My first topic of interest is the formation and history of FARC, a guerrilla movement in Colombia, that just disarmed this year, becoming a legal political party. They have roots in rural poor areas, forming during the Cold War as a communist group. In Colombia there are mixed views about them, as many urban and upperclass people don’t support the FARC as they often kidnap and ransom people, as well as commit acts of domestic terrorism. However, the government is pretty corrupt in Colombia, begging the question of whether they’re freedom fighters or terrorists. I hope to learn more about the cultural divide on FARC and urban versus rural perspectives in Colombia. Wikipedia’s page is very detailed on FARC, and there are several articles on Credo. Here’s a link to an article I read in May about the disarmament of FARC.

My second topic of interest is the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and the role of the American Red Cross. The Red Cross lied about the extent of their relief efforts, and what they did with the funds that they raised. This incident illustrates the role that America has had in Latin America, often with a savior complex that ends up being damaging to Latin America. So I would like to investigate the relief efforts in Haiti and how they’re recovering. Wikipedia has a good starting point of information, but obviously this topic is pretty narrow and there isn’t a wikipedia page for this specifically. There were a few interesting looking articles on credo, but barely any relevant ones.