Gaddafi is down

On the Revolution of  Ideas!

After months of pursuing and following the lead of the ex-Libyan leader , finally, today, the rebels found the former Dictator and killed him. He was shot by the rebels who found him. After weeks and months of negotiations and failed peace talks Gaddafi is now history. After watching the images of his body and the cruelty used to show his body to the public as if they were showing an animal, I can only think that if Gaddafi had listened or negotiated, he would have been alive today enjoying his wealth and safe. However, Gaddafi chose the hard way and after the Arab spring began, he decided to kill his own people. Today, we saw how those actions backfired and finally led to his death. The rebels were seeking to kill him and destroy his empire which had been in power for decades and had cause the lives of thousands.Gaddafi's death sends a clear message to leaders like Hugo Chavez.If he continues down the same path, he will face the same fate.

Gaddafi is down and now Libya gets the opportunity to move forward, to show the world that they can govern themselves without allowing another dictatorship to rise to power ever again. Libya and its people must move ahead into a democratic government, for the people and supported by the people. Libya can't afford to have another leader like Gaddafi. The country has a lot of reconstruction to do, and a lot of progress to do in order to allow all its people to enjoy all the benefits of the enormous natural resources that it has. It is important to put those resources into generating social development which today is essential in Libya. The wealth in Libya has been in the hands of a few people ,which only included the ones close to Gaddafi, since the rest of the population did not have access to much of Libya' s wealth.

Gaddafi made many mistakes in the end, but his biggest mistake was not leaving power when he still had a chance. Moreover he began killing people who opposed his government and that put the eyes of the international community on Libya. Once the world was aware of what was going on in Libya and the crimes against humanity being committed there, then Gaddafi became a target and the rebels began to get help from the world which was the beginning of the end for Gaddafi. One of the best decisions made by the west was not to send ground troops into Libya. This was a great call since that would have made even much more difficult to destroy Gaddafi. But in the end, the rebels with the help of the west were able to destroy Gaddafi's regime and bring him down.

What follows after Gaddafi's death is a strong support of the international community to its people and government. The rebels must surrender all weapons used to defeat Gaddafi, otherwise a civil war can erupt between those who supported Gaddafi and the rebels. A follow up on this is very important to avoid any further bloodshed. It is essential that Libya builds a strong government where everyone can participate and enjoy the liberties and freedoms of democracy. Its not clear when Libya will elect a new leader, but looking to the future it has to be someone that all Libyans support ,which will enable the country to heal its wounds, and finally have a strong nation were its population can enjoy the benefits of its wealth.

Gaddafi is down, and we hope that now we can move forward in rebuilding Libya.

Cristhian Mancera Mejia
Director
LaTribunacolus