Tag Archives: Latin America

Mexico: Presentation of the project “Oaxaca Intercultural”

.. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION ..

An article from ADN Sureste (translated by CPNN)

Oaxaca, July 18. The project “Oaxaca Intercultural” is being organized by a number of cultural and social associations in order to strengthen cultural life and citizenship skills for coexistence and dialogue through the linkage of education and culture,

oaxaca
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Lucina Jimenez, Unesco expert consultant and director of the International Consortium for Art and the School A.C. (ConArte), said that the project has been launched with resources provided by the Federal Ministry of Culture thanks to legislative management by federal deputy Francisco Martínez Neri.

She explained that the themes of culture of peace and intercultural dialogue are the keystones for which ten organizations of civil society will support a series of projects in Oaxaca. The project will encourage reflection and dialogue about contemporary art production through academic exchanges in urban artistic and cultural sectors as well as with young speakers of indigenous languages.

For his part, the federal legislator praised the willingness of civic associations to join the project which shows that regardless of any differences, they can work together towards a common goal of dialogue and coexistence in Oaxaca through artistic and cultural activities.

It should be noted that the project began on Saturday and will continue until next August in various locations.

(Click here for the article in Spanish)

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Mexico: The government promotes mediation as an alternative for the resolution of conflicts

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from La Jornada Aguascalientes (translated by CPNN)

As the representative of the General Secretary of the Government [SEGOB], Alejandro Bernal Rubalcava has released the 6-month report from the Coordination of Mediation which indicates that between January and June 2016 the Coordination of Mediation completed 736 mediations of conflicts between individuals, as well as 653 legal advisories for citizens who opted to use this service.

SEGOB

The Coordination of Mediation offers citizens legal advice as well as the dialogue and the construction of accords by means of alternative conflict resolution, free of charge and confidential, creating channels to facilitate communication in order to resolve problems between individuals in a way more rapid and efficient than the judicial process, explains Bernal Rubalcava.

He emphasizes that the promotion of mediation among citizens as an effective tool for achieving satisfactory agrreements of conflicts between two parties has contributed to generating a culture of peace among the population of Aguascalentes, while decreasing the demands on the judicial system.

He adds that in addition to the satisfactorily concluded mediations and agreements constructed and accepted by the parties involved, the 653 legal advisories on civil, criminal and family law, provided a guide allowing people to assert their rights and clarify conflicts.

Mediation, through its form and content, promotes a more peaceful and just society. To this end, the representative of the General Secretary of the Government invites citizens requiring advice or looking for a quick and peaceful solution to a conflict, to come to the offices of the Coordination of Mediation located on Hornedo street 104, first floor, in the city center, with hours open to the public from 8:30 to 15:00 hours.

(Click here for the original article in Spanish)

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The Third International Conference on Mediation to take place in Guatemala

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article from Noticias Panorama (translated by CPNN)

The International Mediation Center (CIM) has announced that the Third International Congress on Mediation will take place on Thursday August 18 from 8:00 to 18:00 at the Salón Jade y Plata of the Hotel Camino Real. The Congress aims to provide effective methods for the solution of social and trade conflicts that affect the development of our society through dialogue. Mediation seeks to provoke changes that will benefit the people of Guatemala.

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Mario Bucaro, President of CIM

The method of mediation is practical, effective and suitable because it helps people find the solution to their conflicts and dialogue and peace as a result. “The mediator does not decide the result of a dispute, the parties retain the autonomy of their solution.”

“The aim of the Congress is to show firsthand the benefits of the method and how to put into practice the techniques in the social and business environment through dialogue. The intention is to achieve peace in the world “, stated Mario Bucaro, President of CIM.

The activity will be attended by national and international speakers who will share their experiences, techniques and methods in order to promote the culture of peace around the world.

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(Click here for the original article in Spanish)

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Mediation as a tool for culture of peace and nonviolence

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The International Mediation Center is a private institution created and supported by CAMEX [The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Guatemala/Mexico], made up of experts in the method of mediation to facilitate the resolution of disputes on a voluntary basis through dialogue and cooperation as the best way to resolve the differences between people and entities in the national and international private sector.

Mediation began in the public sphere in 1998. Under the program of modernization of the judiciary, the President of the Judicial Agency created the Pilot Center of Mediation and Conciliation (21/998 and 22/998 agreements). Currently there are 78 public mediation centers in 14 departments led and managed by the judiciary. The one private center is the International Mediation Center.

