An Assessment of the Main Players. Not One Crisis but Several
It has been, among other things, also a crisis of language. Words more than once broke the relative fidelity they should maintain with the facts. Néstor Cerpa speaking of "the detained gentlemen" when referring to the hostages. Government authorities trying to conceal with the word "conversations" the reality of the negotiations. All of us speaking of a "peaceful solution" to refer to a dialogue heavily laden with assault rifles and grenades. And the designation "hostage crisis" for an event that condensed many other crises, errors, and shortcomings of all the actors involved. Perhaps the first lesson we should draw from this event is how banal it is to disguise facts with phrases.