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Bogota, Colombia- As part of a committee aimed at uncovering the complex truth behind the country’s decades-long civil war, Colombia’s two most prominent former rebel and paramilitary leaders apologized to the victims on Wednesday.
Although these testimonies are considered to be a key step in Colombia’s efforts to deal with past bloodshed, they have also caused bitterness to many of the more than 9 million conflict victims.
“This is a process of constantly fighting our history,” said Sergio Guzman, head of Colombian risk analysis based in Bogotá. “And there are no good people or bad people in Colombian history. There is nothing there is.”
Rodrigo LondonMore widely known is his guerre Timochenko, who led the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a left-wing rebel group that has fought the Colombian government for more than 50 years.
Salvatore Mancuso also testified on Wednesday. He is the senior commander of the right-wing Colombian United Self-Defense Force (AUC), which was established to combat left-wing rebel groups such as FARC.
Despite acting as enemies in the Colombian conflict, both groups have committed some of the most brutal acts of war, including kidnapping, sexual violence, recruitment of children, and massacres of civilians.
The two leaders expressed remorse to the victims when they testified at the Colombian Truth Commission on Wednesday. Mancuso speaks at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, where he is fighting people deported to Colombia.
“I reflected on all the things I did or angered, all the things I participated in, many people who died, all the families who lost everything because of us,” Mancuso, wearing an orange prison uniform, clashed with 20 people during the live broadcast. The victim said. “I want to acknowledge all my responsibilities in this conflict before you.”
2016 peace agreement
The truth commission was born 2016 peace agreement The conflict between the Colombian government and the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces. It was created to investigate war crimes committed during armed conflicts as part of efforts to help victims recover.
On Wednesday, former armed group leaders detailed how they were involved in the conflict and answered questions from victims about how they operate and the motives of their groups for attacking civilians.
“Unfortunately, the guerrilla attack was incomprehensible to our goal, our goal for which we fought and gave our lives. In the end, we did the opposite of what we wanted: affecting civilians, “Londono said.
Former FARC rebel leader Rodrigo Londono expressed remorse to victims in the testimony of the truth commission on Wednesday [File: Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters]Some of the most important information comes from Mancuso, said Jimena Sanchez-Gazzoli, director of the Andes in the Washington Latin America office of the US non-profit organization.
Sanchez said the former AUC leader testified that most of the organization’s violence was supported by the Colombian government and private interests such as companies and wealthy landlords.
But Sanchez Gazzoli described Wednesday’s testimony as “very problematic” because Mancuso said that the AUC fighters acted out of “self-defense” and that they killed political candidates to consolidate power and provide better for civilians. Medical services and economic stability. Sanchez Gazzoli added that Londono also gave little new information about FARC’s actions during the conflict.
“It just scratched the surface for me,” she told Al Jazeera. “Really, this should be the first of many conversations.”
‘Do whatever is good for them’
The testimony left a sour taste in the mouths of many victims, including Yirley Velazco, a survivor of the infamous massacre committed by the Manusco paramilitary organization. One of the bloodiest acts in the Colombian conflict.
“They are not actually asking for forgiveness, they are not doing it because they really feel it is necessary to ask for forgiveness,” Belazko told Al Jazeera after the hearing.
“The most important thing is what they are doing… so they can prove that everything that happened is reasonable. They seek political forgiveness and do whatever is good for them.”
Earlier dialogues conducted by the Truth Committee have also received similar criticisms.
In late June, when the former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt was kidnapped and held hostage by the FARC in the jungle for more than six years, the committee attracted international attention.
The French-Colombian confronted her kidnapper for the first time and said that she discovered that the FARC was dishonest to apologize to their victims. Bettencourt said at the time: “I want to hear your speech from the heart, not for political purposes.” “This is a meeting of the soul, not a political meeting.”
But Guzman said that for a country that has been plagued by cycles of violence for most of its history, these testimonies are a critical step forward. He said that this conversation tried to show many different views of the Colombian conflict-more important than the testimony of Mancuso or Londonno alone.
Guzman said that in a place where most people are affected by violence, it is “difficult to swallow.” “I think the main question here is: whose truth is this?” he said. “No one seems to want to admit that the truth is complicated, not a very simple question.”
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