Public Story
Si el Rio Cauca hablara "“ If Cauca river could speak
Los ríos de Colombia, desde décadas atrás, guardan relatos de desaparición forzada y crímenes de lesa humanidad donde el agua es el lugar perfecto para borrar todo rastro de identidad de personas y comunidades. Este proyecto desarrollado en 2019 retrata historias y personajes que han sido testigos de aquello que el Río Cauca, el segundo rio más grande de mi país, ha dejado de callar sobre la desaparición.
Desde la represa de La Salvajina, en el sur del departamento del Cauca, hasta el centro-occidente del país en el municipio de Arauca, en Caldas se mantiene viva la memoria de este rio como un lugar de vida y muerte. Estos municipios guardan historias de pescadores, testigos silenciados de una decadencia violenta por la presencia paramilitar que provocó decenas de cuerpos flotantes río arriba; historias de líderes que siguen buscando alivio psicológico y material para los familiares de las víctimas; historias de bomberos que registraron a diario en sus minutas los rescates hechos para salvar esos cuerpos; historias de pueblos que han tenido que enterrar los muertos que no consideran como suyos.
The rivers of Colombia, from decades ago, keep stories of enforced disappearance and crimes against humanity where water is the perfect place to erase all traces of identity of people and communities. This project developed in 2019 portrays stories and characters that have witnessed what the Río Cauca, the second largest river in my country, has stopped silence about the disappearance.
From the La Salvajina dam, in the south of the department of Cauca, to the center-west of the country in the municipality of Arauca, in Caldas the memory of this river is kept alive as a place of life and death. These municipalities keep stories of fishermen, silenced witnesses to a violent decline due to the paramilitary presence that caused dozens of floating bodies upstream; stories of leaders who continue to seek psychological and material relief for the families of the victims; stories of firefighters who daily recorded in their minutes the rescues made to save those bodies; stories of peoples who have had to bury the dead they do not consider their own.
From the La Salvajina dam, in the south of the department of Cauca, to the center-west of the country in the municipality of Arauca, in Caldas the memory of this river is kept alive as a place of life and death. These municipalities keep stories of fishermen, silenced witnesses to a violent decline due to the paramilitary presence that caused dozens of floating bodies upstream; stories of leaders who continue to seek psychological and material relief for the families of the victims; stories of firefighters who daily recorded in their minutes the rescues made to save those bodies; stories of peoples who have had to bury the dead they do not consider their own.
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