 Good morning Welcome to those of you in the auditorium as well as those of you who are joining us by streaming whether in Colombia or elsewhere We'd like to welcome you to this engaging and interesting panel on peace proposals of victims in the Colombian armed conflict My name is George Lopez and I have the great privilege of serving as the vice president For the Academy of International Conflict Management and Peace Building here at USIP We are the education and training wing of this enterprise, which is as many of you may know is a bipartisan created but nonpartisan institution that works for the US government and for communities worldwide in Trying to mitigate Reduce and resolve violent conflict. One of the things that's most difficult in that agenda Is not only the times in which we live but what we find to be the movement from the development of an idea of peace to actually solidifying a piece of cord and Ultimately institutionalizing it so that peace emerges in a just peace kind of form Which deals with all victims of violence and the terrible tragedies that are the heritage of long-term violence. Of course when we think of the Colombian conflict We think of one of the longest-standing conflicts in the globe and the notion that we are possibly Hopefully and certainly with the energy creativity and contribution of many of our panelists here today Very close to the resolution of this conflict through a viable piece of cord that produces as much as possible Adjust peace for all concerned and finds a way to go forward in peace building is not only A high agenda item for US IP but for all actors engaged in in this struggle We at US IP have been Incredibly lucky over the past years to have as our point person in Colombian affairs, Ginny Bouvier known to many of you from her work Three decades of work in Latin America and particularly in the Colombian conflict On behalf of US IP my role is simply to welcome you and excuse myself to go to another event Unfortunately and to ask Ginny to come up But I want you to make sure you know as our good friend and colleague limps a little bit to the Microphone that the rumors that have spread that that came because of her extensive workouts with the Colombian national team during their World Cup run we've dispelled those I hope but Please join me in welcoming Ginny Bouvier and welcome to all of you from US IP Thanks so much George I've been a closet soccer fan since my daughter played Every weekend for ten years and my husband and I sat and watched her and I've been delighted to watch the World Cup series with Many of you and with those in our extended audience as well I'd like to welcome you all here today to to today's Columbia's peace forum I'm Ginny Bouvier. I'm senior program officer for Latin America here at US IP and We're pleased to host host this particular Columbia peace forum session on peace proposals from victims of Colombia's aren't armed conflict in Collaboration with the Washington office on Latin America and the Latin American working group educational fund These organizations have been steady partners in bringing the voices of Colombian civil society actors to the halls of Washington And they are sponsoring the visit of our Colombian visitors this week There have been a few changes in the program due to difficulties getting visas and shifting congressional schedules But we will nonetheless offer you a strong lineup of panelists today I'd like to say a special welcome to our two Colombian speakers Luis Fernando Arias and indigenous leader of the Conquama people and secretary general of the national organization of indigenous Colombians onique and Jose Antequera Guzmán a founder of sons and daughters for memory and against forgetting These are two organizations that are bright stars among the constellations of the many organizations working for peace in Colombia US IP has been particularly fortunate to support the hijos y hijas in their efforts to educate themselves and to create a network of young people who can bring their Experience and there are many ideas to bear for a more peaceful future in Colombia Now with the miracles of modern technology will also view a video clip sent by liberal party representative Clara Rojas Whose responsibilities as a newly elected congresswoman prevented her from joining us in person in 2002 many of you will remember Clara Rojas was kidnapped by Farke guerrillas when she was campaign manager for the Green Party Presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt After nearly six years in captivity, she was freed in 2008 and until recently was executive director of the anti kidnapping organization nongovernmental organization by East Libre On behalf of each of the sponsoring organizations here I'd like to welcome also members of the diplomatic community who are joining us including ambassador Francisco Campbell ambassador of Nicaragua before the White House Ambassador Juan Jimenez permanent representative of Peru before the OAS ambassador Diego party and ambassador of Bolivia before the OAS ambassador nilda carre ambassador of Argentina before the OAS and The many representatives of other governments from around the world Colombia Mexico Chile El Salvador among others I'd also like to welcome our virtual audience We'll be accepting your questions and comments via Twitter during the question and answer period And we'd love to know where you're calling from or where you're sending in notes from we invite our social media friends to tweet using the hashtag Columbia slash or hashtag Columbia Peace Forum the event is being webcast live in Spanish on channel one and I'm sorry in English on channel one and on channel three in Spanish It will be available in both English and Spanish on the websites of all of the sponsoring organizations Kathy ogle and Jessica Abra will provide translation for us Jimena Sanchez will a senior associate for the Andes will be moderating today's event and Lisa Hogarth Executive director at log will make final concluding remarks. I'd also like to say a special word of thanks to Natalia Oh, Yola, Natalia Tejada, Kelly Maider, Vicky Hudspeth and the PAC team and AV teams at USIP As well as to our partnering organizations, especially Adam Schaefer at Wola and Adam Omar Martinez at log And all the others who assisted in putting together this event Before turning to the film with which we'll open today's discussion Let me say just a few words about the context in which today's discussion takes place Is those of you who have been following the peace process in Columbia are aware Peace talks between the FARC and the Colombian government since late 2012 have moves steadily forward and Produced preliminary agreements on agrarian development political participation and illicit crops and drug trafficking The remaining agenda items include victims rights and ending the conflict and endorsement mechanisms for the final accord on June 7th, the Colombian government and the FARC announced a framework for addressing the issue of victims That included a joint declaration of 10 principles and they invited a delegation of victims to join the peace talks in Havana Simultaneously the parties at the table in Havana called on the UN and the National University To organize three regional forums which have taken place already in via Vicencio, Barranca, Bermeja and Barranquilla and One upcoming national forum to take place next week in Cali to collect and channel proposals from Colombia's victims Representing more than 6.6 million Colombians to the peace table in Havana Less than two weeks ago the parties established additional criteria for multiple delegations of victims to go to Havana and Called again on the UN and National University to assist They also engaged the Colombian Episcopal Conference as a guarantor for the process These two vehicles of engagement for victims the regional and national forums and the delegations of victims for the peace table to The peace table are the latest innovations from the peace table in Havana and Respond at least in part to the extraordinary Organizational capacity of some of the groups of victims in Colombia and to the desire to create a peace accord that will also lead to the reconciliation of Colombian society Ensuring that victims rights to truth justice reparations and guarantees of non repetition are satisfied Particularly in a conflict that has lasted for so many years as a universal dilemma in conflict zones around the world The question is always what happened and why who is responsible? How can amends be made and finally perhaps most importantly? How can it be prevented in the future? Victims are particularly well qualified to speak to these issues While our hearts go out to the victims whose lives have been torn asunder by war death and casualties We also remember that victims are not just victims They are as the recent declaration of principles posits citizens with rights They are stakeholders with ideas with proposals with contributions to be made They deserve to be heard and we're glad to provide this forum today in Washington Before we turn to Luis Fernando Arias Jose Antequera Guzman and Clara Rojas consales by by film We'll be showing a brief clip Under 