 Buenos Dairies, my name is Keith Mines, the director for Latin America for the US Institute of Peace. For those of you new to the Institute, we are a public national institution dedicated to the proposition that peace is possible. And it's secureable if we do the hard work to anchor a peace in settlements that will last after the peace has been set. We have a very unique event today that we're very excited about. I know we'll long remember it. And we're very happy to co-host this event with the Atlantic Council, the Washington office on Latin America, and the Universidad Nacional. When we talk about conflicts like those in Colombia, we often reduce them to numbers, the numbers of hundreds and even thousands killed, the numbers of displaced, numbers of villages impacted. We have today two guests, Jesus Abad Colorado and Maria Belen that have been defying that tendency to go with just statistics in this conflict in Colombia that has gone on for so many decades. They have been dedicated to giving a voice and a face to those that have been impacted or killed in the conflict. So we're here today to showcase their work, four-part book, El Testigo, The Witness, a brilliant piece of work that I think we'll all be impacted by as we are able to get a copy. It's a reference point for this journey to find truth for victims and to seek justice and rebuild Colombian society. It comes on the heels of a number of very important events. We hosted the Truth Commission here at USIP as it did an international roll out of its report a few months ago. The Special Jurisdiction for Peace continues to do its work to find hope for victims' families and find peace in the future. And there are renewed discussions now about peace negotiations with the ELN in the context of the total peace policy of the new administration. These books are a beautiful testament to Chucho's photography and journalism and Maria Belen's shaping and editing of the material, remarkable partnership. And I'd like to now turn it over to Camila Hernandez, the Associate Director of the Adrienne Arts Latin America Center of the Atlantic Council to introduce our event. Thank you. Thank you, Keith. Para los que no conocen el Atlantic Council, somos un centro de vencamiento aquí en Washington. Y yo dirijo todos los temas para Colombia. Es un honor para mí estar aquí y darle la bienvenida a nuestros speakers gracias al Instituto de Palo de los Estados Unidos, a Wollah y a la Universidad Nacional. Hoy tenemos una conversación muy especial con Jesús Abad Colorado, también conocido como Chucho, y Maria Belen Sáenz de Ibarra. Chucho es un reconocido fotógrafo colombiano que ha pasado los últimos 30 años documentando el conflicto armado y retratando a las miles de víctimas por todo el territorio del país. Su trabajo fotográfico ha sido galardronado a nivel nacional e internacional. Recibió el Premio Simón Bolívar en tres ocasiones. El reconocimiento de la excelencia premio GAO en el 2019 y el Premio Nacional de Fotografía en el 2018 otorgado por el Ministerio de Cultura de Colombia. Chucho fue también investigador del Grupo de Memoria Histórica de la Comisión Nacional de Reparación y Reconcilación en Colombia y trabajó para el periódico del colombiano. Maria Belen es ahogada, curadora y gestora cultural, está a cargo de la Dirección de Patrimonio Cultural de la Universidad Nacional, la cual dirige el Museo de Arte Contemporáneo en Bogotá de la Auditoria de León de Grave y el Clado de St. Augustine. Maria Belen ha sido profesora de la Universidad Javeriana, de la Universidad de Los Andes y estuvo a cargo de la Oficina de Artes Visuales del Ministerio de Cultura en Colombia y Fasesora de la Dirección de Patrimonio del Despacho del Vice-Ministro de Cultura. Chucho, Maria Belen y Maria Belen unieron esfuerzos para contar la historia de miles de colombianos y producen este libro en cuatro partes el testigo, el cual hablaremos hoy. Chucho, Maria Belen, muchas gracias por acompañarnos y por su compromiso con la paz, la justicia y la reconcilación en Colombia. Es para mí un honor poner, ayudar a visibilizar estas historias y poner nuestro granito de arena desde Washington. El testigo es el resultado de muchos años de trabajo que busca la no repetición, la memoria como proyecto de futuro y demuestra la multiculturalidad, la cantidad de etnias y la resiliencia que hay en Colombia. Con esto, le paso la palabra a Maria Antonia del Instituto para la Padre de los Estados Unidos y muchas gracias por acompañarnos hoy. Gracias, Camila y buenas tardes a todos y todas. Mi nombre es Maria Antonia Montes, soy oficial de programas aquí en el Instituto de Paz en el Programa de América Latina. Es un gran honor tener estos panelistas acá con nosotros. Bienvenidos a esta casa acá. Y en nombre de todo el equipo acá en Washington y desde nuestra oficina en Bogotá, muchas gracias por estar acá con nosotros. Como todos ya han dicho, hoy estamos aquí precisamente para el lanzamiento de este volumen de fotografías, un acumulado de más de 30 años de trabajo de Chucho y curado por Maria Belén. Y hoy vamos a entender un poco qué les llevó a generar este proyecto y todas esas historias y testimonios de personas víctimas en el marco del conflicto armado colombiano. Un recorderis que tenemos una transmisión en vivo, tenemos interpretación simultánea y si nos quieren seguir por Twitter, estamos con el hashtag El Testigo. Entonces, primero quisiera arrancar con Maria Belén y pensar un poco en la coyuntura del país. Hace cinco años se firmó el acuerdo de paz con las FARC. También hace poquito salió el informe final de la Comisión de Verdad. Hay un nuevo gobierno. Entonces, cuéntanos un poquito por qué se decidió empezar este proyecto, por qué era este momento tan importante en país. Gracias, Maria Antonia. Hola, Chucho. Bueno, un saludo a todos. Estamos hoy aquí muy honrados de estar en el Instituto de Paz. Gracias, Maria Antonia. El director que nos acompaña, toda la gente. Carlos Lauria por organizar esta gira. Que hemos decidido venir aquí a Estados Unidos precisamente porque pensamos que en la coyuntura que estamos viviendo de la que vamos a hablar ahora en un segundo, requiere que entendamos que nuestro conflicto no es local, ni corresponde a una cultura violenta, ni ese tipo de explicaciones que a veces están ya como en el sentido común de que en América Latina somos violentos o que tenemos un problema de narcotráfico. Tenemos problemas sociales y también estamos sometidos a un régimen de opresión que deviene pues de la colonialidad, el poder que está más viva que nunca. En realidad la colonia no es tampoco una institución que se ejerce desde lo formal. También hay formas de reproducir las que son psíquicas y por supuesto económicas se ejercen desde lo corporativo también y estableciendo intereses claramente devenidos de una explotación masiva de recursos sin control de recursos muy escasos y que se está dando una presión muy fuerte en toda la franja intertopical del planeta. Que estamos, nuestra historia está incluso más atrás de la que puede estar en África. Orita hablaba con Carlos Lauria sobre eso. El congo puede aproximarse a lo que puede llegar a ser Colombia si no tomamos decisiones. Entonces es una depredación de recursos muy paradójicamente en medio de una crisis ambiental radical que le afecta todo el globo y por eso estamos aquí y en el Instituto de Paz que trabaja mundialmente por la paz y comprende que estas coyunturas de la coloniaridad del poder hay que trabajarlas desde el norte. Aquí donde existen esa creencia que hay derechos humanos también debe ser llevada al sur en donde hemos expulsado del proyecto humano a una cantidad de población gigantesca que está retratada