can help you.” “We don’t need your help. We have asked you a question. Give us an answer or consider yourself dead.” “I’m red,” he said finally, and they riddled him with bullets. “That’ll teach you, fucking red.” And since he did not die right away, they undressed him, tied him to a tree, and cut off his penis with a machete. He said, “No, no, this is all a mistake; I’m blue, blue.” “So now you change sides,” they said. “We would have killed you anyway. We don’t like mayors.” Years later, I joined them to avenge his death. I don’t like to kill old men. I prefer women and children. 30 Nicolás Suescún ...