PRAY FOR COLOMBIA

I must confess that when writing about my native country of Colombia, the
mind cedes control of the pen to the caring but unreliable hands of the
emotions. Words then flow from the heart, for as my colleague Catherine
Lazers Bauer tells us, the mind forgets, but the heart remembers. As I
write today, my heart is heavy with sadness as I look at the grip of
violence choking Colombia.

From a population of 40 million, the oldest democracy in Latin America is
losing 28,000 of her children to violent death every year. An internal
conflict pitting leftist guerrillas against the government and
paramilitaries rages like an inferno out of control, fueled by drug money.
The conflict leaves in its wake the devastation of 70 percent of the
world's kidnappings and 56 percent of the world's terrorist acts. Not to
mention the reckless depredation of the one- third of the world's
biodiversity that lives within Colombia's borders. Meanwhile, the world
looks askance, and, as Colombian journalist Maria Isabel Rueda put it,
"Colombia cries alone."

Having left Colombia as a young graduate of the School of Veterinary
Medicine and Animal Husbandry at the University of Caldas, I settled in the
Denver area with my American bride and infant daughter. Falling in love
with the region, and with the warm embrace of my wife's family and others,
I made this town and this country my new home where I have grown deep and
strong roots. After nearly 32 years of hard work and many rewards, my love
and gratitude for this nation are exceeded only by my unwavering loyalty.
But, as with most immigrants who leave their native countries as adults, a
big part of me remained in Colombia.

And how could it have been otherwise? My mother, father and all my siblings
stayed behind. Behind were also the memories of a happy and peaceful
childhood, which, while short on material possessions, was blessed
abundantly with the love and affection of family and friends. Those
memories were also shaped and buoyed by the daily presence of what National
Geographic has described as the second most beautiful views in the world.

But alas, as Colombia inaugurates a new administration laden with lofty
expectations for ending the conflict, I can only cast a prayerful glance to
the heavens for their help and guidance to President Alvaro Uribe, for only
divine intervention might be able to bring peace to my much-loved ancestral
land and her people.

Mixed with prayers are my lamentations for what could have been and wasn't.
Considered an emerging tiger in Latin America through the '70s, Colombia
began her journey of self-destruction by becoming a drug-trafficking nation
in the later part of the decade. As Colombian Nobel Prize winner Gabriel
Garcia Marquez wrote, "drug trafficking injected Colombia with the worst
kind of drug - easy money."

And, adding insult to injury, the international media, especially the
American, found in Colombia an easy target on which to unload our own
frustrations with our growing drug problem.

As I pray for the safety of my loved ones, I also join the millions of
Colombians who hope that negotiations will ease the long night of conflict
into a lasting dawn of peace. With peace spreading her wings over her
territory, Colombia would then have the opportunity to welcome the millions
of visitors from around the world eager to visit her and admire her awesome
beauty.

The world would then delight in the beauty of places such as Cartagena de
Indias, considered the loveliest Spanish colonial enclave in the world, and
designated by the United Nations as one of the jewels of the world. Or fill
their senses to the brim by watching the sun retire in an explosion of five
colors over Cao Cristales, deemed the most beautiful river on Earth, to
mention just a couple.

And as visitors bask in the splendor of her geography, they would without a
doubt discover Colombia's greatest beauty - the warmth and goodness of more
than 90 percent of her people.

Dr. Delio D. Tamayo-Gomez is a veterinarian in Aurora. An immigrant from
Colombia, he is a naturalized U.S. citizen and registered for the draft
during the Vietnam War.