aquí en estos libros es realmente una operación de apartheid gigante de segregación de personas que consideramos o que están intentando considerar de una manera errónea y por supuesto totalmente reprochable, superflua una población que no necesitamos mirar y que no afecta nuestras vidas. En realidad, son personas que viven en la periferia de la vida que vemos en imágenes que a veces es lo único que tienen de recuerdo de sus familias luego de un proceso de desaparición forzada es una foto de una cédula como vemos en el libro 2 de No hay tinieblas que la luz no venza es así de precaria esa existencia entonces lo que venimos a traer a cada vez las víctimas nuevamente en el centro de la conversación luego de un proceso de paz un año después de eso estábamos tratando de sacar adelante una implementación que se veía en peligro por un grupo político que se conoce en Colombia como el centro democrático que estaba a punto de acceder al poder o acababa de acceder al poder más bien nuevamente después de casi 25 años controlando las ideas políticas y el ejercicio de la fuerza en Colombia con una aplicación bélica del conflicto que es un conflicto social que atraviesa mucho más allá de lo que puede ser un problema de narcotráfico que vimos en toda América Latina Chucho me llamó y me dijo que con esa gran frustración que teníamos todo después de que nos habíamos trao la paz y ahora parecía que no la querían quitar entonces hicimos una exposición en el claustro de San Agustín de más de 600 imágenes que la hicimos muy rápido miramos una cantidad impresionante de imágenes miles y miles y miles de imágenes en donde traté de apoyar a Jesús en la elaboración de una narración muy precisa que le diera cuenta a la gente de que es estar allí en esos lugares en donde ocurre la guerra permanente por decadas generación tras generación de noche y de día sin parar y entonces son como relaciones, constelaciones llamé a esas acontecimientos detallados de la vida de las personas en donde se pueden ver los ojos de la gente, sus lágrimas sus gestos, su caminar el peso de la vida sobre sus hombros y la ausencia de sus seres queridos en el día a día como huyen como recogen la cosecha en medio de las armas o como no la pueden recoger en medio de las armas más bien y como buscan a sus seres queridos con sus propias manos como tratan de volver a sembrar la tierra donde han enterrado sus muertos como dicen los testimonios de Jesús y por supuesto como hacen que la vida continúe como comparten sus alimentos sus ritos de memoria que les permiten seguir viviendo y sobre todo como nos muestran el camino a no optar por la venganza son personas que tratan de mostrarles esa senda hacia la tranquilidad porque lo que quieren es estar en paz y también es muy impresionante ver que siempre están los niños tan vulnerables mujeres solas los hombres, niños y niñas por supuesto los hombres adultos están en el combate bien sea en la guerrilla bien sea en los grupos de autodefensas bien sea en el ejército y son las mismas madres y son todos hermanos pero ellos no combaten un proyecto para sí mismos están obedeciendo unas personas que están detrás de la escena detrás de la en la tramoya que finalmente es un sistema como decía yo donde hay unos intereses sobre la explotación económica de una tierra que es demasiado rica y por eso estas personas aquí son sometidas a todos estos peligros para poder ser expulsados de un territorio que es mucho más apetecido que la dignidad de sus vidas y por eso se los echa y donde llegan son inconvenientes, estorban si huyen a la ciudad allí también son mal recibidos y también reciben violencia y si retornan también vuelven a ser mal recibidos y son personas que han podido vivir 10 desplazamientos o más en unos pocos años entonces eso es lo que muestran estos libros y queremos ponerlo en la discusión porque la tranquilidad de estas personas no puede ser medida como una estrategia política tenemos que empezar a hacer acuerdos inmediatos y rápidos en donde el auxilio a una emergencia humanitaria desatendida e ignorada que debe ser el centro de la discusión y también debe ser el centro de una política internacional para relacionarse con estos países como los nuestros aceptando en una sociedad en este momento gracias a la justicia especial para la paz la comisión de la verdad y una serie de acontecimientos que ha obligado la sociedad colombiana a romper ese ebicio de orquestar silencio, la negación el acomodarse, el sacar provecho el insertarse en un sistema mafioso no en el sentido necesariamente de narcotráfico sino mafioso en el sentido de guetos de intereses cerrados oscuros y ocultos de una corrupción galopante en este momento estamos listos para hablar de eso y este libro viene a contribuir a hablar de eso pero hablar de eso desde los más vulnerables los que están sufriendo gracias Mario Ellen hablaste el claustro en San Agostín que es como la exhibición permanente de las fotografías de Chucho también está el documental en Netflix con el mismo nombre el testigo y ya has hablado un poquito sobre esto pero como fue ese proceso entre ustedes en la selección de las fotos como fue la edición de cada libro y como fue ese proceso con ustedes porque me imagino que fue bastante difícil sí, muy... yo creo que es un proceso muy espiritual aquí estamos la necesidad también de recuperar valores de entender lo sagrado que es la vida hemos perdido la total evaluación de lo que realmente vale y estas vidas son muy valiosas cada una es irrepetible y es imprescindible así como lo es la naturaleza que es donde estas personas tienen que sacar adelante sus vidas las aguas, los bosques, las selvas y este proceso de vernos en los ojos de todas estas personas que Jesús lleva visitando 30 años volviendo a estas comunidades es un proceso que locomueve a uno en las fibras de una comprensión que va mucho más allá de la información que va mucho más allá del historicismo y es realmente comprender como en un instante que es contacto con lo sagrado saber el valor que tiene esas vidas y pase lo que pase tenemos que comprometernos con una transformación que se haga una justicia sin aniquilarnos, sin armas porque después de ver esas armas ahí fundidas en el contra monumento de Doris Salcedo uno sabe que se puede y a partir de ese proceso de las FARC estamos construyendo una nueva sociedad es un proceso que hay que acabar de implementar no necesitamos firmar más la obligación del Estado es llegar con una inclusión a un proyecto económico con compartir recursos escasos y por supuesto con llevar más, hay mucho más que seguridad armada a los territorios vemos en esas imágenes de esas personas desplazadas una vez yo estaba en una visita de niños que van mucho al claustro de San Agustín una niña me tomó de la mano como de 10 años y me preguntó y no hay nadie que les pase un vaso de agua y estábamos frente a una imagen de unos niños desplazados y lo que había era ejército siempre llegué a ese ejército con armas es la obligación del Estado llegar con otras soluciones no hace falta suscribir más acuerdos por eso muchas gracias María Belén Chucho, te quería ya preguntar un poco sobre tu propia historia de vida tu familia también es víctima del conflicto armado de Antioquia y como esto te marcó la vida como te ha ayudado en tu camino con las comunidades, ese acompañamiento permanente que tienes con ellos y ellas si nos puedes compartir un poco de toda esa experiencia y como también llevas esos rostros, voces y testimonios contigo bueno, primero muchas gracias por esta invitación por estar aquí para dar testimonio para dar mi cuenta la presentación de estos 4 libros estos 4 volumes del testigo donde la página de atrás es la historia de las mujeres