An Indian spiritual leader’s peace tour of South America is viewed with interest by Washington as New Delhi’s unique, probably difficult, effort to cleanse a sizeable portion of Latin America from drugs and deaths.
The eight nation tour of Indian wellness guru, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who has had considerable success in bringing the warring factions in Columbia to a globally-hailed truce, is the first ever initiative by an Indian to stem violence in Central America, considered one of the most dangerous regions in the world engulfed with bloodshed.
The 10 day tour will take Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to Mexico, Brazil, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Venezuela and Brazil.
“The humanitarian impacts have become increasingly obvious,” the wellness leader said before leaving for Bogota, the capital city of Colombia.
In Bogota, the Indian guru met up with former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe, who had once opposed the peace talks but later bought into ideas offered by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a meeting with the current president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Juan Santos is slated for December 1, 2016.
Western diplomats in New Delhi argue the Indian spiritual leader’s attempt could be one of the toughest undertaken in recent time in Central America’s Northern Triangle – encompassing El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras – which is one of the most violent regions in the world outside of a war zone. For the last two decades, transnational gangs or maras have proliferated in the wake of decades of civil war. “They are largely responsible for a per capita death rate that rivals Syria. If this works, this could be a huge transformation in the region,” said one diplomat.
The visit is also monitored by the Ministry of External Affairs, Indian ambassadors in the region are expected to attend the meetings and offer their interpretation of its impact in the region.
During his meetings, the wellness guru is expected to meet politicians, address business leaders and even meet drug lords and gangsters in prison. His Art of Living volunteers are expected to conduct meditation clinics and peace camps in soccer fields, neighbourhoods that have been carved up into “territories” by rival gangs, and schools where kidnapping and recruitments by gangs go hand in hand.
“We look to him to help us replace guns with peace,” Mexico City mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said while briefing journalists about Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s peace process. Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto, claimed Mancera, is keen to meet the Indian leader and experience his peace programme that brought considerable success in Colombia.
The Igarapé Institute, a Brazil-based think tank that focuses on security issues, says it will view Ravi Shankar’s visit to Brazil with interest because there is very slow recognition of Northern Triangle’s epidemic of violence that has already displaced over 30 million people. “There’s still a slow recognition of the scale and magnitude of the problem,” the institute’s director, Robert Muggah, was quoted by www.irinnews.org. The Igarapé Institute’s projections suggest that homicide rates in the Northern Triangle will continue to rise over the next 20 years, even as they fall in other parts of the world. “This creates a conundrum for the humanitarian community,” Muggah was quoted by the portal.
The Indian wellness leader’s proposed meeting with gang leaders in some of the top prisons in San Salvador will be a first-time initiative and witnessed by a host of Western ambassadors based in the region, some shown interest to witness the talks.
Also joining them will be members of the International Committee of Red Cross that runs programmes providing assistance to people affected by armed violence.
After all, no one expected an Indian spiritual leader to take the tough walk in what many consider as death land.
Courtesy: The Times of India