Thanks to the “German Justice and Peace Commission” and the “Association for Development Cooperation” for have chosen Colombia to carry out the fourth Workshop of “Memory, truth and justice: Dealing with the Burden of thePast”, a topic with significant importance for our country, opened Bishop Luis Augusto Castro, President of theColombian Bishops’ Conference, his greeting. In the third working day of the international event, the actors of the conflict were the central protagonists of the agenda. “An event like this is for us an incentive, a factor of enrichment,it gives me an immense pleasure, that everybody of you is working in this case and contributing not only to Colombia but also to the whole world,” added the Bishop of Tunja.

The General Secretary, Monsignor Elkin Alvarez, said to the participants, religious and agents of reconciliation from 15 countries in different parts of the world: “We have long hoped, that you are here to help us, to reflect your experiences and above all, to share your passion with us and to put your heart to a peace process in a country, that needs it.”

This third day of the international workshop which has as a horizon the question “How to overcome a past embossed by violence?” was framed by the meeting of participants with legal and illegal actors of the armed conflict in Colombia. The methodology of the event allows, that, while some of the groups visited the Association of Retired Officers of the Armed Forces, to meet about 15 soldiers in retreat with the purpose of knowing and discussing their role, concerns and proposals in the conflict itself, the negotiations and post conflict, others could visit the prison “La Picota” in Bogotá to talk to 26 former members of the FARC and 2 former members of the ELN, who are
imprisoned in the same.

After discussing and exchanging perceptions during the afternoon about the dynamics and the result of the conversations held with these actors, the participants culminated the day by presenting their impressions obtained
during these meetings, in order to explain to every participant the different contexts and realities and to generate contributions.

In the next two days of the workshop, the participant are going to visit institutions such as the “National Indigenous Organization of Colombia” (ONIC), the foundation “Redprodepaz” and the Organization “Ways of Hope: Mothers of the Candelaria”, founded by mothers, who have lost their children during the conflict and who continue their fight for the rights of the victims, to make the situation of of disappearances, under which the department of Antioquia and the whole country suffer, and to search for ways of forgiveness and reconciliation. The aim is to bring the participants closer to national realities and to learn together in the light of the Colombian experience.