las mujeres que tienen una memoria que tienen vida esto es muy importante porque voy ahí a tomar algunas de estas fotos es como decir a la gente que nos escucha por la internet que esto no es... es un objetivo el hecho de que estas fotos están aquí tiene un significado porque estas son afro-indigenous las primeras víctimas de toda esta violencia que por tantos años nuestro país ha sufrido que obviamente ha tenido un impacto negativo en nuestras vidas y cuando me he preguntado y tengo que procurar mi memoria lo que tengo que decir yo nací en 1967 y 7 años antes yo nací mi grandad y mi grandad y mi grandad y mi grandad y mi grandad y mi grandad y estas son las consecuencias de la guerra and what war leads to that is not actually measured as a consequence of the conflict there was no FARC, no ELN but it was this bipartisan reality that we had at the at the 1960s during the 1960s that launched that took peasants to the cities and that's how my family came to the city of Medellin and they were peasants and my parents and my uncles were victims they never saw so hatred but that's the nature of our people and we have to think with hope we have to think that this should not happen again and for this reason I am the youngest child of a family where we have five sisters I am the man and I'm also the youngest but violence does not only affect one generation it affects two or maybe even three generations and I ended up starting journalism and since I started my studies to become a journalist I was very scared back in 1987 when many people were killed in the same university where I was standing human rights, advocates physicians, lawyers journalists they were killed in Colombia but at my university Universidad de Antioquia saw 17 students who were related to the defense of human rights we saw how they were killed and I was scared of writing and let's put it that way I mean let's put it this way while I started I met in the same university I met for example Carlos Pizarro, Leon Gomez they had just signed the peace agreement in 1990 they also killed Bernardo Jaramillo and I knew them I knew these guys at the university just as we are here now and I took pictures of them and one month afterwards they were killed and as a student who wants to provide your energy your knowledge to the country the way I found to do this was through the memory through memory against our capacity to forget so when I started to walk around Colombia I found this beauty of the territory that Colombia is because we have everything we have snow peaks we have jungles, forests rivers there are 65 languages that are spoken some of them are jeopardized but Colombia remains a classist country where peasants are stripped from their from their lands and for that reason I would like to present I wanted to present all these images that I wanted to share with you from the broken mirror to say well this is what we have to stop so that the next generations can understand that the signing of the peace agreement with the far gorilla the largest group that committed so many atrocities in Colombia as well as all the other armed groups paramilitaries, gorilla groups even the army itself but sometimes we don't have let's say we don't have ice for this so I would like Matteo my friend in the master room maybe he could display some of these images so that we can start and say these images that speak about the broken mirror we normally we only see those who make noises with weapons but behind the weapons which is what Maria Belén was saying and that's what we have here in the books we have the fragments, the pieces broken mirror of the Colombian war there is the lives the many lives of women and women who have been silenced and we have to present it as a book we wanted to present it as a book with the contribution of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia which is the very same university where my dad when he was a peasant found a job and thanks to him and my mother I named them because it's my way to honor the lives of two peasants who taught me to see a country with love a country that was fragmented with all the different violences but all these violences have come from the political class, from the ruling class from the ruling elite of Colombia that for so many years have looted the resources they have stolen the national budget the main need is that everyone in a country that is dominated by a Catholicism everyone needs to understand that the money cannot be stolen that shall not kill because the bad decisions that they make and when they say bad is because when they steal the budget of a country they I mean everyone loses the black communities and not only because they lose their lives but they also recruited they're also recruited into all these different militias and by looking at these pictures when I see the face of a woman as Matilde Sanchez or the son of Guadel Padilla black people, indigenous people the faces of our peasants and I say when is this going to stop? so we thought about this work the Universidad Nacional edited with the support of Maria Belén Saldi Barra and from a team that came together to give a name and a face to all these victims to understand who are the ones who were stripped of their lives why or how they take their chickens their animals, their dogs in so many places of Colombia you have to name them because we have to name them because they cannot remain just a figure and if I present them in a book we have 95% of the victims we name every single one of them and if I can know that the girl was carrying a chicken if I can know that her name is Lorena Lorena is with her mother Carmen Tulia who were displaced by criminal action in this case from the paramilitaries and I see the faces of the beauty of the Nukakmaku, the NASA all these indigenous communities all these girls which is noida who have to flee because of the war but cannot even take their pigs, their dogs they cannot flee with them and I see them crossing rivers and we have that stoic face or even beautiful faces of a country that has been shaken where we have to solve these conflicts and when I say to solve the conflict I'm referring to the armed conflict because a conflict can help a country that's conducted through peace but not through the weapons which is what I have found in so many places of Colombia and that is the reason why I'm showing all these images here to tell you that all these portraits speak volumes of this wealth the wealth of our country but I cannot I don't want to see our people fleeing any longer being victims of kidnapping by either one group or the other being killed their schools destroyed and the armed groups as an expression of this country that has a faith what a faith where killing people ends up being announced and I even denounced the Colombian church because they seem to be divided when it comes to working for peace and I see this in the chest of the fighters I see the weapons and I see the religious symbols and for this reason it is so important to develop this project to say we have to say enough of all these loots into the natural resources not only it is important our lives are not the only things that are important the lives of our peasants are also important many of the portraits many of the pictures you have seen many of them are in our books and we tell stories to say that this land that is so rich in the picture in these pictures well we have done this exercise we have discussed this topic a little bit he says that I exaggerated a little bit but explaining the war is very simple showing the uniforms the weapons the soldiers I believe that the conflict can have many explanations especially we