Eleven victims of Colombia’s armed conflict arrived in Cuba on Saturday to negotiate how victims will be treated in the event the Colombian government and leftist FARC rebels agree to end 50 years of violence. One victim will be taking part from a prison in Colombia.
The group is the fourth of five to take part in the talks and represents victims of several of the conflict’s many violent actors.
During the presentation of the latest victim representatives, The United Nations’ coordinator in Colombia, Fabrizio Hochschild, reiterated that “groups associated with the paramilitaries” of the officially-defunct AUC have continued to threaten victims taking part in the peace talks.
“The threats continue and are generating fear in a country where human rights defenders are getting killed. These are not empty words because actions have taken place,” said Hochschild.
So far, 48 of 60 victims have traveled to Cuba to talk to the FARC and government representatives.
Tulio Murillo
Victim of the state
Murillo is an imprisoned FARC fighter who has seen his human rights violated in the condition of imprisoned combatant. The guerrilla represents former rebels held in Colombian prisons. In spite of being the member of a victimizer group, the FARC member was recognized as victim after General Luis Mendieta, a victim of the FARC, was allowed to join talks to represent military victims of FARC war crimes.
Nora Elisa Velez
Victim of the FARC
Velez is a gay rights activist who, together with her family, was displaced from her hometown in southwest Colombia by FARC guerrillas. She will be representing the gay minority that’s been impacted by the 50 years of violence.
Maria Zabala
Victim of the AUC
Zabala’s husband and son were assassinate by members of the AUC paramilitary group after refusing to join the ranks of the now-defunct anti-guerrilla army. The woman was also displaced from her land by paramilitary fighters and represents displaced victims at the peace talks.
Jineth Bedoya
Victim of both the FARC and AUC
Bedoya is a journalist for El Tiempo newspaper and on several occasions victimized by one of the parties involved in the conflict. Paramilitaries kidnapped and raped her while she was reporting on the conflict. The FARC later kidnapped her too and has threatened her life on several occasions after her release.
Luz Marina Cuchumbe
Victim of the state
Cuchumbe’s son was one of more than 4,000 victims of extrajudicial executions by the Colombian army. After his execution, Cuchumbe’s son was dressed up as a guerrilla and falsely presented as a combat kill.
Wilfredo Landa
Victim of the FARC
Landa is a community representative from Tumaco, a troubled city in the southwest of Colombia. He and his family were forced to flee after the FARC threatened to kill him.
Maria Jackeline Rojas
Victim of the FARC, ELN and AUC
Rojas is a humen rights defender from the Magdalena Medio region in central-north Colombia. Her father was killed by the FARC, her partner by the ELN and her brother by paramilitary fighters. After becoming a women victim’s representative, Rojas was deemed a “military target” by the AUC.
Lisinia Collazos
Victim of the AUC
Collazos is a representative of the indigenous Nasa people who has been tortured and displaced from her land in southwest Colombia by the AUC. Her husband was assassinated by the paramilitaries.
German Graciano
Victim of the FARC, AUC and state
Graciano is the legal representative of the San Apartado peace community in northern Colombia. This community has been victim of numerous threats by both the FARC, paramilitary groups and the army, particularly after a massacre carried out by paramilitaries spurred the community to declare itself neutral in the conflict.
Guillermo Murcia
Victim of the FARC
Murcia is an anti-landmine activist who survived stepping on a suspected FARC landmine in 2005. Following this incident, the victim became and active campaigner against landmines and has supported several reconciliation initiatives in northeast Colombia.
Alberto Tarache
Victim of the FARC and AUC
Tarache joined the AUC paramilitary group when he was a child in response to FARC threats. The child soldier left the paramilitary ranks when he was 17.
Juan Carlos Villamizar
Victim of the AUC
Villamizar is a leftist student leader who was forced to leave Colombia after the AUC threatened to kill him over his political activism.