Congress Keynotes:

* The Phenomenon of Mediation and Its Trends. Mario Bucaro – Lawyer, Certified Mediator, President International Mediation Center Guatemala.

* Alternative Dispute Resolution in International Trade. Judge Cristina Pareyra, lawyer, journalist Mediator and Legal Expert JAMS (Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services) Miami USA.

* Prevention and management of conflicts in Labor Relations. Wanda Azmitia – expert in mediation, Coordinator of the Unit of alternative dispute resolution Judicial Branch.

* Juan Carlos Lucero-Lawyer, International Labor Mediator, an expert in social dialogue.

* Community and Business Mediation as a response to restore social harmony. Laura Avila, Lawyer, Master in Business Law, Center for Arbitration and Mediation Center, Legal College, Costa Rica.

* Workshop: Techniques to manage nonverbal language in conflict resolution. Dr. Virgilio Gordon, consultant, professional coach, writer, university professor, therapist and lecturer. – Guatemala

Michoacán, Mexico: Law Approved for Culture of Peace and Prevention of Violence

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An article from Quadratin, Michoacán (translated by CPNN)

Morelia, Michoacan, July 15, 2016.- The Regular Session of the Congress of Michoacán has approved the recommendation of the committees of Justice and Public Security and Civil Protection, and approved the Act for a Culture of Peace and Prevention of Violence and Crime for the State. The purpose of the law is to provide additional institutional support to restore the social fabric and social inclusion, foster a culture of peace and a harmonious society and ensure public participation to protect the peace of our families and communities. Where appropriate, it aims to provide strong denunciation of crimes and serve the collective interest. This was announced by Deputy Wilfrido Lazaro Medina who presented the initiative which is now an approved Act of the Legislature.

Michoacan
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According to a statement, the President of the Commission of Public Safety and Civil Protection, said that this initiative was also strengthened in its technical aspects by an analysis and updating of legislation on public safety that was carried out in conjunction with the Ministry of State Security. Other contributions came from participants in the Diploma in Public Safety and Culture of Prevention of the Latin University of America, as well as observations by the State Center for Violence and Delinquency Prevention and inputs from civil society organizations and associations, citizens and experts on the subject.

Lazaro Medina said that peace is the social value that motivated him to present the proposed Law for the Culture of Peace and Prevention of Violence and Crime. He said “this represents a progressive reform of the law. It is not utopian but rational and possible to achieve a culture of peace through the observance of the rule of law. Our people need security and stability as a condition of being able to have a full life and exercise the rights and freedoms that our Constitution gives us.”

“There is no way to peace, peace is the way,” said Mahatma Gandhi. But we must also say that the path only exists if you build it through respect, tolerance, humility, generosity, dialogue, understanding, agreements and reconciliation. Only then can we construct a positive peace in the state, by doing our part in Michoacan, “he concluded.

(Click here for the article in Spanish)

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Colombia, Minister of Education: The education sector is crucial for the consolidation of peace

… EDUCATION FOR PEACE …

An article of RCN Radio along with comments by Gina Parody, Minister of Education, reprinted by El Pilon (translated by CPNN)

The Minister of Education, Gina Parody, speaking at the meeting of secretaries of education from across the country, invited them to teach a new generation of peace, preparing children and young people to consolidate peace. The meeting took place in the municipality of Villa de Leyva in Boyaca department.

Colombia
Minister of Education, Gina Parody

The directors of the 95 Ministries of Education in the country are meeting from 29 June to 1 July, to take stock of education management and to meet the sector’s challenges in the light of the peace agreement to be signed in Havana, Cuba.

Secretaries of Education and the Education Minister are addressing a number of issues including educational infrastructure, the full school day, enrollments, quality of education, early childhood education and budgetary concerns, among others.

Remarks by Gina Parody, Minister of Education:

The government of President Juan Manuel Santos has set a goal: see the country experience its first generation that does not live even one day at war: a generation of peace. With the silence of the guns Colombia can turn the page and start writing the chapter of peace and equity. To write that chapter of hope and reconciliation, Colombia is prepared with the most valuable legacy that we can give our children: education.