know that it is an economic system it is a political system needless to say there are also other explanations that go beyond the reasonable these things such as the parades the weapons generate this kind of attraction that motivates this desire towards this love towards this attraction towards the confrontation and uniform some militia so we did this exercise that whenever there were military officers or illegal armed country groups they had to be shown against the victim and they were shown as victims themselves many kids who were victims of forced recruitment international law considers this a crime I mean a kid who is 16 and gets recruited or drafted that's just horrible and that is what we show here men in arms and I think what Maria Belen just said is very important I've showed some images with religious symbols that are not in the books because I think that less than 1% of the photographs have armed groups in them this was an editorial decision that we made because of more than 700 images that are in the four volumes of the book dedicated this is to honor the memory of the victims the people who are missing but also of people who resist within their territories and when Maria Belen says that there are some people armed in these photos it's very few of them and they are really shown as victims of the same war they are children they are sons and daughters of people from rural areas who have lost a lot and I would like to do make a reflection right now the story that I'm going to tell you which that the book is to say that the territory that I've walked through in Colombia this has been the territory that has received the most violence the region that has received the most violence is Uruguay so I would like to show the mountainous zone of this area with San José de Apartado is a victim for many years of from all the different armed actors but especially victim to paramilitary groups and the Colombian military who many times allied with the institutions of the country the paramilitaries did to remove these violence from different parts of the territory and what we are seeing is the ocean we are seeing the Gulf how close the Gulf is we are seeing where people are fleeing by the thousands thousands of people are being displaced who are trying to get to Central America to get to the United States and I would like to show you some images from a community in Uruguay these are images from 1997 where the campesinos are the peasants who grow cacao and avocado had to in the middle of the advancing of the military in their territory they had to cultivate their cacao accompanied by the Red Cross in 2005 I had to accompany the community because the paramilitaries the brigade number 17 committed a massacre and they killed eight people three of them were under 11 years old there were three boys and one girl that were killed and to accompany this community that I had known since 96 or 97 this helped me understand that these men and women had created a peace community to say no to the guerrilla groups in their recruitment no to the paramilitary groups who tried to remove them from the land to turn that land over to investors in the banana industry and the livestock industry or to corrupt politicians who have always had interest in that territory and these photographs talk about they don't just show the beauty of this beautiful territory that is rich in water and wildlife the only thing they've wanted is to live in peace and after this massacre these are not isolated photos they're all inside the books and I would like to present them very quickly so that you can understand what has happened in this community until the story of a girl that's called Camila and Luisa who's in the tree their families had to flee after this massacre a few years later a captain of the military who participated in the crimes of brigade number 17 with a paramilitary group at the service of a narco pillar military actor these images become testimony of the pain and the humiliation that they've experienced in this community of the people who have to flee who build walls with the names of the victims in order to not forget them and the loneliness that a lot of these communities have to bury their loved ones in 12 years later in 2017 years after the massacre in the mountains of Cordova during the peace process I found the group 508 laying down their arms this is where I accompanied the process and I found a young girl who's carrying a weapon on the left side and she this is Camila Camila had a story that was linked to that community San Jose de Apartado and Camila in her uniform she had a news article and this news clip spoke of the death of her father of her siblings of her family her younger siblings were 20 months old and 5 years old when they were killed what you are seeing right now on the screen this is the story this is in the books and she had a memory of the day when her younger brother Santiago was baptized and at the end of 2006 she joined the guerrilla groups this is 20 months after she was assassinated 20 months later she went to the mountain because she wanted she wanted revenge when she showed me her photos and I found her she came back to Medellin and I looked through my archives and I discovered that that girl who was wearing the uniform in my photo had been profiled 12 years ago in 2005 and she was planting a cross where her her parent, her father and her older siblings are buried and Camila is in the middle of this photo and I understood why a lot of people take up arms and why a lot of people become victimizers these are the sons and daughters of the violence and so the reflection that I want us all to make is the following I went back I went back where people were coming out to lay their arms down to lay their weapons down and I passed through the hydroelectric dam and Camila is the second person in line in this photo the second person but in front of Camila there's a man who's they call JJ or Jota Jota he's carrying a gun that has the peace flag on it and JJ or Jota Jota I had seen him with a guitar but he was also carrying a gun that is produced here in the United States this is a Barrett .50 and these are guns that are produced here in this country and they end up in all different parts of Latin America because sometimes they get to compare military groups criminal groups linked to drug trafficking and so I understand that war is a business war is a business that harms some people that kills young boys and girls in their schools and it kills them in the streets but in our countries it kills people in the rural areas and until when are weapons going to continue to be what sustains politicians who receive the benefits from associations who take resources because we can't accept that when I see this man with this gun a Barrett .50 and many other weapons that are produced in different parts of the world but behind Camila and JJ there's also a young person a young person who just had a baby who just gave birth she has a baby in her arms whose name is Manuel and they want to bet on peace they believe in peace and peace is like a baby that's just been born and of course peace has enemies in many places within Colombia Maria Belén was just saying this there are people who want to destroy peace and peace is like a baby what does a baby need what does a country that's building peace need it needs a lot of education health it needs food but above all else it needs love I'm sure that in our country there are many people who are working with from love and working with love to change things and our children hate and revenge Camila in that encampment where they're laying their arms down she is teaching her daughter