Abstract

ROLDAN VALENCIA, Ismael. Current State of the Victims in Colombia: The Search for Truth. rev.colomb.psiquiatr. [online]. 2007, vol.36, n.1, pp.41-66. ISSN 0034-7450.

Introduction and Objectives: To give a voice to the civilian victims of the armed confrontation of the last two decades in Colombia and discuss the relevance of reaching the truth. Methodology: The review of recent pacification processes made visible the victims absence. In the writing of this article testimonies were used that were recollected in the Second International Congress on Victims of Terrorism, held in Bogotá in 2005. Other testimonies were obtained in the Third International Congress, held in Valencia (Spain) in 2006. People used datheir real names and presented their cases publicly and expressly to be amply divulged. Another part of the methodology consisted of reviewing the peace processes held by the different Colombian governments since 1982. Results: We observed that from the eighties on, the legal resource of pardons and amnesties has been used with those in arms, resources with which in the end the truth is not obtained. In the current armed conflict, those who have been victims of deeds of violence have had scarce public presence and very little incidence in the political decisions taken to solve the conflict. Conclusion: The knowledge of truth strengthens the collective as well as the individual moral conscience, of which we are in need as stated by Freud in 1915 while writing about death and his deception with war.

Keywords : Crime victims; social justice; laws.

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