For the first time, the government has allocated a larger budget for education of our children and young people, that the budget for war. We are convinced that it is in the classrooms that the new generation will begin to rewrite the history of Colombia as a country in peace.

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(Click here for the original articles in Spanish)

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Where is peace education taking place?

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And we’re already advancing! With every action we take in favor of education, we move forward towards peace. For example, we have established free education in all public schools in the country, from kindergarten to grade eleven; today thanks to this 7,620,397 children and young people are preparing for the future and their families simply by sending them to school.

We declare education to be compulsory until the 11th grade, to ensure that children wield pencils rather than guns. We started the Full School Day, ensuring that children spend more time in school and less on the streets. Today there are more than 500 thousand children who benefit from this measure, by 2018 it will be 2.3 million children, and by 2030 all children in public schools will be studying eight hours a day.

Our children will not only have more hours of study but also more spacious and modern spaces that facilitate learning. Our goal is to build 30,000 new classrooms by 2018, equivalent to 1,500 schools.

We are opening the possibility for low-income youth to prepare in the best universities in the country, we are gaining brilliant minds in the service of peace and rather than in the battlefields. With the program ‘Ser Pilo Paga’ 40,000 young people and their families will transform their lives.

We are working to improve the conditions of our teachers, because they are the heroes of education, whose dedication and commitment are forming the generation of peace. We are delivering 4,600 master’s scholarships and more than 20,000 digital tablets with instructional materials. To this are added 78,000 million pesos of incentives to reward their efforts and to improve the quality of our education.

With actions like these, we can be sure and without doubt, that the future and progress of our country will be defined in the classroom and not in the fields of war, because the soul of peace is education.

Londrina, Brazil: Fifth Municipal Conference on Culture of Peace

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An event posted on the facebook of Londrina COMPAZ (translated by CPNN)

The Fifth Municipal Conference on Culture of Peace of the Londrina COMPAZ (Municipal Council of Culture of Peace) took place June 1 and 2. The event was open to the public with every citizen invited to participate. The conference theme was “Restorative Justice and the Culture of Peacebuilding.

Londrina
Judge Leoberto Brancher

“Positive thinking generates positive words and images that create a culture of peace in Londrina, and which radiates outward to all of Paraná and Brazil. A better world needs more positive relationships between people. For this change must begin within each one of us.”

The movement for peace and nonviolence in Londrina celebrates sixteen years, It is formalized by the creation of the Municipal Week of Peace and Municipal Day of Peace according to Local Governmet Act 8437. The law establishes a Municipal Organizing Committee for the event. Since May, 2008, COMPAZ and the organization Londrina Pazeando have performed this function.

According to journalist André Trigueiro, “there is no sustainable world without peace, and Londrina makes it tangible.” A pioneer in our region, he spoke about the contribution of the press in building a sustainable world.

Among the speakers were Professor Lia Diskin, co-founder of the Association Palas Athena, Judge Leoberto Brancher, Special Presidential Assessor for the diffusion of restorative justice in Brazil, and Paulo Roberto de Souza, Professor of the Course of Human Rights at the University UEM.

(Click here for the article in Portuguese)

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First Group of UN Peace Process Observers Arrive in Colombia

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An article from Telesur

The first group of United Nations observers arrived in Colombia to help with the monitoring and verification of the recently signed bilateral cease-fire between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq confirmed Tuesday.

observers
brief video of celebrations

The role of the U.N. observers is critical to the success of the peace process, as they will work to ensure all parties are complying with the terms of the agreement.

“For now, the team on the ground is engaging in preparatory activities, while the Special Representative of the Secretary-General Jean Arnault is actively engaged in the discussions in Havana about cease-fire implementation,” said Haq.

The 23-member team, which is comprised of observers from Argentina, Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, and Uruguay, will be joined by a second team in late July when the final agreement is expected to be signed.

The June 23 agreement between the FARC, as the guerrilla army is known, and the government, gave terms for implementing the cease-fire, but not a specific date.

According to Haq, “The United Nations will be able to begin monitoring and verifying activities as soon as a final peace agreement is signed and the bilateral cease-fire comes into effect.”

Twenty civilian staff from the U.N. were already in Colombia to coordinate and establish the basis for the verification process.

The United Nations has been a strong adovocate of the peace process, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon having traveled to Havana, Cuba, site of the peace talks, to participate in the ceremony celebrating the signing of the bilateral cease-fire.