Nicole to walk I told Camila Camila please you have to take pictures of your daughter now that you are putting your arms down because Camila told me I want to live in peace I want to have a little bit of land I don't want a large plantation I want a small farm where I have my hens my cows I want to cultivate and months after this process Camila sent me a video from the mountains of Uroba and I want you to see this video right now I went to look for Camila after seeing this video Morocho had just been born and I told her I'm going to go visit you because your daughter is growing up and you deserve to live in peace so when I got to those mountains where they had a little piece of land which doesn't belong to her it belongs to her stepfather her partner also signed the piece of cords and his name is Neymar like the soccer player so I went to get to know the life of a woman who never should have taken up arms who never should have lost her parents but who deserves to give love to her daughter I saw her I saw her picking cacao which could be exported to the United States and it could sweeten up your breakfast with a chocolate it could turn into a little piece of chocolate the life of campesinos and rural workers is so beautiful when they can live in peace people who fled their rural communities understand the importance of producing food Camila's story, as I've said is in the books months later or a year later in 2019 I went to see Camila graduate and here she is with a lot of other people who signed the piece of cords in San José de Apartado receiving her diploma for elementary school that she receives with her friend Luis Fernando and there she is with her daughter who's growing up who I continue to watch grow up and not just to cultivate cacao, also corn which is a beautiful product from our beloved America on May 13th Wacocharif turned six years old I didn't take this photo another woman took it and she sent it to me from the top of one of the mountains in the Sierra de Aviva to tell me that life is going on life continues if you want to know what happened to the mother of the child Stefania and her baby in Manuel I also went to find them and I saw that Manuel was growing up and he has a younger daughter named Sofia and if you want to know what's happened with the man who had the Barrett .50 who is also carrying a guitar together with his gun I want to present him to you a man who is cultivating plantains, he's trying to build a project with his family signatories of the peace accords and they have a stand to also sell tilapia fish so I'd like to show you the image a photo that I took before the peace accords I want to show you these because she had two children before joining the guerrilla movement but when the peace accords were signed I would like to show you the composer JJ and Jorlis with this man with this composer what I would like to tell you is that one year after I did this there was another baby on the way Jota Jota his name is Archimedes Alvarez and with Archimedes he had a baby and it's such a paradox for this auditorium the kid that Jota Jota is carrying there is another baby there but the baby boy Jota Jota is carrying it's called John Kennedy Alvarez and his little sister is called Paula Andrea at the end and when I say at the end of this presentation this exhibit to speak about the books this image that has about four years in the presidential palace of Colombia that is part of the exhibit of Maria Belén the creator of the exhibit and the president of this project this picture doesn't have to do with guerrilla fighters with the militaries with anyone we don't want any more people that I mean what we want to do is to generate a reflection in not only Colombia but also in spaces like this one where we may support and we should always support the peace projects in a country that is tired exhausted that we are always the ones on the losing side on the looser side so we have to bet on peace the peace so that we can so that all these people from all the regions of Colombia may have a future I am a journalist I am a human rights champion my service has to be geared my work has to be geared towards our people not any political economic or military elite and I believe that the dream of building this peace is very urgent and we want everyone who is here and everyone who is listening to us may turn into allies thank you Chucho these all these stories are very meaningful Camila's story all the stories and this is a message it speaks volumes of the resilience of all these groups so what are the final reactions of these resistance these resilience for the Colombian people and this hope for peace well I feel that we have to look ahead that's the reason why we have to look violence in the eye we have to try to overcome violence resilience from the victims is a fact but I believe that we shall not get very comfortable with this idea we have to do something we have to give them the possibility to access to the land in other words we have to give them land we have to create we have to come up with newer ways of property ownership of the land so we have to reinvent all these systems of for quick reparations we have to provide them with the opportunity so that they can actually have a place in our society we can no longer just do nothing I believe this would be unacceptable we have to move forward towards giving these people who are living in these such rich territories we have to provide them with more much more than just the possibility of joining a militia an armed group or the slavery that they are subject to the violence through the mafia and this requires this demands something different from just doing nothing it demands it requires the courage to take on the responsibility of including them yes I know there are several people who are wondering through the internet who are wondering how can we get these books maybe you don't know yet from October the 20th next Thursday when the exhibit El Testigo will tour four years next to the office next to the presidential palace in Colombia we created a web page called El Testigo Coelección and people there they will be able to purchase these four volumes and these books have to be a tool so that they can reach many places schools, universities there was the report of the commission of the truth was published it is very important for the country to know this but with this project that is done with the Universidad Nacional where the Norwegian Embassy also participated we also received support I mean we summoned a group of entrepreneurs to help us with the publishing we also received help from someone who lives Mr. Carlos Alcesio Paz Bautista from the city of Cali he supported this initiative as well and with the Universidad Nacional this project has to reach the classrooms this has to become a tool so that people that in Colombia or here as decision makers in terms of budgets in terms of the support given to the construction of peace these books have to have to be included in these discussions and you were asking me about what can we do about this and I would say that we have to look at each other in this broken mirror of the Colombian conflict in these pictures when I was saying 90 or 95% of the pictures are displayed in these books they have the names of the victims because I cannot speak about I can't stand people who speak about statistics about millions of people who were kidnapped thousands who were killed people who never got back working towards peace means that those who signed the agreement I mean the last peace agreement that was signed in Colombia with the FAR guerrillas we have to ask them where are those who were kidnapped