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Ciro Galindo was born on August 29th, 1952
in Colombia.

Wherever he’s gone,
war has found him.

After twenty years of friendship,

I understood Ciro's life
sums up Colombia’s history.

As so many Colombians
he is a survivor,

who has run away from war
for more than sixty years,

and now dreams of living in peace.

In December of 1996,
I traveled to photograph Caño Cristales,

the mythical river of red algae
in the Serranía La Macarena.

I had traveled through half of the country
taking 360º photographs

for the book Panoramic Colombia.

I was twenty years old,
and with my camera on my shoulder,

I looked for the most beautiful landscapes

in a land marked by violence.

Since times before I was born,

my country lived a war between the State,
diverse communist guerrillas,

and several right-wing paramilitary groups.

During my teenage years,

drug trafficking nurtured
this war to such a level,

that it made Colombia one of the
most violent countries in the world.

I was nervous of going to Caño Cristales,

as La Macarena was considered
a “red zone”, an area at war,

as the Farc guerrillas who had settled
there during their foundation in the 1960’s

controlled it.

As I got off the plane,

Ciro, who worked as a ranger in the Sierra
de La Macarena National Park, greeted me.

Ciro recommended me his son John,

a 14-year-old young man,

to guide me
and help me carry the equipment.

We embarked down the Guayabero River.

We then walked in total solitude
to Caño Cristales.

The place was of a surreal,
prehistoric beauty.

I took my camera out and
started photographing.

We went up a cascade area looking for
the best angle for a 360º photograph.

John said the river was swollen

and he crossed it.

The water came down hard.

I prepared the panoramic camera.

I crossed gazes with John,

and I remember he dived in a hole…

and never came out.

He drowned in front of me.

At night,
I had to tell Ciro his son had drowned.

Unknowingly,
everything that happened that day

sealed a friendship that still continues.

Look Ciro.

Do you recognize?

These are the rapids, right?

- Cachivera.
- That's Cachivera?

No, those are the rapids.
This is Doña Saturnia’s house right here.

Remember that for these
photographs the camera rotated,

so it’s as if the river
continued through there.

How deep were those pools?

Don’t you remember the indigenous told us
they were nine meters deep?

When he jumped,

he slammed against the wall
and broke his neck.

Then he fell to the bottom.

This is John’s funeral, look.

- In these two you are with Anita.
- And here too.

The coffin opened

and we had to tie it.

That same week
a guerrilla commission arrived to take him.

I ran into the commander, Edgar,

and he said,
“I was coming for that kid.”

Was he going to be recruited
or executed?

Recruited.

With my camera as a witness

I met Anita, John’s mom;

Elkin, his middle brother;

Esneider, his younger brother.

Death had brought us together for life.

Ciro & Me.

Good morning. I’m looking for
the Victim’s Unit. Jean Pierre?

Tell me something about your
case, Mr. Ciro.

My case. It’s a bit sad.

Mr. Ciro, come in please.

Thank you.

My son Elkin, he was murdered.

Who killed him Mr. Ciro?

The Centaur Block.

The Centaur Block of
the Self-Defense Forces.

The mother fell into depression
and died.

My wife died in 2010.

Four of us left La Macarena,
Meta.

And currently we are only two.

- So you were displaced?
- Yes.

Are you enrolled in the refugee registry,
Mr. Ciro?

Yes sir.

Do you know your registry number?

No, I don’t know it.

Children?

One.

Only one. And is he of legal age?

Yes of course.

What is your son’s name?

Esneider Galindo Barreto.

Is it important for you
that Esneider studies?

Yes of course.
A lot.

Currently he is working in Villavicencio.

Honestly, I’m really confused.

The truth, sometimes I want to
do certain things, sometimes not.

Sometimes I think about things,
and then I do not want to do them anymore.

Sometimes I don’t want to do anything.

Sometimes I meditate and say to myself,

I want to study, because I’m still
24 years old and I can do it.

But sometimes I say to myself,
I have to work and all that, so better not.

It’s hard work, as when I finished
high school, it was tough.

Sometimes I say to myself, I’ve finished
high school and I’ve done many things

but if I can’t find a good job
it’s because studies are really needed.

My name is Johanna Cruz.
I am in charge of returns and relocations.

Within the framework of all those rehabilitation
measures that were explained to you

there is the effective
enjoyment of your rights.

What’s the idea?
That you are in the place you feel best.

In this case you say
you want to go to Villavicencio.

Do you know to what neighborhood
or are you undecided?

Citadel San Antonio.

There’s a project there
where they promised to build my house.

That was in 2007 and we are in 2013.

So most important would
be to be in Villavicencio.

- To follow up on…
- That’s right.