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‘March of Silence’ in Uruguay sends message of remembrance to South America

…. HUMAN RIGHTS ….

An article by Andre Vitchek in RT News

They were marching shoulder-to-shoulder, young and old, in absolute silence. Some were carrying small placards with names and photos of their loved ones, who disappeared four decades ago, during the pro-Western dictatorship here in Uruguay. The entire center of Montevideo came to a standstill. Blocks and blocks of this marvelous city were literally inundated by the river consisting of human bodies.

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video of march

Then, in front of the municipality, the silence was broken. A huge screen above the square lit up, and photographs of each man and woman who disappeared, suddenly emerged, one by one. When no photograph was available, a gray contour was projected on the white screen. Two voices, one of a man, and one of a woman, were reading names of the victims. And the crowd chanted back in unison: “Presente!”

One block further, the “March of Silence” ended. The national anthem of Uruguay resonated across the old city. Some people stood still, in silent salute and reverence, others fell into each other’s arms, weeping openly and uncontrollably.

Uruguay, at least to some extent a socialist country, was still standing. All over the continent, however, left-wing governments were collapsing, under the terrible weight of constitutional coups as well as the media and business manipulations of the ‘elites’ and the Empire.

Argentina was crying out in pain under the neoliberal President Mauricio Macri, while the great Brazilian nation – fooled, cheated and spat at – was just slowly and painfully waking up after the long night of a shameless coup that brought a corrupt lackey and snitch of the West – Michel Temer – to power.

But even in Uruguay, the old establishment was still clinging to power, blocking many essential changes, resisting and silencing the calls for justice.

Around 300 people disappeared in tiny Uruguay during the extreme right-wing dictatorship (1973-85), of course much less than in Argentina or Chile.

“But that is enough. Enough!” An old lady who was holding a placard with the image of her sister told me. “300 are much more than enough. We want justice and truth. Because without those, there could be no real progress in this country.”

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One of the posters read:

AGAINST IMPUNITY OF THE PAST AND PRESENT! TRUTH AND JUSTICE!

Other placards were much more explicit:

NO FORGETTING NO FORGIVENESS!

And an even stronger one:

THEY ARE INSIDE US, SHOUTING ‘REVOLUTION!’

“This is so impressive, so touching!” whispers my friend Lilian Soto, a leading Paraguayan left-wing politician and former MP and Presidential candidate. “I have already participated in this march on several occasions. I really love this country!”

I briefly speak to my colleague and comrade from TeleSur, who is covering this great event for the entire Latin America and the world.

This year, after what happened in neighboring Argentina and Brazil, the march is gaining great symbolism. Cuban flags are flying, not far from the great Uruguayan Cinemateque, where my film about the US-backed 1965 coup in Indonesia had been shown, many years ago. In front of the statue of Socrates, a man poses, proudly, wrapped in a huge Brazilian flag.

“Those flags were just personal statements by several individuals,” explains my friend, Uruguayan journalist and activist Agustin Fernandez. “The demonstration was still mainly about the crimes committed by our past dictatorship.”

Mainly, yes; but those men and women I spoke to, on the night of 21 May, in the center of Montevideo, appeared to be extremely concerned about the macabre developments shaking the neighboring countries.

In Latin America, as well as all around the world, everything is clearly inter-connected. The West; the Empire, are behind almost all the horrid crimes against the humanity.

A great Greek film director, Costa Gavras, depicted the Uruguayan dictatorship and the Yankee involvement (a story of a US diplomat and expert in torture, who was kidnapped by the Uruguayan resistance group Tupamaros), in his iconic film “State of Siege” (1973).

The US and the West were behind the disappearances and torture in this historically peaceful and democratic country… as they were responsible for the horrors of fascist dictatorships in Chile, Argentina, Brazil and elsewhere… and just as they are accountable for the recent ‘events’ in Argentina and Brazil.

Who said that the US was ‘too busy in the Middle East, while also provoking Russia and China?’ Who said that ‘the Empire finally closed its eyes, stopped looking south?’ It never does! It never sleeps!

Walking down the streets of Montevideo, photographing and talking to the marching masses, on several occasions I was tempted to shout:

“Hugo Chavez Frias!”

And:

“Salvador Allende Gossens!”

Expecting to hear those loud, clear and proud voices replying to me: “Presente!”