but the Colombian army also has to say where they are first causing of mine when missing he disappeared he was just a worker we all demand things from the guerrillas but we are not demanding things from the army so in some cases it's like we turn I mean it's like we don't pay attention to what the army does and we only focus on what the guerrilla does there are many people who are related to all these criminal enterprises who took part in the robbery of this land the land has always been one of the main characters of violence in the country and our peasants just as when I showed Camila I remember my 80 year old dad cultivating yucca or lemons or oranges with love and in Colombia everyone needs to live in peace but there are people who have always been the ones who are displaced so voting for peace building or coming up with a national agreement when we speak today when they say that we have to be armed group to generate a bigger peace, a larger peace that would be the umbrella of a new country to respect human rights to respect the lives of those who have been excluded so we need the alliance of so many people some of them are here today and have been with us throughout all these years and I would like to name all of them and I know some of them are from Colombia, others work for human rights organizations from the United States but I would like to tell you you have the power to influence with your members of the congress with people from the State Department arms only leave pain in their wake and we have to build a country of opportunities of equity and we have to strengthen our justice system that needs to change and when I say change I mean to say that it has to be a justice that is equal for everyone in fulfillment of the constitution and the different and the many laws that we have in Colombia because if the law if the law does not serve everyone I mean they are some people just are awarded and those who are the sons of peasants they are sentenced for many years in jail and that is not fair so we have to strengthen justice we have to provide education and opportunities to this country so that everyone can walk together towards peace that's right thank you very much for your comments I would like to invite my colleagues Miniam and Karla to this segment in the audience if you have any questions please you can state your name and make your questions thank you I am Angelo Cardona I am a representative for Latin America for the international office for the peace I would like to thank you I felt like my heart was breaking by your account but if we look at the future of what we are discussing what do you think of the total peace plan how could it be implemented how can we support it from here those of us who are here how can we support this initiative of President Petro you mean are you referring to total peace is that what you said well it is important to continue respecting the agreements as the government is doing and part of the implementation of these agreements needs to is about providing these communities with guarantees that these kind of things will not happen again this is key Professor Gutierrez from the Universidad Nacional is right when he says that a third period of violence can be very close to Colombia and because there are other actors who are generating violence and this is a responsibility of all the falls of the state and the government of course they have to take on this challenge to use all its means to attack violence peace is the most valuable asset of any given society and it is the ultimate goal of a state and it is the goal of everyone that's our lives, that's our project that's our human project so we do not need to consult anyone to implement policies and strategies formulas and negotiations in order to prevent this violence, this is an obligation of the Colombian state so I think that's what president Petro is proposing and the members of the senate under the leadership of senator Iván Cepeda it is the same thing as what was done with the previous peace agreement with the FARC but perhaps in a clearer way maybe we have to address the humanitarian crisis well we have to address the humanitarian crisis and we have to avoid and we have to prevent this population to continue being used as the focus of the war and ceasefire is not weakness we can't have a ceasefire we can't have a truce without having to sign anything in the congress, that's my understanding and in that regard I feel it is important to support this we have to support anyone who works for peace and the massive procurement of lands that they are proposing this is going to be beneficial for everyone so if we have something that we can provide we can we will do so because we have to build a project where these people will have access to the land without being slaves without being affected by war or violence or somebody else's interest so this is a huge challenge and I feel that the time is of the essence and solutions have to be found very fast I mean these people have been waiting all along for these restitutions and I think we have to implement this immediately and it is better to be wrong when we offer justice than being wrong without even trying so I don't believe there are easy solutions or safe solutions but as a society we have to commit ourselves as I said before to providing reparations and to stop all these attacks on this life can you please tell me your name again Angelo I would like to elaborate on what Maria Valenz is saying I am going to use the example of a bojaya this is a territory that at the end of the 1990s so many confrontations, clashes between the black and indigenous communities they were they lost a lot and think about this there is a book of violence in Colombia that was published in 1962 that speaks about what happened in the 1950s so there was a commission similar to the commission in the truth that was led in Colombia by three people, Orlando Falz Borda there was a bishop Monseñor Usman Campos and a lawyer, Eduardo Maña and in that document in the second volume that was published in 1964 they spoke about how several towns of that region were born in 1952 born in January 1952 Mojalla Bebará 50 years afterwards in 2002 they had to suffer this ordeal again by the FARC they destroyed the church of the town but also because there was a and there was a combat with the paramilitary forces and the state that was aware of the things that could happen because there were calls for help days before this happened from the church, from the United Nations from the office of the homeless person they alerted this and this went unheard in the church on May the 2nd 2002 79 civilians were killed most of them 47 of them were children so I documented this in the books there is the story because I was the first photographer and journalist who got there in the church with the missioneros if I tell you what's happening today in Mojalla where a leader such as Lader Palacios is from who was a member of the commission of the truth after the signing of the peace agreement and the guerrilla the FARC guerrilla turned their weapons this territory was occupied by the ELN and also new paramilitary groups called AGC also known as Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia so what do I mean to say with this? I understand what they want to do with the new government we have to we have to negotiate with everyone because if I negotiate just with the ELN guerrilla then the guerrilla leaves then the AGC will cover will take everything or maybe another group so we have to involve them all so that we can have a contract let's put it that way so that all those illegal groups may just drop their