Yes. Once your application is done,
I need your signature and fingerprint here.

Good morning.

Good morning.
Feet cleansing.

Let’s take a look.

Who are they?

It’s the entire dead family.

Anita, Elkin, and John are here.

Anita was really called Margarita.

She was called Ana Margarita Barreto.

This is Memín.

Here he was angry.

When Elkin was young
he looked like Memín,

a character in a comic book.

And he remained that way.

One of Esnedier’s birthdays in La Macarena.

From La Macarena, this one you took.

I never imagined that one day I had to come
to Bogotá and live like we are living.

Never, ever did that go through my mind.

I thought I would never abandon La Macarena
for anything in the world.

I thought I would die there.

Everyone looked at the river,
Caño Cristales.

A river with nine-meter deep pools

you could see the bottom.

Immense and beautiful, so beautiful.

To the sides stones and
algae of several colors.

I found a job working in tourism

and began to accompany
the people who arrived.

I was very shy with people;

I felt shyness
with the people who arrived.

Memín was the one who was constantly
on the lookout.

When he saw an airplane
he ran to the terminal.

To every person who got off the plane he would
ask them, “are you going to Caño Cristales?

If you are going to Cristales, my father
will guide you and he’s not pricey...

And he would arrive with a bunch of people.

It was right at the airport,
like an apparition,

Ciro and his middle son, Memín,

as I always knew him.

They just appeared and
he presented himself,

“Hey, I’m a guide.
Do you want me to accompany you?”

That was our first encounter with Ciro,
right at the airport.

Memín was like the kid
from the Jungle Book,

with that incredible mixture
between indigenous and white.

He couldn’t stand his shoes.
He was great. He couldn’t stand his shirt.

I’ve stored, deep in memory,
the images of Memín running around.

Because he would come and go,
he would search, he would go get fish.

He would immediately jump into
any lake or pool he found.

He never asked for permission.

He could come out from the water, or from
anywhere in the jungle, he was wonderful.

Luis Fernando,

I first met him when he arrived
to La Macarena with eleven persons.

Those eleven persons were great for me,
as I accompanied them for a long time.

It was a very nice friendship with Ciro,
he quickly became like our brother.

As a matter of fact,
after a certain trip,

I told Ciro that I wanted
to take Memín to Bogotá;

I wanted him to see something different.
And I brought him to Bogotá.

We took the kid traveling.
At that time he was probably 12 or 13.

When I finished the photos for the book, war
in Colombia became so violent and intense,

that it became impossible to visit
certain areas of the country.

The people from the city
didn’t return to the countryside.

Those from the countryside arrived
in the cities displaced by violence.

-Why are you leaving town?

-They are forcing us out.

Many believed Colombia
was a failed country

and would break apart in
several independent nations.

Since 1996, the Farc guerrillas began
an unprecedented military offensive

in its war against the state.

With armies of up to 1500 men,

Farc attacked military bases
in remote areas of the country,

fighting battles to death,
with no respite, for several days.

Hundreds of policemen
and soldiers were killed,

and more than 500 were
captured as prisoners.

- There’s a bunch of dead policemen
over there. Only a few are left.

Turned into hostages,
they were taken deep into the jungle,

where they became war loot to pressure
an exchange for imprisoned guerrillas.

The Farc guerrillas also increased
the kidnapping of civilians,

demanding money in
exchange for their release.

- Do you have water?
- No, nothing.

With armed checkpoints,
they blocked the country’s main roads,

stopped vehicles and
abducted their passengers.

- Until when do you expect to be here on the road?
- We'll see how it goes.

“Miraculous fishing”, as this mass
kidnapping industry was called,

spread rapidly across the country.

Every Colombian had a price.

- What’s the order?
- To stop cars, for now.

Those kidnapped were taken
to the mountains or to the jungle,

where they were kept for months or years,

until their families paid
the price of their release.

The State seemed incapable
against the Farc’s military strength.

-It's tough, so many dead friends.

Living in Colombia was a bit like a Russian
roulette; you never knew what could happen.

Promising peace talks, conservative
Andrés Pastrana won the presidency in 1998.

In order to carry out these dialogues,
he enacted a “demilitarized zone”,

an area in southwestern Colombia,
the size of Switzerland

that was demilitarized and
handed to the Farc guerrillas.

La Macarena, where Ciro lived,
was one of five towns within this area.

Long live the Bolivarian Movement
for a new Colombia.

Long live the Revolutinary Armed Forces
of Colombia Farc – People’s Army.

As the police plane left,
the guerrillas entered the town.

They brought and brought people
until the town was full.

In the “demilitarized zone” they ruled.

