‘Our dignity does not come from another nation’

“Uribe’s security policy is a threat,” says Francisco de Roux, the Jesuits’ provincial superior for Colombia

By Fernando Arellano Ortiz

Cronicon, special to Argenpress.info

“Colombia is a failed nation that is living through a deep crisis of humanity and dignity. That is why we have the wrong idea that dignity will come to us from the protection afforded by another nation, or from arms, or from the security of the state,” said the provincial superior of the Society of Jesus in Colombia, Francisco de Roux Rengifo.

The Jesuit priest analyzed the Colombian reality from the viewpoint of human dignity, the armed conflict and the ruling economic model. He said Colombia can emerge from its political, ethical, social and institutional morass if it manages to improve the living conditions of its population through the construction of citizenship, democracy, social development and a deep respect for human dignity.

His message was emphatic. “Dignity exists in every person as an absolute value, always. Dignity does not depend on the social system and is not received from the state or any national, global, religious or secular institution. Dignity exists simply because we’re humans and it cannot be violated by any institution. Dignity cannot be increased.

“The dignity of people does not increase through the economic growth of a country or by the studies a person makes, or because people inhabit an international power. Nor does it decrease because people live in a poor country. Dignity cannot be developed. What is developed are the conditions for each person to protect and freely express his own dignity, in whatever manner he wants to live this absolute value.

“Those conditions are the economic, social, cultural, environmental and gender rights converted into reality, in whatever manner the people in a community may decide.”

De Roux graduated in Philosophy and Letters from Javerian University in 1968. Later, he earned a Master’s degree in Economics at the University of the Andes in Bogotá. In 1973, he began his studies in theology and was ordained a priest in 1975. He worked at the People’s Center for Research and Education (CINEP) in Bogotá, promoting community enterprises and doing research.

In 1980, he earned his doctorate in Economics at the Sorbonne in Paris; one year later, he got a Master’s degree in that discipline at the London School of Economics.

He had a leadership role and was a key player in negotiations for reconciliation and social promotion as the director of the Program of Development and Peace in Magdalena Medio, a very troubled region in the eastern center of Colombia. He has received several awards, including the Knight of Honor of the French Legion, presented to him by President François Mitterrand, and the National Peace Prize in 2001. Since October 2008, he has been the Jesuits’ provincial superior in Colombia.

A deep humanitarian crisis

Given his wide experience in conciliation in one of the most troubled regions of Colombia, De Roux opines that “peace will be possible if people can be developed into dignity, through processes amid the conflict. You have to transform each conflict into projects to attack the structural causes of the conflict, with a view to making the transformations.”

His diagnosis of the country is worrisome. “Colombia is going through a very profound humanitarian crisis,” he says. “There is a breakdown of the human being, which ends up affecting the international community. At the same time, there is an ethical problem, which makes it even more urgent to validate human dignity. That’s the reason why this country receives more international aid than any other country in Latin America.

“It is the government that must protect and guarantee people’s dignity, so it is necessary and a priority to generate the conditions so the people may choose the way to live with dignity,” he adds.

Nevertheless, he assigns to all Colombians their quota of responsibility. “All of us in Colombia are responsible for what we have done or have failed to do.”

The economic model of plunder

De Roux also criticized Colombia’s economic model, which he described as “primary exploitation” and the plunder of natural resources. On the contrary, what’s needed is an effective model of social development in harmony with the environment, he said. This way, “the kind of life desired by the people will be produced, and everyone will be involved in the progress of each region, creating a collective confidence.”

In that sense, and following the Constitutional precepts of the 1991 Charter, Colombia should be developed and governed by regions, so as to improve its chances for democracy and citizen participation, something it has failed to do, De Roux said.

The priest praised the political and administrative experience of Bogotá, where advancements have been made in the culture and coexistence of the people, even though it is a capital affected by the domestic conflict. The city’s leadership “must be the engine of peace in the whole country,” he said.

‘Democratic security,’ words of fear

Asked by Cronicon (Sociopolitical Observatory of Latin America) if Colombia is a failed state, De Roux said: “I believe it goes deeper; I believe we’re looking at a failed nation. We Colombians have not managed to resolve the problem of the construction of a nation by its citizens. The construction of a state is very precarious and if we don’t start from the foundation, such as the basic principles of public ethics, we’ll always find fragility in the constitutional elaborations we develop, and we’ll see cracks in the public authorities we designate.”

Asked about the controversial topic of the military bases that Colombia has turned over to the United States, the Ignatian priest said that “it is connected to the national dignity and posits the situation of men and women who don’t acknowledge our own grandeur, our own autonomy, our sovereignty, who don’t see that our major worth is the human grandeur we share and must protect.

“We have the wrong idea that our dignity will come from the protection afforded by another nation, or from arms, or from the security of the state. No, [dignity] is ours and we have to form a sovereign state and protect it,” he said.

De Roux criticized President Uribe’s policy of “democratic security,” which he described as “a speech of fear, because it pretends that some Colombians should protect themselves behind the weapons of other Colombians, and that constitutes a threat.”

After pointing out that the national budget for 2010 allows for more weapons than education, the priest said that such an allotment will contribute to deepen “the war between Colombians.”