The global and Latin American organizations of memorial sites expelled Colombia’s National Center for Historical Memory (CNMH) over its far-right director’s denial of his country’s armed conflict.
The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience (ICSC) expelled the Colombian organization “attending the concerns” of the Latin American network of memorial sites RESLAC over far-right CNMH director Dario Acevedo.
The CNMH was expelled over Acevedo’s refusal to acknowledge the armed conflict and other “exclusionary and biased pronouncements” made by the controversial director, the ICSC wrote.
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The memorial sites’ organization wrote Acevedo in September last year to inform him that, unless he complied with the organization’s standards, Colombia’s organization to commemorate the victims of the armed conflicts would be expelled.
International Coalition of Sites of Conscience
After having received no response from Acevedo, the CNMH was expelled from the international organizations.
Acevedo told local media said he didn’t sent a response to the ICLC, but to the Colombian Network of Memorial Sites that, like the CNMH until recently, also is a member of the global organization.
“The error was not to have sent it directly to the international organization,” the controversial CNMH director said.
The CNMH’s expulsion from the international network of memorial sites is only the latest of many controversies triggered by Acevedo.
The controversial director was appointed in 2018 by President Ivan Duque, whose far-right Democratic Center party also denies the armed conflict.
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Until Acevedo’s appointment, the CNMH was a highly respected institution frequently cited by the international press, for example about the number of victims of the armed conflict.