Victims of a 2003 FARC attack on a Bogota club that killed 36 people asked Pope Francis to take part in the reconciliation ceremony to “send a message we and our divided and polarized country need.”
The FARC made peace with the state in November last year after more than 52 years of war. While victims have broadly expressed their support for the peace process, society as a whole has not.
The victims of the Nogal club bombing also support the process and have been preparing a ceremony in which FARC commanders formally ask forgiveness as the first act of victim reparation.
One of the victims, Bertha Lucia Fries, asked the pope via YouTube to take part in the ceremony in order to increase support for the peace process that is met with resistance, mainly by conservatives.
“We would like you, more than anyone, to be present. Your presence will help us send a message that we need and our country that is so divided and do polarized needs.
FARC victim Bertha Lucia Fries
The pope is expected to visit Colombia in September and could support the victims who need broad support for peace in general if the peace process with the FARC is to bear fruit.
Achieving this has been complicated by Colombia’s politicians and mass media, some of whom are accused of having committed war crimes or have financed paramilitary groups.
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Several FARC victims have already complained about the lack of solidarity from their compatriots, something the Nogal bombing victims hope the pope can reverse.
In some cases, victims who have expressed support for the peace process were subjected to verbal abuse and in some cases accused of being a member of the group that originally victimized them.
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According to Fries, the pope’s participation in their ceremony would send “a message in which hatred vanishes, a message in which we, the victims and the victimizers, show that we are reaching a new stage, a new humanity in this country.”
The Bogota elite club bombing, in which 36 people were killed and 200 were injured, is one of the more recent and emblematic wounds left by the guerrillas.
While Bogota’s wealthy Nogal neighborhood may be the least representative of all Colombia, the victims of the 2003 bombing most certainly are, according to Fries.
“There were boys, girls, families, minimum wage employees, professionals who have nothing but their knowledge,” she said in the video.
What Fries and her fellow victims hope to achieve is a national reflection on the peace process, in particular in forgiving the multiple victimizers in the conflict.
More than one will ask: Forgiveness? What does forgiveness mean? Why, if they forgive, others who weren’t ever even scratched, haven’t forgiven? This will be a major reflection and a major message to humanity, to the country and its fragmented sectors.
FARC victim Bertha Lucia Fries
With the presence of the pope and the cooperation of Colombia’s commercial mass media, the Nogal bombing victims might achieve that goal.