The Virginia Monologues

Colombia is undergoing an interesting national conversation these days, sparked by the televised declarations of a former TV personality/ex-lover of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.

Virigina Vallejo broke her more than decade-long silence last week when videotaped declarations she made about Escobar and the Colombian political class were broadcast on national TV. During the nearly five-hour long tape,(parts of which were broadcast) Vallejo talks about her love affair with the notorious cartel chief (as well as her relationship with another drug lord, former Cali cartel capo Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela.)

But that's not the good stuff. Vallejo accuses former Justice Minister and senator Alberto Santofimio, Escobar's political godfather, of being the "intellectual author" of the 1989 killing of a beloved presidential candidate, Luis Carlos Galan.

Vallejo said that if Santofimio, who is on trial for ordering the assassination of Galan, gets off "it would be like murdering Galan twice."

Vallejo says she decided to come forward after she saw the Galan family on TV during the trial of Santofimio several weeks ago. Vallejo said that if Santofimio, who is on trial for ordering the assassination of Galan, gets off "it would be like murdering Galan twice." Vallejo declares she heard Santofimio on at least three occasions speak to Escobar of the need to "neutralize" Galan, who Santofimio said was a threat to their plans to turn Colombia into a narco-state.
"This man is a killer," Vallejo said in the tape, as she pointed to a photograph of Santofimio in El Tiempo. "The only thing he didn't do was pull the trigger."

Salacious accusations aside, what I find truly fascinating about all this is the discussion going on in the Colombian press and media and society about Vallejo's role and whether or not her declarations should be admissible as evidence against Santofimio. (Proceedings had actually closed 10 days before the declarations were aired.) Few question the veracity of the declarations. The discussion is more about Colombia's recent past. And what I wonder is whether or not Colombians are ready to revisit it just yet. Some seem to want to. Is this Colombia's version of an ad hoc Truth and Reconciliation commission of the narco-terrorism that reigned from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s? The violence began with the murder of Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, who supported extradition of drug traffickers, and it continued with the taking of the Palace of Justice and murder of most of the justices of the high court. Then bombings which killed hundreds, the murder of over 2,000 policemen in Medellin, the bombing of an Avianca flight in 1989 which killed all aboard...the period ended, it is safe to say, in 1993, shortly before the killing of Escobar. So violent. So much needless loss of life. Such a hate-filled time. How did it all happen? Why couldn't it have been contained? The reason may lie in the coziness between the politcal class and the narcos, and those in civil society who turned a blind eye to drugtrafficking, corruption and an ever weakening justice system.

Are Colombians ready to examine their and their leaders roles in this horrific period? Perhaps this national conversation has already begun.