15 minutes from a film that was made by the National Historical Memory Center the center of memory Nobo tiempo para la tristeza. There was no time for sadness This is part of the national effort in Colombia to reconstruct historical memory and to restore to the victims their dignity The film is available online at the center's website and I've put the address on your program for today Rough subtitles are provided. I would note that there is a typo in the sub in the subtitles that indicate that 20,000 people have been killed in the conflict that figures should read 220,000 Let's watch now and then I'll turn the floor over to Jimena Sanchez to introduce our speakers and continue with the program Well, that was a very sobering video Good morning to everyone. I'm Jimena Sanchez from the Washington office on Latin America. I think what we'll do now is go to Hello, good morning. I'm Jimena Sanchez from the Washington office on Latin America I think what we're gonna do now is go and listen to some of the voices of the representatives of this tragedy this Internal armed conflict that has gone on for so many decades We will start first with Luis Fernando Arias Who is the consejero mayor of the national authority for indigenous? Peoples of Colombia, which is basically the grouping of over 44 indigenous organizations throughout the territories of Colombia this Fernando is Conquamo and has himself and his family suffered greatly due to the conflict Also, he has been Unfortunately persecuted due to his really important activism on behalf of indigenous collective Land rights so with that I'm going to pass it to Luis Good morning. I would like in the name of the national indigenous organization of Colombia and the hundred indigenous peoples of our country would like to Bring you very affectionate greetings to each of the brothers and sisters who accompany us this morning as Jimena our friend told you my name is Luis Fernando Arias I am a member of the Conquamo indigenous people of the Sierra Nevada, Santa Marta one of the peoples that has had to Face the armed conflict more than many others in the last 20 years in political with political violence that is experienced in our country we had almost A decade of We had around 385 leaders that we had to bury they were assassinated May basically by paramilitary groups being supported by the Put the armed forces of the state armed forces Fortunately There have been international bodies such as the International Human Rights Court and the International Human Rights Commission have been able to intervene and Take action against this genocide that was perpetrated against our people so that is a large part of the indigenous movement in our country from the last for the last 50 years in Organization we have registered since 1971 when the indigenous movement emerged the one Now 43 years ago 44 years ago and this movement Emerged As a result of the more than 3000 Assassinations that occurred due to the armed conflict we registered these assassinations and documented them 90% more or less in the last two decades That these are consequences of this conflict that isn't exist in our country We have also been able to register around a hundred and fifty thousand displaced indigenous Individuals from various territories various indigenous communities hundreds of indigenous people who have disappeared and this Perhaps the most important case or most relevant is is my colleague Domino who after having been in Canada and having denounced this the suffering of his people at the hands of The armed forces he was kidnapped tortured assassinated by the paramilitary groups And by Carlos Castaña as a leader Hundreds of women have been raped as a result of The armed conflict children boys girls who were recruited as a result of this conflict and Dozens and hundreds of Directors or leaders rather who were are permanently threatened by illegal actors and And by legal actors who are constantly Prosecuting and persecuting the social and political movement of the Colombian indigenous peoples We have been in Colombia for we have been fighting for peace in our country for five hundred twenty-three years And we haven't relented For one moment and not given up on the idea of seeing our territories Constituted in peace sanctuaries this is perhaps the main objective of indigenous peoples in Colombia of course the indigenous movement in Colombia has celebrated very positively the opening of the dialogues in Colombia that Seek to end the armed conflict as You know they are being carried out in Havana in Cuba however Despite the fact that in Havana There is discussion of the end of the armed conflict which is a fundamental step to reach peace in Colombia It is also true that in our country armed conflict continues and It continues Fundamentally in the ancestral lands of indigenous peoples and in the communities of Afro-descendant peoples These are our men and women boys and girls who are Constantly and continuously victims of armed conflict. They are being recruited By all of the armed forces There are rapes restrictions on mobility bombings Civil persecution and also desecration of sacred lands Permanent and constant fumigations in our territories these affect directly life and The integrity of hundreds of indigenous communities Who are victims of massacres assassinations displacements at this time? for example, we have around 400 indigenous peoples who are or people who are displaced in the region of Chocot in due to conflicts between the ELN and Criminal gangs known that are known in Colombia that those are also known as paramilitary groups and they continue to operate in our country the armed conflict has also led to other types of conflicts and to other types of Interests that have arisen in the context of drug trafficking, but also in the area of mining and That is what is replacing right now drug trafficking and Is leading to conflict in our territories That is to say that there is a dispute in our air in our territories for control of these Territories due to strategic and other interests that exist in our territories So it is not true that we were at the point of signing a peace treaty when what we are seeing in our territories and in our communities is Really the deepening of the conflict So our community is working to put an end to this conflict earlier rather than later and so for a long time We have asked the parties in the conflict for a ceasefire and an ending of the hostilities so as to Prevent the revictimization of victims to as always to avoid That we continue to count the number of victims in each of the territories Rather we would like to create an environment for peace for us Us the indigenous peoples it seems very contradictory That while we are speaking about peace war is being waged While we are thinking about peace We're also thinking about buying more weapons more helicopters more airplanes Involving more soldiers and people in the armed forces because We have a half a million soldiers in Colombia. That's enough So when we see these types of things we see a lot of contradictions When the education budget the health budget the budget for Nutrition for children is shrinking all of these are shrinking If we just look at the Department of Guajira in the northern part of the country the deaths of Thousands of children due to nutrition to malnutrition the due to lack of potable water because there are no resources To deal with the social problems in these communities of these peoples because All the money in the budget is going towards war These are contradictions that in our in our community. We don't understand. We are not made for war We are made for peace So however, we're looking for a political exit and for a negotiated exit from this Conflict in Colombia. So now Is the time to end a conflict? That has lasted more than 50 years and as we saw in the video just a while ago This has cost more than 220,000 lives of Colombians who have been assassinated truly This is frightening and very very sad to see such a reality So at this time what I would like to say is that although The conflict continues in the country and in our territories We remain hopeful That we can put an end to this process. I would like to talk a little About the proposals of the indigenous movement in In regards to peace and Later, I would like to speak about the victims in our community in the last 20 years. We have been organizing our congresses our assemblies our Processes for social mobilization all of this has been Organized around the idea of resolving the armed conflict Politically in a negotiated way, we don't think that the solution is military because it's been the military approach has been taken for 50 years and we have concluded that Neither the armed forces can vanquish the gorillas and the gorillas cannot also not win the fight militarily against the armed forces or the public forces really the solution is Negotiated one a political one secondly We believe that there needs to be a definition of a human chain or human limits areas that are declared humanitarian areas and These would be the areas in which there are highly Vulnerable populations who are vulnerable to physical and cultural disappearance