David McKechnie – Colombia’s War: Dutch Woman’s Journey from Fighter to Negotiator | The Young Woman spent a Decade Sleeping Outdoors, and Training in Bomb Making and Weapons
Tanja Niemeijer ijn Battle Green (foto Parool.nl)
Tanja | Een Nederlandse bij de FARC (foto Bol.com)
FARC Woman Warrior. Tanja Niemeijer (foto buendianoticia.com)
Voormalig Guerilla Strijder Tanja Nijmeijer komt naar Nederland (foto NU.nl)
La Vida No Es Facil (foto librosyletras.com)
Alexandra Narino FARC Rebel AKA Tanje Nijmeijer (foto La Hora)
Tanja (foto Al Tiempo)
Tanja Nijmeijer gearriveerd op Cuba (foto TC Tubantia)
Horoscoop Tanka Nijmeijeir (foto Astrodienst)
Colombia’s War: Dutch Woman’s Journey from Fighter to Negotiator | The Young Woman spent a Decade Sleeping Outdoors, and Training in Bomb Making and Weapons
Tanja Niemeijer, a Dutch Born FARC Guerrilla who was on the Insurgent Group’s Negotiating Team during Peace Talks in Havana, Photographed in Bogotá, Colombia, earlier this year. (foto David McKechnie)
Tanja Nijmeijer (foto periodicolaultima.com)
Flag of the FARC EP (foto Wikipedia)
Revolutionary Armed Forces orf Colombia (FARC) Insurgents (foto Wikipedia)
Colombian Army Killing FARC Troops (foto Scott Dalton m| AP | Shutterstokc | Salon.com)
La Guerrillera Holandesa (foto wiesubags.wordpress.com)
It says something for the Trajectory of Tanja Nijmeijer’s Life that her Role as one of Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia Ejército del Pueblo (FARC)’s Principal Negotiators in Havana is One of The things for which she is least Well Known. Long before the Peace Talks, international Media were Enthralled by the Mystery and Contradictions of the Pretty, Educated, Middle Class Young Woman from a Small Dutch Town who ran away with the FARC in 2002 and Disappeared into the Jungle.
Nijmeijer, now 38, hasn’t been back in The Netherlands since she went to her Grandfather’s Funeral that year. Does she miss it? “Sometimes I do, especially the Language, my Family of course, friends, the Landscapes. Also the iIiosyncrasies, like the Character of the Dutch People, which is Very Different from the Colombian People. Dutch People are Very Direct. I’ve had a Lot of Problems Here in This Country with my Straightforwardness.”
Tanja Nijmeijer, in Vereda La Elvira, Colombia. “At the Beginning you get Sacred by every Aeroplane that comes by.” (foto Kaveh Kazemi)
The Extent of the Progress that Colombia and Nijmeijer have made is illustrated by the Slight Irony in her Choice of Meeting Place: the fFont Terrace of a Small Budget Hotel near the US Embassy in Bogotá. In December 2010, Nijmeijer was iIndicted in a US Court for her Alleged Role in the Kidnapping of Three US Ministry of Defence Workers and Interpol issued a Warrant for her Arrest. But Four Years of Successful Peace Talks in Havana have Rehabilitated Many Reputations. Days after we Speak, Nijmeijer and other High Profile FARC Members are Well Heeled Guests at the Opening of a Peace Themed Film Festival in Cartagena.
Post Guerrilla Life
The Transition to a Post Guerrilla Life may present Fewer Problems for someone so Accustomed to Self Transformation as well as the Limelight. When Nijmeijer’s Diary was Found during the Raid of a Rebel Camp in 2007, it caused a Sensation in Colombia and the Netherlands, above all for her
In one Entry, she wrote: “I’m tired. Tired of FARC. Tired of People. Tired of Living Together.” In another she wondered whether, if the FARC Managed to Achieve Power, would “the Girlfriends of the Comrades [be seen] in Ferrari Testarossas with Breast Implants and Eating Caviar?”
The Scandal raised Speculation that Nijmeijer was being Held Against her Will, but In a Belligerent Video Message in 2010 she said that any Prospective Government Rescue party would be met “With AK47‘s, Bazooka’s, Mines, Mortars, Everything”. A Book and Documentary about herl Life emerged, including a Tantalising Recording of her Singing and Playing Don’t Cry For Me Argentina in the Jungle, Dedicated to her Parents. Not long after, when Her Camp was Raided by Colombian Forces, it was unclear whether Nijmeijer had Lived or Died. “My Mum said that was Something Terrible,” she says. “She almost had a Heart Attack.”
The Dilemma for her Family lay not only in Fears for Nijmeijer’s Wellbeing but their Lack of Sympathy for her Cause. “She’s a Member of an Organisation that Takes Hostages and Deals in Drugs, there’s No Denying that,” her Aunt, Mariette Olde Dubbelink, told the New York Times in early 2010, speaking on Behalf of the Family.
Inequality
Nonetheless, Nijmeijer maintains that their Support since she joined the FARC, inspired by “the Fever of the Revolution” After Witnessing the Extent of Inequality in the Country during a year there as a Wide Eyed 19 Year Old English Teacher, has been Without Conditions or Judgment. “They really Respect what I’m doing – they don’t agree with the FARC, they don’t agree with Violence as a Means of Defending Yourself, but they do respect the Decisions I have made. They have Always Said That.”