As Colombia marked the halfway point of the 15-year implementation window following 2016’s Final Agreement, Voices from the Void (Voices) organized a photo contest entitled “Halfway to Peace?” to help explore the reality of peace-building efforts. This contest more specifically set out to explore a number of related questions: Have things gotten better over the last seven years? Is Colombia still on the path to peace? What’s working? What challenges remain? Any photos engaging these questions were welcomed within this contest.
Below are the photos and accompanying narratives that received the highest scores from our panel of judges as broken out by the four dominant themes that were shared from participants: continuing conflict, an absent state, memory and reconciliation, and hope and resilience.
WINNING PHOTO – CONTINUING CONFLICT
One for All – Juan Pablo Rueda Bustamante
Thousands of people attend the funeral in Jamundí for councilor and social leader Jhon Fredy Gil Franco, who was murdered on April 27, 2024. This brings the total to 55 social leaders and three councilors from Valle del Cauca who were murdered in the first four months of the year, which is far from true peace or change.
SPECIAL MENTION – CONTINUING CONFLICT
Giving up One’s Life to Defend the Land – Ariel Arango / Entrelazando
In the Las Delicias Reservation at the burial of the former coordinator of the Indigenous Guard, Albeiro Camayo, for whom the failure of the peace agreement cost him his life as he was murdered by the Jaime Martinez Front of the EMC Dissidents.
SPECIAL MENTION – CONTINUING CONFLICT
ELN is Here – Esteban Vega
The presence of ELN guerrillas in the municipality of Villa del Rosario on the border with Venezuela is not a secret.
SPECIAL MENTION – CONTINUING CONFLICT
Attack on a police station in Cauca kills three – Juan Pablo Rueda Bustamante
A two-hour attack with explosives and rifle bursts on the police station in the municipality of Morales, Cauca, left two four people dead, three wounded, and dozens of homes and vehicles destroyed. arrived at the municipality during a tour of Cauca. Residents told President Gustavo Petro during a visit to the area that they are afraid and that public order is getting worse, and asked for urgent action since they are always caught in the middle of the conflict.
WINNING PHOTO – AN ABSENT STATE
Lost Youth – Jose Vargas
A minor packs several kilos of drugs that will soon leave Cauca for Central America. He has been doing this job for four years because the implementation of the peace agreement in his territory has been almost non-existent and the substitution of crops that was promised has never been carried out.
SPECIAL MENTION – AN ABSENT STATE
Through the Fog – Herman Parra
Through the fog over inhospitable roads, a team of doctors and health personnel travel on mules to the most remote communities in Caldas. They advance vigorously with determination into unfamiliar territories, knowing only that the region is impregnated with fear, anxiety, and trauma after years of conflicts.
SPECIAL MENTION – AN ABSENT STATE
Vitucay – Javier Segura
Many families have been forced to flee due to the armed conflict in our country. They sleep and live in huts and keep warm with fires fed by firewood. This is the story of more than 400 Embera indigenous people who endure unfulfilled promises of territorial protection and subsequently wander through Bogota National Park. Although the process of restoring indigenous lands is underway, progress is slow, and a breakdown in the social structure is evident.
SPECIAL MENTION – AN ABSENT STATE
The Smile of the River – Dariany Acosta
The Patía River, which runs through part of the Nariño mountain range, is an important natural resource. However, its beautiful surroundings hide a history of violence in which thousands of people who lost their lives were thrown into its waters by armed groups present in the region.
Although there has been progress, the region still has to overcome several challenges, such as delays in effectively implementing the peace agreement, the exploitation of natural resources, and the presence of armed organizations. But as the photo highlights, happiness and innocence is still possible on the the Patía River.
WINNING PHOTO – MEMORY AND RECONCILIATION
Tours of the Wounded Land – Ariel Arango / Entrelazando
A view of Bojayå, Chocó during the delivery of human remains from the massacre of May 1, 2002. Tragically, this mourning could not be completed until recently due to the difficulties of identifying the bodies and providing a dignified delivery in what widely remains a violent area. Disputes between armed groups fighting over territory continues, restricting access to rural communities, and adding to the list of casualties of a war that does not stop.
SPECIAL MENTION – MEMORY AND RECONCILIATION
Peace Camp – Alexis Munera
“I am not thinking about war right now…” says Don Félix Arango, guide of the Tierra Grata Ecoturs tourism project, while walking through the mountains of the Serranía del Perijá in northern Cesar — the same mountains that five years ago hosted rebellion. Instead the area is now home to an ETCR, providing tourist income to ex-combatants and insights into conflict for outsiders. Less than a kilometer away from the area where the ex-combatants live, there is the recreation of a guerrilla camp: a place where one enters into the morphology of life in the jungle and that comes to life with the narration of many people who live in the Tierra Grata area.
The voices of Cecilia, Diana, Patricia and Marisol add to the experience, reiterating that they do not want to return to the experience of war. In their simple dialogue, they narrate with emotion and nostalgia what they like most about this new camp: seeing it as a symbol of peace, reconciliation and tranquility; a space where they can once again feel from memory the experience of solidarity and camaraderie that always characterized the movement, making it possible for people from outside, tourists and visitors to get closer to the history of this people or, in the words of “Alex Mohamed”, former announcer of the Voice of the Resistance of the Caribbean block, “to let others know that we are human, that our smiles and our tears are also valuable, just as we all deserve to be known and heard.”
SPECIAL MENTION – MEMORY AND RECONCILIATION
A Light in the Castle – Jose Vargas
Survivors of violence in Alto Ariari, Meta, on a pilgrimage to commemorate the victims of the war in the 1990s and 2000s. Since the signing of the peace agreement, various efforts have been created to preserve the memory in this territory.
SPECIAL MENTION – MEMORY AND RECONCILIATION
Holy Look – Simon Porras
In the town of Charras, Guaviare, a resident watches former combatants pass by with a gaze subject to interpretation. The experiences and traumas of each person caught up in the conflict are deep and unknown to most.
WINNING PHOTO – HOPE AND RESILIENCE
New Days – Javier Jiménez Corzo
On the edge of a mountain in Caquetá, an area surrounded by monkeys and macaws, lives a community of ex-combatants who still believe in and try to honor the 2016 peace agreements. They are trying to build a life based around sustainability and tourism, with the enduring hope that peace will one day be a tangible reality. However, tensions between dissident groups and a lack of state support threaten further social crises that few are aware of.
SPECIAL MENTION – HOPE AND RESILIENCE
Peace on My Mind – Andres Restrepo
A homemade reminder of what we all should be thinking of as the struggle to support Colombia continues.
SPECIAL MENTION – HOPE AND RESILIENCE
Seeking a Path to Peace – Juan Pablo Rueda Bustamante
A young woman, with a clear message of peace for the country, attended the burial of the councilor and social leader Jhon Fredy Gil Franco, who was murdered in Jamundí.
SPECIAL MENTION – HOPE AND RESILIENCE
Rebirth of the Llaneros – Simon Porras
Three generations watching the sunset in the Charras reincorporation zone. These three women each represent a specific time and context of the conflict in Colombia, and the sunset represents the end of it.