the constitutional court of Colombia in 2009 kept qualified the situation of About 35 indigenous peoples as being in danger of physical and cultural extermination This is a very strong political statement Because there are peoples who are being extinguished in Colombia for various reasons but when the constitutional court and The United Nations Reporter spoke of these matters We saw that we're really dealing with genocide in Colombia There are indigenous populations and communities that will not endure another four years of war. They could disappear That could would be the case of the Nukat Makuh the hook at Makuh were the last Numada people that was known in Colombia in 1988 25 years ago This people at that time had about 2200 inhabitants Now There are only about 400 Nuka Naku in the country They are displaced to the periphery of San Jose del Guaviaris Displaced from their territories and now their territory has been converted to a war scene of an area where there is armed conflict continuously so the Nuka Makuh the Hyu the Guayabero More than 34 people who have fewer than 200 or 300 Members they are on the at the point where they will disappear as a result of the armed conflict and of all the underlying and related factors because the conflict has brought with it the deepening of Situations that already existed but that had have become more serious and deeper such as the issue of hunger malnutrition institutional orphan hood that you find in these communities the Launching of large industrial mining projects in these territories drug trafficking and All of these elements that have involved the displacement and the dissimilar and the systematic disappearance of Dozens of indigenous peoples In this in these conditions of vulnerability As such we have also been presenting the idea that although we feel represented in This table in Lavana. We are not really represented by FARC or the government. We have asked for a direct participation so as to present our proposals our Proposals fortunately at this time and at this point We have Selected a group of people who will be traveling with a delegation in the next week To bring our proposals to the table not just regarding victims But also regarding all the matters that are being discussed and that effect directly the peoples and communities that I represent One issue that is of great importance has to do with land the end of a great the issue of agrarian reform and rural development Because we are seeing with a great deal of concern That every day there's a great deal of territorial pressure on our territories as regards large mining projects as regards large agro industrial projects in terms of All of the territorial pressures that are associated with the armed conflict that I refer to already, but also There have also begun to be Territorial tensions among the various actors in these territories while this is going on the Colombian government is only thinking about protecting large landholder interests foreign interests among others to the to the detriment of the rights acquired by Communities of peasant farmers indigenous communities after descended communities Who have been in these territories for hundreds of years? We have had to come to confront for example the Eviction of communities that have been in these territories for Hundreds of years and there's institutions such as the Incoder that are doing this legally through legal processes and They have further in their files for more than 10 or 15 years the resolution to constitute these territories and To convert them into indigenous protectors, but it has not been possible last year we had to see a very sad event that There's a territory Region in which there are many interests and that We had to Appeals so that there would be cautionary measures taken to restitute Land so as to avoid eviction of these communities there are in other words many proposals that we have worked on in our communities and That we are going to continue to work on and to discuss in various fora in our communities. We have Just to conclude some concerns That have to do with the post-conflict situation. We were worried about reinsertion of the actors in the conflict the issue of territories that have been mined because There we think that there need to be mechanisms and procedures put in place so as to Enable this process to go forward We are worried that tomorrow the conflict will end and in our territories There will be problems with this this will there be a problem with the insertion and with with mines and There needs to be more attention to this In Colombia and we're concerned that it might generate Conflicts internally finally Since we are here in this country we believe That the support of the international community in this process is fundamental in political terms and as regards the US government Very concretely what we expect in the indigenous community is a change of The approach of the aid that comes from the US to Colombia for 50 years the focus was war in The future it has to be peace and reconciliation It can't continue to be aid that is directed at Strengthening the military apparatus, but it needs to generate conditions for peace and reconciliation among all Colombians that will enable us to reach truth justice reparation and Guarantee fundamentally that what occurred with us Will not occur with our children with our grandchildren. Thank you very much We're now going to hear from Jose Antequera Guzman from e-hosts e-haz Which is sons and daughters of memory and against impunity He is also the co-founder of another e-hosts e-haz organization for the identity justice and against forgetting and silence He has created He has contributed greatly to the creation of the historical memory center in Bogota and Access advisor to the center in order to create spaces where crimes Have been committed such as in the Magdalena Medio region against the Uso oil sector He's the author of multiple books and he holds a law degree and a master's in political studies Sadly, he is also the son of Jose Antequera a leader of the patriotic unit party who was murdered With that I'd like to pass it to Jose Muchas gracias Jimena Muchas gracias Thank you to all of you for being here. I think we are experiencing a very historic moment in Colombia and the possibility of being able to have Friends here of the international community who are interested in peace in there in Colombia and in the world is Extremely important for us at this time I also want to tell you that it's an honor for me to share this scenario with Luis Fernando Arias the indigenous Organization of Colombia in Colombia. We say that indigenous people's are our older brothers and I think I am not Mistaken and saying today. I'm sitting next to an older brother for this reason I'm very grateful to Ola for being able to be here with Luis Fernando and also for their very committed work towards Peace and human rights in my country. I'd like to begin by Introducing myself a little bit more My name is Jose Antequera Guzman and I have the same name as my Father whose name was Jose Antequera a tequila his both of his last names were a tequila which were Because my grandparents were cousins that's not very common in Latin America my Father was murdered when he was 35. I'm 34 now and we spend a lot of time in airports and I Have to think about how my father might have thought that day when he was murdered in the International Airport of Dorado I would be very grateful to all of you when you go through the Bogota Airport to think that there We're asking for a memorial there to allow people who go through that airport to see that not only was my father Murdered there, but also two presidential candidates in Colombia were murdered there in 1989 1990 within those two years three young people were killed. They were each 34 35 years old They were very young they were people who are leaders of national movements of transformation in the country and I want to start with this story because this is the Story of our organization sons and daughters There are many young people in Colombia who are sons and daughters of a particular generation and that generation represents something very important in our country that we have to understand and that is that Colombia was not always a territory with an almost Difficult impossible to understand Conflict and impossible to resolve we didn't always have The conflict that we have today, which is now very degraded very complex very difficult. We have generalized violence in So many regions there was a time when that would have been possible to resolve this conflict We had many chances to do so one of those Opportunities one of the most important opportunities for ending the conflict happened in the 1980s in Colombia During those years those years there was a generation of young people with leadership capacity with political formation associated with projects for transformation and with social movements and they put together a Struggle for peace and those were the years when they first began to talk about peace accords between the government and the gorillas Not just the fart gorillas, but also M19, EPL, ELN and other gorilla groups that you may have heard