weapons but also the Colombian state not only shall recover the control of the weapons but shall be present not as an army only but may be able to provide well-being to these communities possibilities for development to take all these other products because you know they have pineapple they produce many different fruits lemons, oranges, apples but also because there are peace builders in the picture that you are seeing right now there is a man who fled Bojaya in May with his family his name is Eugenio he fled with his wife Felipe this picture was taken on September 2nd, 2002 17 years afterwards I went there to look for Eugenio and I found him I found him when they were commemorating 17 years of the Bojaga tragedy and I find him I find him with his beard with gray hairs in his beard and with a baby in his arms and so I say to Eugenio is this magical realism from Colombia you're getting older and your daughter didn't grow up and he says to me aha, chucho no this is my granddaughter this is my granddaughter this is the daughter of Sandra Patricia the girl that he was carrying in his arms 17 years earlier the next day when I went to look for Eugenio again I took a photo of him with Sandra Patricia and the daughter in their arms my granddaughter the life of our communities goes on and people always dream of peace that was what these people taught me since they were very young so when I continue to travel through the country I'm not looking to profile another tragedy my dream would be to go back and see the people who were trampled by violence including political violence and see them just like Eugenio in another life project because the war really has ended thank you Chucho and Maria Belen other questions yes, right here in the black shirt hello, thank you thank you for this incredible work this encyclopedic work I wanted to ask you Chucho I'm sorry, my name is José Luis Sanz from El Faro I wanted to ask you what's missing from the way that Colombian media and international media have talked about the war and have talked about the peace process sorry, what's missing? yes, what do you think is missing from it when you look at Colombian territory and you see the international media talking about Colombia and about the peace process what do you think is missing from it? thank you very much my colleague because I know the work of El Faro and I am in solidarity with you all from the bottom of my heart because you have suffered persecution accusations from the Buquele government and I encourage you to keep going because journalism in its essence is the search for truth to be close to the people this question that you're asking me I think that we need to be a lot closer to the truth to the truth of the victims we have to be much closer to that strength and that dignity that they have look when a lot of massacres have happened in Colombia the people know where the tragedy comes from and sometimes they can signal a name who is responsible but the people will also say behind those people there are interests of people in power people with political and economic power in the region and they'll tell you and they'll tell you very fast but sometimes justice takes many many years even decades to past sentences and many times when people who are telling the truth the mothers and fathers who have suffered who have suffered forced disappearance and murder or being evicted from their lands a lot of the time they die waiting for justice sometimes justice happens very fast when there are political and economic power behind it but when it's humble poor people who are asking for justice it takes a long time we honor I honor and Maria Belen and I honor I think in the books and the prologues that Maria Belen does she says we honor the journalists the men and women the brave men and women in Colombia because they exist and there are many of them and sometimes they're in these regions and on the periphery of Colombia and these are the people who are making history and telling stories and follow up on those stories when justice takes a long time giving face and name and I have a lot of people to thank for doing this work journalists have contributed so much to memory and I have to honor that memory not only the people who have educated me and trained me but people who have given me testimony people who have given me visual testimony or they have narrated their stories that is the voice that's in each one of these books this plurie ethnic and multicultural country sometimes it's invisible to many people because a lot of people believe them seems to be European descendants and really we are a magnificent mix of many different cultures and we should feel proud we should feel proud of being the descendants of indigenous peoples of black people and some people who came to our territory some people pillaged but others knew how to honor life so that's what journalism should do walk alongside the people one more question thank you very much for your time for sharing this work with us I am Colombian and I'm doing a master's degree here in conflict resolution and peace and something that impacted me is that Colombia is a very racist country and most of the victims the first victims of the conflict in Colombia are the indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities and this is something that's not talked about a lot in Bogota so in your experience your experience has helped bringing to light this racism to people who are the most privileged and the most European people in the country well I think there was a process of desegregation right of course these are racialized communities because the concept of race can be very debated right now but they are oppressed peoples and they are oppressed precisely because there is a structure a structure that wants to manage different parts of the territory and wants to restrict these populations these are operations of displacement and dispossession so to dispossess first you have to segregate and that's where the racialization comes in and that's exactly why we have to identify ourselves and pay homage to these people who we have allowed to be excluded from the social project and this is not just Colombian this is the entire planet we have seen images of people crossing the border between Venezuela and Colombia with babies and children who are walking naked and without shoes passing through all different climate zones coldest climates and the hottest climates and they get to Darian forest I don't know if you've seen the images in recent days that are very painful these are Biblical images and it's the same in the Mediterranean in Africa the whole planet this is a racialization a process of racialization oppression against these populations you know we can be sitting here talking about these issues but maybe what we're missing or what we're not doing is looking at these people in their eyes and knowing that this could be your child, your son or your daughter this is what's going on in the world what else can we do we start with young people in every community and commit ourselves to that work we have to go to the rural areas and we have to talk to the people there as a friend told me once an indigenous friend he said we're not that poor and we're not that far away either okay my language is always to unite image and the word the photographs that I've taken over many years to tell you that this work from since starting next Thursday the 20th you can get the collection of testimonies on that page so you can go to many parts of the country it can go to many parts of the country and hopefully the world and help people reflect because how many times have I accompanied these brave