The sound of gunfire rattles through the territories of Colombia, where the FARC EP guerillas view their bullets as a tool to fight for the social justice.
Night brings a tranquil darkness to the guerilla camps that is interrupted by the noise of bombardments, silencing the sounds of nearby wildlife, crickets, and human breaths. The men and women of the guerrilla become shadows in the middle of the Colombian jungle, and if peace is not found, their shades will perpetuate as they delve deeper into the darkness in pursuit of a light.
The civil war that Colombia has lived for more than 50 years between FARC guerrillas and the goverment, was borned from a conflict that existed prior to its creation, half a century ago: where different violent actions that were led to the extreme by political ideologies between the tradicional parties, unleashed a violence that was evolving to build the conflict that the country still lives in. Added to all this is the unjust distribution of land, where just a few landersown most part of the territories since they grabed on the terrain, in most of the cases, with violent acts that eventually led to the creation of what nowaday we know as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), being one of the most antiqs guerrillas in Latin América. Over all decades, innumerable massacres have been produced by both sides, which not only has left an indelible mark but also a fractioned memory in colombians due to they have filled with so many miths and legends the collective imagination about what the violence is, that the reality has been forgotten, owing to many have written it´s version on the history books.
I had the oportunity to sit face to face with common soldiers from the guerrilla who showed me not only another aspect of war but also their humanity, people who also live, laugh, eat, fuck and love as any other person. During those hot days and cold nights that I were in the middle of the colombian plains at the 10th and last Guerrilla Conference, I accomplished with these men, women and children to establish a whole different conversation further from rifles and the wickedness of the war: I could get closer to their hearts so we could talk about their dreams, fears and above all, hope.
A hope that covers them each night since the first agreements for the bilateral cessation of hostilities between the guerrilla and the goverment were reached. This hope which they entrusted me with their words is closer to be a reality and although there is a long path to go over and many wounds to heal, the country had never lived such an act of forgiveness as the one to take the first step to the ending to one of the longest civil war on history.
Sabana del Yarí - San Vicente del Caguán - Chaquetá, Colombia, 2016