of During those years. We had an exceptional opportunity to be able to resolve the conflict and it was an exceptional Moment because we had an opportunity and a historic moment to build a new order of peace and what happened is That on the one hand there was a Constitution that was put together the Constitution of 1991 That proclaims the right to peace Constitution that talks about the fundamental nature of human rights a Constitution that has included international rights and principles of protecting the rights of indigenous peoples afro-descendant people and At the same time that that Constitution was being approved in Colombia There was a political genocide going on the largest political genocide in the Western Hemisphere and it's the most relevant and the most difficult case that the Inter-American Commission has had in all of its history And that's the genocide case against the patriotic union. My father was a leader of that political movement and the they there was a journalist who was murdered who interviewed him before he went to the airport that day and They he asked my father what would be your number if you were murdered today and the journalist said that my father would have been number 721 of the members of his political movement the patriotic union that would have been murdered up to that point at this point now We have more than 5,000 people who have been murdered exiled Tortured and so on at that moment. We had an exceptional opportunities to solve the conflict Even in this context of political genocide against the patriotic union because the country was so hopeful for peace and because we had this new Constitution however in the 1990s in Colombia in spite of everything that we had thought earlier in spite of the fact that we had this reference point We had they were the most violent years in the history of Colombia they were the years in which There was a whole movement against the progress made in the political Constitution the Constitution was based on an argument of that need to open up Colombian Democracy not only to recognize indigenous communities and Afro-descendant even gypsy communities But also to recognize opposition parties and the possibility that in Colombia We would not just have a liberal and conservative party that we would have other possibilities in Colombia during the 1990s There was a whole series of massacres almost 5,500 massacres each one a collective Assassinations we don't know the total number of people that were killed during that time but those massacres were all committed with the idea of reshaping the country and that message is important for me to tell you today because Those who study the Colombian reality Think that Colombia is just one more case of conflict in the world where irrational beings Clash for recent natural resources or ambitious people clashed for money or war and Colombia is a little bit about that But it's not only that Colombia is also a country where Proposals and peace alternatives have been created and at the same time It's a country where many efforts have been made to frustrate those proposals So why is it so important now that we have this peace process this peace process is important? not only because as many believe it is an opportunity to be able to reach agreements between the gorillas and the government is for their interests and so that they will stop fighting with each other that affects the population that supposedly has nothing to do with the conflict No, this peace process is also a way to have an opportunity to bring something that we haven't had before it's a change Where That not only is for the FARC it's for everyone in the country who hasn't had access to education health and land or access to Political participation unless we join one of the two traditional parties It has to do with the guarantee of human rights It has to do with the possibility of going out into the streets to protest against an international war without being repressed by the police Or be murdered like some of our colleagues It has to do with the ability to join unions without fear of being murdered this process of peace for us It's not just about the possibility that the government in the FARC reach agreements. It is our historic Debt that is owed to us we sons and daughters of the victims of the armed conflict and the movement of victims of state crimes We want these changes to come from a certain perspective Some believe that the peace process in Colombia is the result of a correlation of forces of groups in conflict when my father was alive he once had to give a speech where he Argueed with his colleagues as well as others that there was a time that had arrived where the government could not Destroy the gorilla and the gorilla could not defeat the government militarily and that was why a peace process was necessary In fact later President Uribe who was the president for eight years in my country He always said that it was necessary to continue war Because now the military forces were going to be able to defeat the gorillas what's happened in Colombia Doesn't only have to do with what the state of correlation of power between the state and the insurgent forces now We're talking about peace in Colombia because of a struggle that has a lot to do with the defense of human rights and the defense of the rights of victims we're talking about the legitimacy of democracy in Colombia based on the recognition and Repudiation of the suffering that the political violence has produced in our country And that's why this peace process is not just a product of the correlation of forces in Dispute this is a battle that we have won. It is a battle where we have Given our stories and our experience so that those who think that war is the best way will continue We'll no longer believe that and we'll no longer have legitimacy in terms of insisting on that only option in Colombia even if the conflict could be resolved Militarily we must recognize human rights and that's why we must resolve the situation through dialogue and through negotiation This conflict has a legitimacy based on victims only because of this because of the struggle of the victims and the struggle of the victims It's not only the struggle of those who raise their flags as organizations of victims It is also the struggle of peasant farmers the struggle of students because in Colombia Both small farmers and students and the rest of the country all of us have lived through the consequences of victimization that Were suffered by a few people in particular and that's in The big discussion that is historic now in Colombia that I want to ask you to reflect on is the historic Conversation about what we're going to do with experience in the pain of so many victims in the country Why so much pain and suffering for what? There are some in Colombia who say that the pain and the suffering of the victims is the best argument for Continuing the war in Colombia that if someone has been kidnapped by the FARC Then that pain and that suffering is the best argument to not reach any agreement with the FARC's and on the contrary must continue to have a policy of war until they are Militarily overcome or who knows what the objective is But those of us who have suffered on another side of the war those who of us who have served Suffered from crimes of the state may think that it's better to use that suffering to say no There's no possibility of reaching peace or to reach any agreements But what we are saying that in our experience is not an argument for war our experience has to be strongest argument for peace because Only through the recognition of our story and our suffering can we Discover what the reality of democracy is and to build it empirically not just as a theory So I want to propose to you three challenges Three fundamental elements that I think need to be defined today in the country that are at the center of our proposals But are also the center of our demands The first challenge we have for building peace in Colombia is much more simple than what people think But it's very important. The first challenge is that today in Colombia in the Congress of the Republic There is a extreme right-wing sector that is opposed to the peace process They're totally linked and it has been researched that they're linked to crimes against humanity and with Paramilitary groups, it's a sector linked to president Alvaro Uribe and they're not only against the peace process. They are responsible for Many violations and they have to respond to that for their links to paramilitary groups and for crimes against humanity one of the biggest challenges is that this sector is still enjoys impunity and political power and that same framework another Challenge that we have has to do with the fact that Colombia needs to be able to deepen democratization in our country when I say to deepen I think we really need to achieve that guerrillas will Become political actors in democracy where they can discuss their proposals like we do and so deep democratization not only means the participations of the guerrillas it means That civilian groups also have to have a participation. We want an indigenous president. We also want a president that