I left Bogota Thursday evening, heading northeast through Colombia toward the Venezuelan border. Our Satena commuter plane navigated through dark clouds and sheets of rain, pitched through a final electrical storm, and then lurched into safety one hour later at the airport in Arauca in the rural department of the same name.
The kidnapping of oil workers is common here. Convened by a variety of Catholic, Protestant and other civil society organizations, the two-day event was co-sponsored by U. The event had been cancelled twice in the last two years because of poor security conditions. Less than two months ago, the Colombian Army bombed a guerrilla camp in Arauca, killing 37 people, including eight minorsβhalf of them teen-aged girls. The FARC responded with its own assault, leading to dozens of new deaths in the cycle of mutual retaliations.
This time, though, the conference organizers used the escalation of violence to underscore the urgency of the forum. Shortly after arriving, the speakers and local organizers met to review the agenda and methodology, which would consist of plenary sessions and smaller working groups. The next morning, some people arrived from all seven municipalities of Arauca.
The program opened with words of prayer, welcome and song. Speakers discussed reconciliation experiences in other conflict zones, including Rwanda, the Basque Country, Northern Ireland, South Africa, elsewhere in Latin America, and other parts of Colombia. We pondered the meaning of reconciliation, particularly in the midst of ongoing war; and discussed the extent to which reconciliation requires truth, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-repetition.
We agreed that reconciliation is both a goal and a process that will continue beyond any peace agreements. Participants shared poignant testimonies of how the war has impacted their communities.