people in a country that has experienced so much destruction and I want to talk about a photograph taken in Granada in December of 2000 where there were people from the communities but also human rights leaders and we went together to be in solidarity with the people with a community that had been the victim of paramilitary action but also the FARC and people were marching in the midst of destruction I'm never going to be able to forget this couple that in the middle of so much destruction got married right there in the very community where the flag of peace territory is hanging there's you know you see the white wedding dress a woman getting married meanwhile people were searching for the dead and you can see a sign on the side that says everyone loses from war we all lose the war let's help each other to build a peace process in that town Granada I went a few months later because they organized a march men women boys and girls they had bricks on their shoulders they carried bricks on their shoulders to build to rebuild their town each person every person to me this was an invitation for all of us to lay a brick down and this is something that we're each doing from different spaces within academia with development agencies people from different universities and this tour that we're going to do from Washington to Boston to New York from within academia with leaders with human rights defenders and a lot of people who have had to flee Colombia to find a better life if we all work together like we did to make these books we can surely build a large house and a large peace where we can all be united this is the dream of building peace I would like to close with two photographs because the woman who got married in the midst of tragedy Beatriz Garcia and Oscar Higaldo as time went on I saw their two children grow up I saw the people of their community march for peace and I saw people return to their land and to show you all again something from a few years later the couple understood that love is more powerful than any war when I see Beatriz and Oscar when I see Vanessa and Santiago living on a small piece of land I told them I want to take a picture with everything that you have so they posed with a cow and they said bolita come here and so you can see the cow in this photo there were two geese that chased me more than the dogs did and they also had names Evelio and Emelda three dogs and Lupe and there was also a hen who didn't have a name and they said since he doesn't have a name we're going to call we're going to call him chucho like you and I laughed but I understood that when a campesino has little has very little they give a name to everything I'm going to know what the milk tastes like from a cow that has a name bolita and so I would like to pay homage to the men and women from many different parts of Colombia from different territories within the country who during the pandemic and after experiencing the war if they can live in peace they do it and they do it with love so that each each lettuce or potato or carrot or egg or milk reaches our tables this is what it means to be able to live in peace if campesinos of men and women can live in peace those of us who live in cities we could do it as well but for that to happen we need decent policies and we need honest government officials and humane government officials not people who come to power to pillage our territory thank you Chucho and Maria Belen for your reflections I congratulate you for this impressive and honest and beautiful difficult work thank you to the public who's here with us today to our virtual audience to our entire team to our collaborators Wola and Atlantic Council I would like to invite Jimena Sanchez from Wola to give a few words of closing before we go to the reception it's going to be a reception first of all I would like to thank Chucho, Maria Belen Atlantic Council and everyone who have made this event possible the book is not just a book with pictures but a connection to many things that cannot be put into words we can see the true essence we see the victims in the center we see the diversity the social economic even the generational diversity of Colombia I congratulate you because you are one of the first one of the most consistent artists that has made this a reality visible of these people also a memory for the victims because many people say that when they suffer these traumas they don't remember everything and they don't have anything that they can touch and this is very important so that we can so that they can not only survive this situation but also to find some sort of closure if you like so this is how much to their resistance against war and artistically speaking it shows war it shows violence and the beauty the visual beauty in the worst moments and in everyday life it is a work of humanity and I would like to congratulate you despite everything and of course the dignity it puts the dignity of everyone above thank you for risking your life for so many years to focus on this and for the way in which you have created relations with the subjects and showing their trajectories, the consequences their resistance their wrongs, their rights and the new opportunities that peace may open your activism against violence and about the beauty of life is something that is just amazing once again thank you Maria Belen for editing these works that many people can be touched with this this is a very good moment the State Department Anthony Blinken was in Colombia last week he ratified the support of the United States to the peace agreement with the FARC and he also announced that the United States is the first guarantor of the peace agreement which is something that we hope that many countries will follow this is just a reflection for everyone in light of all these wars and how we are connected from here with this in political and economic terms and what can we do in order to build something very different the San Jose massacre and I mention it because it was a massacre that was very galvanizing here in the United States that led to a lot of loving a lot of pressure and to change the balance of the support given by the United States less military support and more economic support so these images help us a lot in this regard so it is important that Colombia becomes a reference so that the rest of the world may see that it is possible if we change the mindset towards peace and many conflicts of the world we may see this so once again thank you everyone thanks to the audience and I would like to invite everyone to the reception that I think is that way thank you well I always ask for 30 extra seconds or 60 seconds when I see this picture of the bricks and I understand many people many people contributed to these to those who were part of this project I would like to thank them I am not mentioning one of them but all of them and our families for having provided emotional support for giving us the strength to continue walking because it is necessary it is important to keep the hope alive we need lots of love and I would also like to tell Colombia because here Maria Belén even my friend Jimena we are members of a group in Colombia that is called Let's Defend Peace and I know that some of them are connected from Colombia and I would like to send them a big hug because when I think of Let's Defend Peace somehow symbolizes the fact that they are members of the family to build this country that needs this coming together so much thank you so much, Maria Belén thank you for being here and thank you for having trusted in this work thank you for using your talents all the days and nights to make this possible thank you