comes from Afro Colombian groups and not just because they're indigenous person but because from that experience We can think about a government that guarantees the agrarian reform that Luis Fernando is asking for or the political reform That we're asking for we also believe that in Colombia We need to have a great plan for non repetition, which is the point of concession Consensus that all of the victims groups have this plan for non repetition has to do with many things But I want to mention some of the most important aspects for you The first is that this process has to be based on truth We don't know all of the truth in Colombia and we don't recognize all of the truth I'm a victim of a state crime and in Colombia the victims of state crimes don't exist right now Though of us who say that our rights were violated as a consequence of political plans of extermination Do not exist. They think of us as simply victims of casual violence But we do exist and we hope that the international governments will commit themselves to the truth in Colombia So that our existence can be affirmed and our rights can be respected For example, the US government could help us by declassifying Their archives that would allow us to learn all of the truth in Colombia That would allow us to learn the truth about the commitments and ties of multinational businesses like the case of Chiquita brands But there are so many other cases that we haven't been able to learn about that We need to learn about one of the fundamental elements for us is that in Colombia the military doctrine must be reformed The doctrine from which the military forces act Military groups in Colombia are still acting under Cold War or philosophy. They still believe that social movements are internal threats that they're a communist and so on and that Point of view needs to end because it's what's leading to the violation of the human rights of the people if you look at The people as an enemy or as a potential threat That is not the way to run a military force in Colombia we also need a commission a commission that Documents all of these events. There's also a truth commission that is being developed in Colombia We hope that it has international support so that in the future it can be an element for democracy in Colombia We don't want a truth commission that just produces a report that people Read and that people research in universities We want the truth commission to make of memory a scenario Where people can talk in the territories about what's happened so that young people can understand? The war and that it can be discussed and debated because war is a historic experience And it doesn't look like it's going to end in the world we of course are interested also in Social organizations and victims organizations to be these guarantors of the peace process right now There's a very great danger in a great challenge because victims organizations don't live on air alone They also need resources and these resources are not Necessarily mean that they have their autonomy guaranteed. There are some victims Organizations because of their positions are not able to access certain kinds of funding But what we're saying that we want the international Communities logic to change so that cooperation is real cooperation cooperation among peers and We want equity equitable treatment and Possibilities for true cooperation not a paternalistic way of handling international cooperation and our proposal at this point Also says that we need a great Plan for reparations and this plan could have many elements and could be explained in many ways But I'd just like to tell you about a conversation that I had a short time ago with a young woman from one of the departments I'm a victim of a state crime the genocide against the Union patriotic but they're victims all over the country and Leticia in from the Amazon was invited to a youth meeting not long ago and a girl there said That she wanted to study law be a professional be a lawyer like me and I asked her why She couldn't ask for that as part of reparations perhaps having the right to education was part of the reparations And she said no that would not be possible She said the law didn't authorize things like that. There are many victims in Colombia that don't know their rights They think Rights are limited by laws and if there's something that the free peoples of the world know those who want to be free is that Rights do not come to us by laws are not issued through laws and I told her She I said maybe you can find a credit Maybe you can find a way to become a professional to be a student and she said maybe that's the best option that I have and she started to talk with her other colleagues about having a right to public education as a way of having reparations that the right to an university education like the one I've had like the one you've had Changes the life of a person it means that they don't have to continue to Receive different kinds of cooperation and we believe that the peace plan needs to be at that level and needs to include education health land housing work reparations and non repetition in Colombia Needs to be generated based on these kinds of reforms and in that sense We're very interested to have the help of the international community an international community that begins to understand That in Colombia in addition to an armed confrontation that would appear to be irrational There's also a social demands and political demands that have been tried to be Obscured and they're finally are being allowed to come out. This would be real peace in Colombia. Thank you very much Much as good at going to Discussion we're going to view a short video sent to us by representative Clara Rojas Clara Rojas representative of the Congress of Republic of Colombia Greetings from Clara Rojas. I'm a recently elected congressman from Bogota from the Liberal Party. I want to thank you for allowing me to participate in this space and to Tell you a little bit about my point of view about the peace process as Many people in the public know I was a victim of the fart gorillas during six years This experience allowed me to understand that it is very important for the peace process To make process Significantly because in Colombia we need to achieve peace. This is not just a Light thought it comes from a profound Conviction that in Colombia we can achieve peace other countries have achieved peace Without a doubt we have come very far. This is the first time in our history that we have a negotiation process and conversations and Five substantial points have already been proposed and four have been worked on significantly. This is a matter of survival This is a decision in the sense that we do not want more victims. We don't want more Violent deaths. We want peace Not just understood as the absence of conflict with the signing of these Peace accords, of course, we won't have a total solution What will Allow us to really make changes the commitment of the parties as as Victim a lot of people support me, but because of the attitude that I've taken Given that situation a lot of people asked me how I was able to do that and I said it's because I'm Very convinced that we must Give the next generations a desire for peace A mother who is able to reach reconciliation is able to give peace to her children. I Have made great effort so that my son and other children can reach peace in Colombia I think we can do it and I think we can do it because other countries have been able to do it what we need is support not just from the international community but To generate Sufficient consensus in Colombia so that this process can not only be achieved, but also when there's a later referendum later Society can all go out in unity to accept that this is the best path to survival for our country many have asked us if it is necessary to To pardon to forgive I say yes absolutely I have been working on that processes, but this is not something that we can impose on all victims What do I hope from the peace process? I want For as many people as possible to participate and to be heard There's an immense need on the part of the victims of the conflict to be heard What do we hope for them in this peace process? some who will be able to go to the talks not everyone will be able to go but they're hoping for a plural and equitable Representation It's important to have parity between the victims of state and the victims of the FARC so that We can truly work on a process of reconciliation what we have seen in this working groups that we have been Seeing is that we need to be heard. We need to be understood. We need to Have our dignity restored. We need our memory to be Guarded but most of all we need to have the guarantee of non repetition We want to participate and participate actively and we hope there will be a Commitment on the part of the FARC that they also have caused harm and then these process of reconciliation They need to ask for forgiveness as well To ask forgiveness not only from the victims but from society as a whole I think this is the main aspect that we are all hoping for When it comes to these this peace process, why is it? Important to have this