by Deborah Munoz
If you stand against terrorism, you might want to pass on a Big Mac and Coca-Cola next time you crave fast food.
Yes, I know. Free market believers and conservatives should never tell others what to buy, what to eat or where to shop. However, 120 companies – including McDonald’s International Corporation and Coca-Cola FEMSA – have signed on to a program in Colombia called “Soy Capaz” (translated – “I am capable”). Capable of what? Apparently, capable of forgiving terrorists. This program is being pushed by the current leftist regime of President Juan Manuel Santos. The Soy Capaz program is nothing less than appeasement of narco-terrorists, with Santos advocating for peace at all costs, including open negotiations with the terrorist group FARC. This group has terrorized, kidnapped and murdered countless people, including Americans, over the last 50 years. FARC is also largely responsible for aiding the cartels that engage in drug smuggling and human trafficking in other Latin American countries as well as the United States.
If you are surprised by the news of Ronald McDonald and the Coke bears sullied images because you have not heard this in the mainstream media, don’t be. McDonald’s and Coca-Cola’s alliance with this appeasement effort hasn’t been reported in the English-speaking press and the Spanish-speaking press is slanting and spinning “Soy Capaz” as a reasonable effort for Colombia to finally have internal peace through open dialogue – with terrorists. Those who support “Soy Capaz” are vilifying Alvaro Uribe Velez, the former Colombian President who fought FARC and is by far the closest leader to Ronald Reagan that Latin America has ever had. Santos, the current President, has reversed the significant progress that Alvaro Uribe made in his fight against the FARC. Santos also allied with the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez and sadly led Colombia down a slope towards weakening the country’s security while favoring Chavez’s style of socialism.
Can you imagine what would happen if Coca-Cola or McDonald’s sponsored an organization or initiative with the goal of entering into a dialogue with ISIS or Al Qaeda? It would be front page news across the country and they’d swiftly back out. That’s essentially what is happening here. FARC is the ISIS of Colombia. They are vicious and unforgiving. They murder people by cutting their throats. They consorted with Chavez and also with Al-Qaeda.
One of the best publicized stories about FARC’s brutality involved three kidnapped American military contractors in Colombia. They survived to tell the tale of being chained like dogs, fearing for their lives in the jungles while being terrorized by their FARC captors for five and a half long years from 2003 to 2008. Remember their names – Marc Gonsalves, Tom Howes, and Keith Stansell – and the trauma they may never fully recover from. For those who have forgotten their story, here it is again for you. We do as Americans often tend to have a short memory for news, especially bad news, but we owe it to the victims of FARC to never forget.
And in what is unfortunately an all too common bit of irony, even TIME Magazine reported their terrifying story – but they’re now a misguided corporate sponsor of “Soy Capaz.”
Should McDonald’s Corporation International and Coca-Cola FEMSA be part of the corporate sponsorship for “Soy Capaz?” That is entirely their choice. At the same time, it’s also our choice whether to buy their products. We all have plenty of choices when it comes to cheap burgers and fries, so keep this in mind the next time you’re in the mood for food and choose one of their competitors. We all have choices. If you are tempted to reach for a Big Mac and Coke, ask yourself whose side these corporations are on. Freedom and liberty or tyranny? Standing with Juan Manuel Santos and “Soy Capaz” is standing for appeasement of terrorists and socialism.
It’s your buck. You earned it. Please think about where you really want to spend it.
After all, “you are what you eat.”
Deborah Munoz is a well known Republican activist and small business owner in Prince William County.
