The Hope that Unites Us
Participants of the regional exchange on truth, justice and reparation in front of the stone monument created in memory of victims of the armed conflict in Peru.
VOLUME 31, NUMBER 2, JUNE 2009
In July 2008, Inter Pares staff Nadia Faucher and Karen Cocq travelled to Peru to participate in a regional exchange on truth, justice, and reparation (TJR), organized by Inter Pares’ main counterpart in Latin America – Project Counselling Service (PCS). Nadia and Karen were among a group of thirty-five participants from Peru, Guatemala, and Colombia who spent a week together sharing their experiences with armed conflict, and learning about strategies of the victims’ movement to push for redress.
The internal armed conflicts in Peru, Guatemala, and Colombia changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals and their families. In Peru, between 1980 and 2000, over 69,000 people were killed or disappeared, and close to 600,000 internally displaced – mostly Quechua-speaking indigenous people. In Guatemala, the 36-year-long conflict that ended in 1996 left over 200,000 people killed or disappeared, and up to two million internally and externally displaced, most of them indigenous. In Colombia, though the conflict’s intensity has diminished, and space to address reconciliation has opened through the demobilization of some paramilitary groups, leaders of communities and social movements continue to receive death threats, and civilians are forcibly displaced from their homes every day.
We participated in this exchange as part of Inter Pares’ and PCS’ joint regional program on truth, justice, and reparation (TJR). TJR refers to policies and programs used by societies and countries that have experienced armed conflict when, as part of reconciliation and peacebuilding efforts, they seek to redress the wrong-doings committed against their civilian population. These policies and programs may include reconstruction of collective memory of violations through Truth Commissions, access to the justice system to end impunity for those who committed crimes, and comprehensive reparation packages, including access to health, education, land title, and monetary compensation. The main objective of our program with PCS is to mentor victims’ organizations to feel more confident and able to press their governments for justice and reparation on their own terms.
The week-long gathering was divided in two parts – a seminar and field visits. It provided opportunity for members of victims’ organizations from the three countries to share personal experiences, learn about ongoing regional and national processes in other countries, and strengthen their motivation to continue seeking justice and reparation in hostile political climates. The seminar and field visits integrated small-group discussions as well as dancing and drawing to share experiences, struggles, and strategies in advocating for rights and reparation.
Among the participants were members of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR), an association of victims from Guatemala who have survived or lost loved ones in some of the most notorious massacres that occurred during the conflict. From Peru, no fewer than twelve victims’ organizations attended, representing internally displaced families, women who were targets of political violence, wrongfully convicted political prisoners, and families of those who were disappeared, killed, or tortured. From Colombia, participants represented the Movement of the Victims of Crimes Committed by the State (MOVICE), a coalition of grassroots organizations and NGOs.
Lidia Flores of Peru laying a rose to commemorate the anniversary of her husband’s disappearance.
Field visits also included moments to commemorate and honour victims of the conflicts. One such moment was when we visited the monument El Ojo que Llora (“The Eye that Cries”). El Ojo que Llora, a stone sculpture by Dutch artist Lika Mutal, was created in 2005 in memory of victims of the armed conflict in Peru. The sculpture represents Pachamama (Mother Earth); in its centre is a small stone, shaped like an eye, from which water continuously trickles. The sculpture is surrounded by a labyrinth of 32,000 pebbles, each bearing the name, age, and year of death or disappearance of a victim identified in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report. The group was very moved when one of the participants, Lidia Flores, laid a rose on her husband’s stone to commemorate the anniversary of his disappearance.
El Ojo que Llora was vandalized by former President Fujimori’s supporters in September 2007, following the announcement that he would be extradited to Peru to face trial for human rights violations. Orange paint – the colour of Fujimori’s party – was thrown on the monument, and pebbles crushed. The incident is indicative of the obstacles to justice and reparation in Peru, Guatemala and Colombia. Survivors face intolerance and resistance from those who prefer to forget what happened.
We also commemorated the 26th anniversary of the Plan de Sánchez massacre. On July 18, 1982, Guatemalan security forces surrounded the community of Plan de Sánchez and murdered 268 people. Only twenty people survived the massacre. One of them was Benjamin Gerónimo, an exchange participant, a founding member of the AJR and now its president. The Centre for Legal Action for Human Rights (CALDH) took the case of the Plan de Sánchez massacre to the Inter-American level. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ruled unanimously that the Guatemalan state owed substantial economic and moral reparations to victims, including publicly asking survivors of the massacre for their forgiveness for crimes committed against them. The work of the AJR over the years, and the support it has received from CALDH, has made it a strong and confident organization, a respected and influential voice in the struggle for justice in Guatemala.
Our field visits included a stop at the association of internally displaced families in Pisco and Ica, where 50,000 to 150,000 people relocated during the conflict in Peru, fleeing violence in other parts of the country. They created an association in response to the discrimination and high levels of poverty they experienced in their new homes. After the earthquake of August 2007, the association supported their members to obtain title to the land where they were living in order to access government funding to reconstruct their houses.
During the exchange, we witnessed how mentoring and support from PCS and Inter Pares has helped the victims’ organizations establish their autonomy and political identity as active agents for change at the national and international level. We heard examples of the recognition given to victims’ organizations – from parliamentarians consulting the Peruvian Association of Women Affected by the Armed Conflict, to the IACHR granting a hearing requested by the Association of Innocent Released Prisoners, to the authoritative status given to the AJR’s public testimony during a genocide trial in Guatemala.
The victims’ movements in each of the three countries can now draw strength from the experience and solidarity that emerged from this journey, as histories were shared and relationships forged. The participants in the exchange see their new-found friends as allies in their struggles for justice as they continue to face their respective challenges to obtain truth, justice and reparation in their countries.
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