process in Colombia because we must get past this conflict of 50 years As I have said other countries have done it Spain has done it El Salvador has done it Guatemala has done it South Africa has done it perhaps The experiences that are the closest to ours have to do with Spain El Salvador and Guatemala we have learned a lot from their experiences and And there are many things that we can learn on the way with all of the support that we could receive from the International community not just in support, but also resources for the post-conflict period I think we will definitely be able to Achieve a stable peace. How will we achieve a stable peace the president of the Republic on the 20th of June in his inauguration said that we are going to be the congress people for peace I agree with that vision of our president because I believe that a stable peace Includes the possibility of giving people universal access to education access to health access to employment and these Reforms are the ones that are important for us the ones that we need to work on now in the Congress of the Republic But all of these reforms must be leveraged by Resources so that we can provide these services to the community and that's why it's so important that the international community Also be aware of the situation that Colombia is experiencing if they really want to help us achieve peace then without a doubt we Are going to need a process of accompaniment and analysis so that once the peace accords are signed They will be ratified by the country and so that we'll have Pedagogy that we can have social buy-in through a referendum and so that we can implement legislative reforms in reality We want citizens to think that they can go to school We want citizens believe that they can get justice that they can get health care and work Only in this way can we project to Colombia in five or ten fifteen years from now where we will have a Stable and lasting peace Spain has done it. There have been a Many years now when they have not Had war they've been able to reach stability in that sense And I think if you look at other reference points you realize that Colombia today has the capacity to achieve this peace without a doubt victims are people who are Capable of contribute contributing to this process piece We have a great desire to participate to be listened to but we also need support so that the people who Participate are respected and that their dignity is respected. This would be a great contribution So that we can overcome many things It is very important that we work together to find these levels of justice That would truly allow us to reach a stable peace without a doubt. We need some minimum mechanisms of justice So that people don't think that anything can happen with impunity and I think and in that aspect we need to work Very closely in the next days weeks and months and that's why the justice sector reform is something that's very important and why the legal framework Per piece is so important where we are going to have the specific parameters for transitional justice Other experiences and other countries are very important But who is really responsible for implementing this are the judges in the Republic of Colombia So what I want to say that I feel very positive that this peace process could work Obviously, it doesn't depend just on the government or just on the victims or just on civil society We also need To make sure that groups who are operating at the margin of the law like the FARC and the ELN commit themselves and That they reach the conditions necessary to be able to give up their weapons and we need to provide a road for them so that they can Participate in the social life of the country not just the political life, but also in just everyday ordinary life To finalize once again, I want to thank you for inviting me to participate in this forum. I want to thank you for Thinking of me and then I want to Say that it's very important to have these moments of information and analysis on the peace process in Colombia And of course, I hope it goes well. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Well, we're going to open it up for Some discussion. We have about 20 minutes We have two people on either side with mics and we ask that you please Identify yourself. We're gonna take about four questions and then pass it to the panelists questions Right here. Good morning. My name is Juan Sebastian Chakir. I live in the United States have been here for 12 years Due to the armed conflict. I you could say that I came Here for that reason and I'm very interested in the process that's taking place and I thank you for being here my question is if we look at the FARC gorillas and the paramilitary groups as businesses and one of the largest employers In the parts of Colombia where there's not much of a state presence How do you see the reincorporation or the reinsertion of these armed groups in public life, but also for those who are affected in very small villages and the peasant farmers There will be a type of unemployment due to the elimination of these armed groups Well, I would add well good. Good morning Thank you very much for this invitation To participate in this forum. My name is Juan Pablo Lira. I am the ambassador for Chile before the OAS I Have been in Washington for two months But and I am also very connected to Colombia. I have lived in Colombia in Bogota for 10 years or lived there for 10 years I've had the opportunity to study in Colombia and To have relationships with many Colombians I have what you would need to ask yourself a lot of questions because in addition to talking about a country where There is a process that is ongoing and has been for some time On a process of an attempt at reconciling at reconciliation, but in South America. There's Argentina. There's Chile. There's Peru There have been processes of internal conflicts with many victims Where people have disappeared. There's been tortures. There's been babes and there've been abuses to human dignity and there have been various attempts at solutions for example one question I would like to ask The members of the panel from Colombia is how they see the judging of Those who are responsible within the government And that is not a small matter. I'm talking about judging politicians and military men or other people in uniform such as the police, but that's not everything Because a great distinction that happens with a peace or reconciliation process That according in Spain, which was emphasized a great deal by Clara Rojas in Spain There was no responsible party From the Civil War until the death of Franco, none of them. No person responsible was Judged or tried. In Chile, we are going through or we went through rather a process of dictatorship 40 years ago when we came back to democracy 24 years ago we have gone through a process of Dormalization little by little and it is very surprising from a social and anthropological point of view How societies take a great deal of time to form to heal? when we Recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of the coup d'etat, it was very interesting To see how in the collective memory there was a resurgence of Issues that had not been dealt with sufficiently so There's the idea of going back and reliving and resuscitating so many spirits that are flying around in our Subconscious, but if they are not faced they will repeat themselves and of course no one Would want to see that in Colombia once peace has been reached That what happened 50 years ago would start to occur again. Thank you very much From the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy Que gusto conocerles What a pleasure to meet you many thanks. My question is whether this whether the Colombian in reintegration agencies says that Up to 10% of those Paralympic groups were processed Have re-entered marginal Military groups. What are the mechanisms that Colombia can put in place or use to avoid? the same thing happening with ex-combatants From the guerrilla groups If you're not we're not talking about the leadership, but the rank-and-file in the rural areas Because they have their training their experiences that Make them very capable in these types of illegal work so Frankly, they can earn a lot more money doing this work and there's a great deal of social rejection in the rural areas and within That part of society That is the private sector Businesses and industries that don't want to hire these people Hi, Annalise Ramoser with the Environmental Investigation Agency Thank you so much for your presentations. I appreciated comments about land restitution and collective land titling is a pillar for peace in Colombia and I understand the land restitution law that was passed a few years ago has faced many challenges Despite having a lot of international support And I was hoping you could comment on what lessons can be learned from the current land restitution law to ensure that the land peace and any Future agreement be respected and perhaps more successful than what we've seen in the last few years with land restitution. Thank you Hey, we're gonna start with those Also, I would ask Luis Fernando if you can elaborate a bit more about the