War is over in Colombia

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An article by Greg Grandin in The Nation

There’s still a lot to work out—on land, disarmament, refugees, paramilitary power—and many things can go wrong, but it seems Colombia’s decades-long civil war is ending. The Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have announced that they “have successfully reached an agreement for a definitive bilateral ceasefire and end to hostilities.” Depending on how you date it, you could say the war has been raging since the early 1960s, 1948, or even as far back as the 1920s. Fighting started well before TV was a household item, when few Colombians owned telephones. Now it’s ending with a tweet: “On Thursday, June 23, we will announce the last day of the war,” FARC commander Carlos Lozada wrote to his followers on Twitter.

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You can read the text of the final disarmament accord here. According to the Washington Office on Latin America, this agreement “closes the fifth of five substantive items on the FARC-government negotiating agenda. It sets out a roadmap for disarming and demobilizing the FARC after a final peace accord is signed. It foresees a swift process: a full turnover of guerrilla weapons within six months. This is a tremendous milestone. What remains between now and a final, conflict-ending peace accord are details. Some of these will be thorny, and may require weeks or even a few months to unravel. But the hardest parts of the FARC peace process are now in the past.”

The Nation has covered Colombia well over the many decades of the war. Last October, Winifred Tate and I discussed what was at stake—especially around land, paramilitary power, and internal refugees, of which Colombia has millions—in the peace talks, and what obstacles might sideline them. Here, I discussed a story not reported in the US press, of the at least 54 Colombian children sexually abused by US soldiers and contractors.

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What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?

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Six years ago, Teo Ballvé did an excellent report for the magazine on the “dark side of Plan Colombia,” on how the billions of dollars authorized for Colombia by Clinton, and continued under Bush and Obama, helped narco-traffickers steal massive amounts of land to plant crops for biofuels. Going back to 1948, the journalist Herbert Matthews, also in these pages, wrote that the assassination of left-liberal leader Jorge Gaitán was a “lighted match dropped into an open gasoline tin.” He was right. Days of rioting gave way to decades of civil war, hundreds of thousands of lives lost, millions driven out of their homes, a fire only now hopefully doused.

If you search for Colombia on The Nation’s website, you will see how key the country has been in regional politics. Returned stories come back on Cuba, Iran/Contra, Panama, Israel, immigration, drugs, Central America, death squads, Iraq, private security forces, and so on, giving an indication of the key role Colombia, and its war, has played on the larger foreign stage, particularly in the paramilitarization of global politics that took place with the rise of the New Right in the United States. Colombia was to broader Latin America, a good analogy goes, what Israel is to the broader Middle East, a stalking-horse proxy that has allowed Washington to project its power into a critical region. The end of the war promises to change that relation, perhaps integrating Colombia more fully into Latin America, a process that picked up steam with the election of the current president, Juan Manuel Santos.

The signing of this final accord took place in Havana, a testament both to Cuba’s historic role at the beginning of Latin America’s Cold War insurgent left and to its current role as peacemaker. By any standard that judged Barack Obama and Henry Kissinger worthy of Nobel Peace Prizes, Raúl Castro deserves a laurel for his steadfast help in negotiating an end to hostilities. Here’s what Castro had to say at the signing:

“The peace process has reached a point of no return. Peace is a victory for all of Colombia, but also a victory for Our America. The short history of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States has led to the proclamation of this region as a Zone of Peace.… The achievement of peace in Colombia represents a hope for millions of people on the planet, whose main concern continues to be human survival in a world shake by violence and wars. Peace is not a utopia; it is a legitimate right of every human being and of all peoples. It is a fundamental condition for the enjoyment of all human rights, particularly the supreme right to life.”

Quoting José Martí, Castro ended his remarks by insisting that “homeland is humanity” (a good sentiment to keep in mind, considering events on the other side of the Atlantic).

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¿After the accords?: “In Colombia now we must disarm our language”

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An article by Nazareth Balbas in RT (translated by CPNN and abbreviated)

Although the announcement of the signing of the agreement on the end of the armed conflict in Colombia was received with joy; however, for artists and cultural activists from the South American country, the agreement in Havana is just the beginning of a more complex disarmament process: the language of violence.

