A Shot of Hope for Colombia

The English-language media in the United States largely ignored the Copa America, soccer’s oldest tournament, which concluded this week. That is not so unusual. Futbol has never quite caught on as a major sport in this country. But the tournament of Latin American national teams was an important and encouraging event for Americans and others because of where it was held: violence-ravaged Colombia.

For almost three weeks, fans all over Latin America, and those who follow soccer on the Spanish-language media in this country, kept close track of games played in three Colombian cities. The tournament culminated Sunday when Colombia’s national team won the Copa America by defeating Mexico 1 to 0.

The results were less important than the fact that during the tournament Colombia managed to host 12 teams and their fans with no major incident of violence or terrorism. The daily quota of bad news coming out of that country lessened considerably. Indeed, even common crime fell in Cali, Barranquilla and Medellin, where most of the games were played.

Staging the tournament in Colombia was not easy. Early this year a car bomb exploded in Medellin. Soon thereafter a bomb went off in Cali. Just a few days before the tournament was to begin, the head of the organizing committee was kidnapped by guerrillas.

Some of the countries that were scheduled to participate were scared away and decided not to play. And for a few anguished days it seemed that the South American soccer confederation would take the tournament to another country. But Colombian President Andres Pastrana fought hard to keep the tournament in his nation.

The event went off without a hitch, and for 18 days there was healthy athletic competition and, for the most part, peace. “Maybe,” mused a proud Colombian fan after the tournament, “this is the beginning of something good.” Here’s hoping.