Dutch FARC guerrilla still alive, Colombians say

Two Dutch women have been trying to fight against social injustice in Colombia. Their very different paths almost crossed.

Two committed Dutch women play two very different roles in the battle between the Colombian government and the guerrilla movement FARC. One of them, 32-year-old Tanja Nijmeijer, travelled to the Latin American country and decided to fight the injustices she saw by taking up arms. By contrast, 66-year-old Liduine Zumpolle, has dedicated herself to demobilising the Colombian guerrillas. For a Dutch documentary, Zumpolle reluctantly agreed to help find FARC guerrillera Nijmeijer, whom no one has heard from in three years

Tanja Nijmeijer made headlines in July 2007 when her diary was found during a military raid of her FARC camp, and excerpts were published in the Colombian daily, El Tiempo. She had written about being homesick, and expressed criticism of the movement. She might indirectly have signed her death verdict, experts said, because outing the FARC like that could surely get her killed by members of her own group. But Nijmeijer is still alive, reveals a Dutch documentary, due to be aired next Tuesday.

High-ranked Colombian military officers and FARC deserters have told filmmaker Leo de Boer that Nijmeijer is hiding in the jungle in the south-east of Colombia. She is said to be working as an assistant to rebel leader Mono Jojoy, who commands the local division of the movement there. The reports are a first sign of life from Nijmeijer, who has not been in touch with her family back in the Netherlands since the publication of her diary. "Because of her Dutch nationality, both the FARC and her military opponents consider her a special case," Zumpolle told De Boer.

Similarities and differences

There are some similarities between Nijmeijer and Zumpolle: they both first visited Colombia as young women and were struck by the enormous differences between rich and poor in the country of 45 million.

In 2001, Nijmeijer and fellow Europeans participated in the so-called Carvana por la vida, an event organised by FARC sympathisers. Struck by the social squalour in Colombia, she decided to stay and work as a teacher there. In 2002, she disappeared into the jungle to join the FARC's armed struggle.

Zumpolle first visited Colombia in the 1960s, the decade the FARC was established as a Marxist liberation movement. Since the 1980s, however, the organisation has mainly occupied itself by trading cocaine. Zumpolle worked for the Catholic aid organisation Pax Christi, before setting up her own NGO, Manos por la Paz (Hands for Peace), three years ago. She travels through the country in an armoured car, escorted by Colombian bodyguards, to help demobilise guerrilla fighters.

Both women now star in a 90 minute documentary made by Leo de Boer. He went looking for Nijmeijer and asked Zumpolle to be his guide because of her excellent contacts with the Colombian army. In the film, FARC sympathisers and former members of the movement paint a picture of Tanja Nijmeijer. A former recruiter of foreign fighters for the FARC, Felipe, said Nijmeijer found a young communist boyfriend when she first came to Colombia. "He wasn't revolutionary or radical enough for her," Felipe said. "'I want to be one of the real fighters. I want to fight. I want to be where the action is,' she said."

Not one ounce of respect

The documentary shows Zumpolle's deep contempt for guerrillera Nijmeijer. "She is a very insecure, emotionally unstable girl. A vegan animal rights activist from dreary Groningen [the northern Dutch town Nijmeijer studied in]," Zumpolle said. She thinks Nijmeijer was tempted by "leftist, salsa-dancing, hash-smoking Colombians". She fell for "a political pimp," said Zumpolle. In the Netherlands, Nijmeijer must have been "a rebel without a cause", Zumpolle ventured, but in Colombia, her life suddenly became exciting. "I don't have one ounce of respect for her. It is stupid and criminal. She is a very dumb girl."

It was Zumpolle who made intimate parts of Nijmeijer's diary public after the El Tiempo scoop in 2007. She believed the impact this could have to "stop others from falling into the same trap," weighed heavier than Nijmeijer's privacy. "We have no need for people like her in Colombia," Zumpolle said.

Tanja Nijmeijer's mother, Hannie, also features in the documentary. It is the first time she speaks publicly out about how her daughter's escapades govern her life. Every morning, Hannie scans Colombian newspapers online to look for news on the FARC, which she runs through Google's translation service. "We gave her a normal childhood," the mother told filmmaker De Boer. "It is driving us crazy to think about her being in the woods out there."

Failed to make contact

At the initiative of De Boer, Hannie Nijmeijer and Liduine Zumpolle went into the jungle together looking for Tanja. "I became a mediator between women who cannot stand each other," De Boer said.

It was the second time Tanja's mother came to Colombia. In 2005, with FARC’s permission, she secretly visited her daughter in her guerrilla camp. She went back to that place this year, but it was now under control of the Colombian army. Tanja's unit – Estado Mayor de Bloque Oriental – is said to be hiding in the woods somewhere nearby. When a soldier proudly told Hannie Nijmeijer the army had seized food supplies from the FARC, the mother got upset. "If Tanja dies of hunger, it will be your fault," she countered.

The military officials in the documentary gave the impression the battle against the FARC has almost been won. A general told De Boer in January that Nijmeijer could probably get away from the movement, because of the diminished control of the FARC. But there is no evidence Nijmeijer ever tried escape. And the Dutch search team failed to make contact with her.

Zumpolle still can't bring herself to understand her compatriot. "It remains retarded that she joined the FARC," Zumpolle said. "We are both committed to social injustice in Colombia, but armed conflict is not an option for me. Violence only means more misery for these people."