“We have to to disarm our words because they are still loaded with violence. That will take a lot of pedagogy and here culture can help a lot. We need to heal, to seek the truth, to have some kind of repair,” notes Sergio Restrepo, cultural manager and director of Teatro Pablo Tobon of Medellin, in an interview with RT.

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Restrepo, who heard the announcement while in Brussels, believes that the signing of the agreement is a positive point but that “it will take thick skin” to tackle the next stage, not only because expectations are very high but “because the country is going to polarize more and that will be used, no doubt, for electoral purposes “.

In addition to the polarization which is expected in the public sphere, the initialling of the agreement will make visible some realities that remained buried by the conflict, warns Restrepo: Thousands of people must be demobilized and join the civil society. There are deep social inequalities that must be resolved to prevent the resurgence of armed groups. And the state must become present in areas that have historically been marginalized.

This process will have to be done in the midst of a difficult economic context for Colombia, which this year has been affected by falling oil prices and coal exports, as well as the depreciation of its currency against the dollar. The challenge, says Restrepo, is to put the country back on the growth path, and the government must ensure that this leads to a more equitable society.

“We will not overcome the conflict quickly because there are many conflicting interests and tempers are frayed. Peace cannot be achieved only through negotiation or ceasefire between the government and the FARC; for now, we are in the stage of a post-agreement, not yet post-conflict, “said Restrepo.

For the director of the International Poetry Festival of Medellin, Fernando Rendon, the signing of the bilateral ceasefire “is the realization of a dream of several decades and several generations of Colombians who have suffered firsthand all the cruelty of the painful and bloody conflict. ”

For Rendon the news found him in the middle of the event that brings in Medellin, the second largest city in Colombia, hundreds of national and international poets: “Not only a new era of reconciliation and resumption of dialogue opens between divergent positions, but this will strengthen our struggle for beauty and for coexistence, “he said in an interview with RT.

(Click here for the original Spanish version)

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What is happening in Colombia, Is peace possible?

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Rendon, like Restrepo believes that this is just the beginning of a long road. “What comes next is a post-agreement (…) The social conflict is not over, even less the political conflict and the cultural conflict, because we still have a culture of slaughter, violence and exploitation rather than what is needed, the idea of ​​a homeland for freedom, for creation and for democratic expression. ”

He confesses that his feelings are mixed. On the one hand, the joy of the expectation that “Colombia can live in peace after a hell of war, and now we can begin a period of prosperity and the cultural flowering of a new generous spirit”. On the other hand, fear of a repeat of our history of failed commitments.

“We hope the government understands that the conflict is not only with the guerrillas but between the state and the people. We need a structured dialogue with the deep Colombia jungle, with the countryside, the grassroots, all of Colombian society, before we can be certain of lasting peace, “he says.

The director of the Festival of Manizales, Octavio Arbelaez, considers that the agreement is not the last day of the war, but it enables us to see peace as “a possible utopia within our reach”.

“It’s the beginning of the end of a period of intensification of contradictions that gave rise to the most violent forms of confrontation,” he told RT. This is the problem, he says, at the core of the conflict: fear in social relationships that “saps the body’s energy and the ability to build a world of conversation and imagination”.

While noting that Colombia has made great strides in cooling off social confrontations, as evident in the decline in the number of victims of the conflict in recent years, “violence remains an area about which little is spoken and which in many cases is feared. This is a significant area in which we must work as people of culture “.

Culture, he insists, is ideal for generating nodes and “spaces for peace, dialogue and social participation”. There is already some progress in grassroots communities, but there is not yet enough “link between their networks of conversation and action, in a context where there remain levels of exclusion against those with roots going back into the worlds of Africa and the indigenous “says Arbelaez.

“Dialogues of the nation without exclusion, that is what we need,” he adds. . . .

The signing of the treaty is only a beginning, according to Arbelaez. Now we enter “the stage of post-agreement, an agreement that must be culturally appropriate, to allow the emergence of new dimensions of a democratic culture with spaces and times of freedom and creativity.”

It is also the entry point where Restrepo dreams of a country that is possible but so far unknown, “one where we live with our differences, where we can build stories from everyday life and where we can close the social gap in Colombia” .

“May the spirit of this agreement be transmitted to ordinary people in everyday life, which is the great creator of our destiny. My hope is that this dialogue will permeate all walks of life to start together the struggle for existence, for beauty, for love, for life, “said Rendón. .