indigenous movements of view of the drug issue and what needs to change In a post-conflict Colombia, so why don't we start first with Luis? And we'll go to Jose. I would like to refer very generally to some of the Proposal or some of these statements That were made and maybe going to more detail in others and then Jose will probably Take on other subjects in more detail That's why I was saying when I spoke that one of the concerns that we have is the issue of reinsertion or one of the concerns that we have and especially the reinsertion of possible indigenous combatants Because in addition to the economic issue we have a concern that is cultural and territorial Because other we want it or not they are indigenous and Let's say that the destruction of culture and Territory for a year for an indigenous youth. Let's say that that will be quite complex the Involvement in the conflict will be for under various varying circumstances So there's the economic issue but there could be Then and acts of vengeance and reprisal even love issues There could be many circumstances so with as regards this reinsertion When it has to do with ex-combatants in the indigenous communities There's going to have to be a varying approach with various types of approaches Directed coordinated and harmonized with the authorities in the indigenous peoples This will have to be done through spiritual leaders the work will be psychological and nature to some Degree there will be spiritual retreats harmonizations many days of Councils many days of reflection but also There needs to be a parallel work with the community so that once again This can be reinserted in the social and community dynamics within these communities Also there needs to be methods for applying corrections in a collective manner social work Community work that in the indigenous communities in Colombia are customary When you're dealing with justice in our environment. So for that what we need Is that from an institutional point of view there be a Creation of all these elements to be able to go forward in this type of process We are going to initiate very soon a Reflection on this issue We're going to have six fora in different parts of the country to work on a proposal in this regard a few weeks ago We met with the High Commissioner for Peace. It's a lot of you We presented him with this concern and he was very sincere with us. He said we don't really have a proposal for this Why don't you make a proposal about this and we want to work with the communities on a proposal in this regard Specifically so that tomorrow or the day after We can Have our indigenous Colleagues not could join any type of criminal Organization also as regards justice and state agents. I think that Jose could give you more information on this I would just like to say that Columbia the city in Columbia. It has been very difficult to Progress in the Judicialization or prosecution of Eve of elements that have been involved with the murders of our various leaders I would like to give my own example of my people We the concoil of people were ex around 185 of us were exterminated five minutes from the capital where the military Operation of Jorge Cuarenta was working. He is Here in the United States and is known as alias 39 Nothing ever happened after this when the battalion was five minutes away We were assassinated We were taken out of our vehicles and we were made to disappear and nothing happened Today that coronal known as Colonel Mejia Has been prosecuted for certain cases, but other cases continue Incomplete impunity also The ex-governor Cesar Hernando Molina Araujo was involved. He was also prosecuted for certain cases, but at this time he was even sentenced to jail and then other Processes were presented and now he's fleeing from justice And there are many cases of state agents both militarily and politically Where the cases continue in complete impunity we have seen in some cases Where the press the Attorney General? Works when he's Prosecuting an indigenous leader for rebellion or any type of political unrest But when it's a matter of prosecuting and investigating the crimes committed by state agents by our leaders Justice becomes slow and ineffectual That's what we have to say to the Attorney General as regards Restitution of land That is a matter that is of great importance and We also need to look to Institutionalization in that regard. This is a very important challenge as regards restitution of rights and satisfying victims Really the matter of land institutions very important in our indigenous communities. We have Worked or we are working on various cases that are being documented the first positive experience that we had was in Chocot in which judge working on land restitution With some cautionary measures and with Anglo Wallachati there were some indigenous Communities that had been displaced by paramilitary groups and then these territories where they were were occupied By this business and that is really the modus operandum the displacement By the actors and then the companies set up shop whether they're mining companies or agro industrial companies and they appropriate these lands Thanks to these cautionary measures by a judge The use of these territories wasn't contained and a return process to these committees was initiated The same occurred in the case of Nadino in the case of bitcha va now We're starting to have significant and positive experiences, but we have also Encountered a difficult along the way to which I would like to call attention this process for restitution lands According to the two Law 1448 Requires a study or an authorization from the defense ministry to see if there are Sufficient security conditions in the area or no to be able to go forward with this type of situation. This has been an impediment because the government is Managing the resource and and so When they are talking about Restituting rights sometimes they say that they don't have the security conditions to do so so we have a great contradiction with the government, but This is also a matter that involves the Ministry of Defense when it comes to Ressricting lands through the unit for land retitution. There are also been debates and discussions In this delegation, there's a colleague who comes from Cesar who which is the department where the first members of the military Appeared who are against restitution of lands. These are the paramilitary paramilitary groups that are holding on to these lands these actors Continue to Direct from the jails here and in Colombia. They continue to manage the interests associated with these lands so this territorial matter in the peace process is very sensitive and very structural It was really the beginning of this conflict the source of this conflict if we don't resolve it There will be many wounds left unhealed Jose So many questions each one more difficult than the next but first of all as regards reinsertion it is interesting This focus or this approach if Armed groups are businesses to generate employment. It is interesting because The Colombian army is the second largest army in Latin America after Brazil, but with a much smaller population in Brazil In when you talk about the Colombian military, we're talking about a hundred and fifty thousand personnel and We all know that that is Not only just a business with many employees It's it even reaches a social class a sec a social sector in Colombia The families of military personnel if we multiply them by four That would give us an idea that The military in Colombia is almost a social class and one of the problems to be resolved has to do with the issue of reinserting ex-combatants from the guerrillas the paramilitary groups and also the challenge and the possibility that That I've not have of a military force for a piece but we could also reduce the budget in Colombia so That what is being invested in a war model can now be invested in a peace model We could have more members of civil defense more firemen more nurses and Doctors than military people. This is a big challenge and what I think is a great interest to us is That at the end of the day there is a debate and we understand We have to understand that the political solution of the conflict in Colombia means necessarily a change That is productive and economic in nature today To be able to really resolve what is going to happen with ex-combatants and with victims and what happens in the territories We need productive change and that Change is the great discussion that we're having with the government the national government currently with which we have a Consensus as regards the need to continue with the peace process has a model in which the country needs to develop build and that there you need to Deploy the ex-combatants the military people through large-scale mining through Developing privatization in Colombia. We have the idea that if we can we followed the experience of Latin America It would be very I think pertinent to talk about Chile Chile and There is one we talk about copper and Chile they talk about us restructuring the economy in Colombia so that the great resources that are in private hands that can't be socially reinvested and these