Abstract
The conflict in Colombia is one of the most prolonged in the hemisphere; but in 2005 transitional justice mechanisms started to be implemented that facilitated the demobilization of paramilitary groups. This process has been criticized for being a thin transition and not appropriately integrating victims’ voices. Peace initiatives have also been promoted at the local level. The case studied in is a massacre that occurred in 2002 in a Catholic church in the village of Chocó. I focus on the social construction of memory of the massacre and compare the political uses of memory in versions produced by the government and the local church. Interviews were conducted in 2012. The data were analyzed within the sociology of peace paradigm. I start with a brief explanation of the conflict in Colombia and Chocó and explore the relationship between religion and the language of transitional justice through reconciliation, forgiveness, hope, and truth. I argue that the role of religion in the case of Bojayá is about bringing to the public arena private emotions related to experiences of suffering, resistance and the search for truth. This relationship is analyzed in Afro-Colombian religious traditions, such as mala muerte, which is an affliction that occurs when the appropriate funerary rituals have not taken place and in the local church. The Diocese of Quibdó placed the struggle for justice in a biblical context that related it to the struggle of the oppressed victims against the oppressor. Such narrative allows victims to interpret their history in terms of a chain of memory that offers hope. The local church combines economic communitarian work inspired by their option for the poor with the denunciation of crimes against human rights and the defense of the memory of victims. This combination makes them strong peace supporters.
They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace (Jeremiah 6: 14).
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Notes
- 1.
Paramilitaries have been “so fully integrated into the army’s battle strategy, coordinated with its soldiers in the field, and linked to government units via intelligence, supplies, radios, weapons, cash, and common purpose that they effectively constitute a sixth division of the army” (Human Rights Watch 2001: 1).
- 2.
The GMH has produced reports on five emblematic cases of massacres in the country. “The methodological strategy employed by the GMH to analyze and illustrate the processes and dynamics of conflict in Colombian territory, is the reconstruction of emblematic cases. Emblematic cases that are identified by MH, condense multiple processes, modes and regional expressions of conflict and victimization that help define and make public the authorships, responsibilities, and the social and political impacts of contemporary violence” (Grupo de Memoria Historica 2012).
- 3.
Nearly twenty land rights activists have been murdered since President Santos took office, and threats against Afro-Colombian leaders have increased. This number could skyrocket if victims are returned to conflictive areas without effective protection from the government and if the root causes of the conflict are not addressed (WOLA – Washington Office on Latin America 2011).
- 4.
This chapter presents the preliminary results of the research and some of the aspects that are relevant to understand the case. More information and detailed analysis will be contained in the final thesis.
- 5.
This makes reference to the local Diocesan Church, but also to the several missionary religious orders such as the Hermanas Agustinas Misioneras, Misioneros del Verbo Divino, Los Misioneros Claretianos and the Hermanas Lauritas.
- 6.
The Options of the Church as a Diocese are established at a regional level by the Bishops, priests, religious missionaries and lay people. They represent the mandate of their work as communitarian organizations.
- 7.
The biggest irregular guerrilla army in Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia/the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – FARC).
- 8.
The displacement that took place in the region was 5,230 people from 1997 to 1999 and 66,588 from 2000 to 2002 (CNRR 2010: 245).
- 9.
The AUC unified what had been a disparate array of paramilitary groups (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia/United Self-Defense Units of Colombia – AUC).
- 10.
These are new criminal organizations that often are constituted by the ex-paramilitary soldiers who use their same criminal networks and modus operandi.
- 11.
For a vivid anthropological analysis of the practice of “cleansing” in Colombia see: M. Taussig, (2003) The Cleansing. “Law in a Lawless Land: Diary of a Limpieza in Colombia.” Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- 12.
Acompañamiento is a term used to explain a range of activities that includes several forms of monitoring, promotion, and defence of the communities.
- 13.
The Early Warning System has been issued by the government in order to anticipate and prevent imminent human rights violations: M. Chernickl. (2004) Evaluation of Colombia’s Early Warning System. Management Systems International. Retrieved on June 1, 2012 From: http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDACR350.pdf
- 14.
Fr Jesus Flórez is an important religious leader of the region. He is member of the Claretian Religious Community and a former director of the Claretian University Foundation in Quibdó (FUCLA).
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Oyola, S.M.R. (2015). Religion and the Social Reconstruction of Memory Amid Violence in Bojayá, Chocó (Colombia): Creating Transitional Justice from Below. In: Brunn, S. (eds) The Changing World Religion Map. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9376-6_192
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