represent a source of employment for ex-combatants So that's the debate that we're having one of the characteristics of this conflict is that we are not talking about Post-conflict but post-agreement. We're waiting to reach an agreement to end the conflict But what we'll see in the future. We hope to have a democratic political and respectful situations of the country can Choose it the lifestyle and type of model that it wants, but There is no case in Latin America Central America that we will be able to resolve Problems with large massive population that have employment in war if we can't employ them in the social sphere and other types of productivity and That really has to do with our productive future There's also the the challenge of racism and when I talk about racism not talking about The racism against the Afro population in Colombia and Colombia in America Latin America There is a state reason racism that has to do With the way in which the Colombians the Colombians view displaced populations and see them with a racist point of view and also ex-combatants are viewed According to their skin color in terms of their social class so This needs to be dealt with so that it's not an impediment to developing an economic model that is beneficial to all of us in Colombia There is also Impunity in cases in Colombia that is almost 99 percent. It's almost absolute impunity. What do we hope in this regard? We are proposing that at this time The country needs to devote itself to a process that is centered on truth Maybe we're not being listened to in this regard. We are not for Model that will judge and in jail everyone who has participated in the conflict We understand that there has to be a just process that means that not everyone will go to jail But we need to go to a through a deeper transformation process because jail will not guarantee us non-repetition If that were the case there would be no More problem in Colombia, but in fact it continues because it continues from the jails so this process has to Involved not just the gorillas in a special tribunal. We need to look at what the gorilla have gorillas have done What we need to look at high military commands. We need to look at businesses multinationals. This is a big challenge that we have Because on the one hand as regards the gorilla fighters in Colombia, this is a reality there has been the prosecution Which whereas that there has been a use of that prosecution as a as a weapon of war in Colombia, there are populations where if the order is That what has happened is the fault of the gorilla where it could have been through other factors The gorillas are Targeted and things are resolved in that way So the special tribunal would mean would need political will so that We hope that the military people who are have this Disposition in the war can be judged for war crimes for crimes against Humanity and we also have to include exile and You're right in one fundamental challenge is that Colombia is politically using the issue of military forces to be able to Maintain the current status of things one of the biggest challenges that we have in Colombia and all over the world and I'm sure in the United States as well is to Keep Politicians from using the discourse of war to getting votes this happens in Colombia And it happens in Colombia in the sense that many Politicians are building political capital just by showing war images and saying that they need to be The saviors of the country and that they had to go on certain crusades and wars to save us in Colombia Well, this has to change we have to have a much more Democratically educated population and to have a deep democracy. We're not okay just with voting the Colombian Population needs to be educated politically so that their vote is it nowhere and And an educated vote I Want to tell you briefly that what happened 40 years after the Coup in Chile is also very illustrative of us. We follow the story of Chile very closely and the Human rights movement there and I think Chile gives us a very important lesson and the lesson is that the struggle for human rights never ends and It in as in Chile a lot of people won and they wanted to consolidate Political and economic power by violating human rights that happened in Colombia as well massacres happened all throughout the 1990s and massacres and disappearances and 2000s and with people with links to paramilitary groups, so we don't think that our Extreme right is just going to go away. So that's why we need a world commitment to human rights and where victims are decisive actors in this process finally I Would say that in terms of the reinsertion of the various military groups It has to do with this number of 17 percent of paramilitaries who went back to criminal Undertakings after being demobilized in Colombia you have to commit to not Resolving the war just by dismantling the Warring parties that exist now the commitment in Colombia has to be to resolve the conflict by It is not by just eliminating the FARC as a criminal group because there's so many groups that are using drug trafficking and crime and they're not What would really allow us to have the scenario that we want is to Make sure that the guerrilla leaders can be agents in Building a new kind of peace and I think we can do that by looking at international experiences We don't want to repeat the experiences of young people in Latin America Who ended up coming to the United States and being deported and then joining the gangs We want to have a different experience and that's even though it seems a little bit absurd I think the agreement for non repetition is a set of Proposals from the victims and the accords of a Havana everything having to do with Agriculture and politics is this all has to do with non repetition not just the part of the victims We would like to thank The folks who are following us virtually given the lack of time. We're not going to be able to answer the questions Right now. However, we will answer them through Twitter And I would like to Pass along the panel then to Lisa Howe guard the executive director Latin America working group to give us some final conclusions On behalf of the Latin America working group Education Fund The Washington office on Latin America and the US Institute of Peace I would like to thank you for having come to listen to these important voices for the rights of victims in Colombia I would like to add a few words from another victim Maria Jimena Duzan of Samana magazine who lost her sister also a journalist to the conflict According to the statistics, we are six million Colombians Most of us have had to learn to deal with our tragedy in the shadows of solitude Because society left us abandoned to survive the sorrow. We drew strength from deep down we learned to survive despite the indifference and We have managed to disperse the hate that the heavy weight of impunity leaves behind In Colombia, there will be we hope deep and substantive discussions in the next month or so about the victims chapter of the accord and Although the participation of victims even in this chapter is somewhat structured and limited It is a very crucial moment and those of us in the international community and especially those of us in the United States Which backed the war so heavily and now has a special obligation to back the peace Have a role to play we must do what we can to ensure that the Voices of victims are not met with indifference in our own countries and in Colombia We must do what we can to call for a broad inclusion of victims of all armed actors and from all walks of life In the discussions of the accords and we should call for the serious consideration and the adoption of Proposals they bring to the table and the international community must surround and encourage these negotiations with the FARC and we hope negotiations to come with ELN Because the conflict grinds on as the peace talks continue in Havana as Luis Fernando Arias told us so Clearly and every day still there is a new victim of the Colombian conflict But what is needed is not a month for victims not an hour and not a year After 50 years of war what is needed is not just a chapter on victims But a library not a month of negotiations But at least a quarter century in which victims their rights and their proposals are Put at the center of national and international attention Their proposals not just for reparations truth and justice But also for transforming Colombian society to ensure that the brutal past never against return Are a roadmap for a more inclusive society and for a just and last peace for all Colombians and just Just a final few words to thank you all for coming As we've heard today the challenges ahead are great, but I think that the speakers here represent generations of Leadership for change and have really been very inspiring to me personally and I hope to our continued work on Colombia I'd just like to mention that there is an Evaluation card that you should have gotten when you came in Here at USIP we try to evaluate all of our public events and we would really welcome your input so that we can continue to Improve and serve the needs of the public here. So thanks again for coming