There was still a mayor, an inspector,

but what they said was done.

When the “demilitarized zone” began,
they started bombing and shooting.

But it was the army saying goodbye
as the guerrillas entered.

I didn’t understand that.

I asked someone and he told me,
“the guerrillas will now enter.”

But I would get the army
and the guerrillas confused.

The guerrillas had taken over the port
and they were drinking.

Next day at school, everyone said, “Oh, the
guerrillas entered, the guerrillas entered.”

The professor told us,
“be careful with what you say.”

I asked her, “Why?”

She said, “Hasn’t your father explained?”

My father knew
what was going on,

and most kids had been told,
but he had not explained it to me.

I thought that when the guerrillas entered,

there would be a change

and things would
get better for us.

Nope.

The big business here was cocaine.

On the weekends the town
was packed with people.

The whorehouses were full.

Women from other towns arrived by plane from
Villavicencio just to work on the weekends.

A lot of money was moved, everyone had
money, but the town didn’t progress.

People didn’t want to grow crops any more, they
didn’t want to work in agriculture. Just coca.

Life changed for those who worked
in commerce or with cocaine,

but not for us, as my father didn’t work
with commerce or cocaine.

Life continued, as it was.

They filmed all the attacks where
they captured policemen and soldiers.

They would set up a television and a VHS
in the main square and everyone watched.

In the bars they would come in and say,

“Excuse me, now you’ll see a video
of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.”

Those drinking watched attentively.

I watched them all the time,

I was happy watching them.
They showed them constantly.

When you are young many things
attract you, like weapons.

Once they did a parade of women,
all of them beautiful.

Obviously that
attracts young men.

They were well armed, waved hello,
and hugged their mate.

So you thought it was a good life.

That’s how they deceive young men,
because they cannot trick the elder.

I had a lot of
difficulties with them,

especially with Elkin.

They couldn’t stand still for a moment
and were always up to something.

But when the guerrillas entered,

I thought they would control themselves,
they would fear them.

But I never imagined how things would end.

I studied with several 12-year-olds.

As I studied they started deserting.

I didn’t know where they were going.

The professor didn’t say anything
and no one talked about it.

I thought they had moved to
another city with their parents or so.

Few of us were left.

Suddenly I saw Elkin being taken

by commander Asdrúbal.

I asked him, “Elkin, what are you doing?”
He said, “I’m going with them.”

I said, “What?”

He replied, “yes,

they are taking me with them.”

“But you are so young.”

He said, “yes.”

How old was Elkin?

Calm down, Ciro.

He arrived home and
left with a small bag.

He waved good-bye to me.

I was with a friend.
He waved good-bye and did this.

But I didn’t understand.

So I went and said to Asdrúbal,

“Do me a favor. Why are
you taking that boy?

He won’t be any good for you.”

The guy said to me,

“if you resist us from taking him,
then you are our enemy.

He’s coming with us.”

And he took him.

- How old was Memín when they took him?
- 13. He was 13.

He said to me,
“We’ll turn him into a man there.

Three years of instruction

and he’ll come out made a man.”

During the “demilitarized zone” the Farc
guerrillas recruited more than 4,000 children,

many of them under 15 years of age.

Memín, like his mates, was sent
to the Isaías Pardo training school,

where he received
political and military instruction.

They took a lot of kids, quite a lot.

You could see columns of kids

leaving from La Macarena

and other places of
the “demilitarized zone”.

Our neighbors also left
to join the guerrillas,

kids with whom we used
to play games and soccer.

They all left, many, many friends.

They recruited a lot of people.

But since there were no combats and
we did not hear anything about the wounded,

I said, “there’s nothing wrong with that.”
I only saw the consequences later.

I thought it was normal
for Elkin to join them,

and he would soon come out.

While the ruling class,
the media,

and representatives of European
and American governments

went to the demilitarized
zone to talk about peace,

military confrontation
heightened.

Farc guerrillas increased the kidnapping
of politicians, military, and civilians.

Used as a negotiation tokens, the hostages
were taken to the demilitarized zone

and locked in rudimentary prisons reminiscent
of concentration camps from World War II.

Many of them were tied up in chains and placed
under custody of the recruited children.

Some of them spent more than
ten years kidnapped in the jungle

and couldn’t see their
children grow up.

- She told me a beautiful
baby had been born.

I haven’t met him yet.

I’ve only known him through
this small picture that my wife sent.

If the communist
guerrillas got stronger,

the right-wing paramilitary
groups didn’t fall behind.

With the pretext of the anti-communist struggle,
financed by businessmen, cattle ranchers, and drug lords,

and working in close alliance with some members
of the police, the army, and politicians,

on April 19th, 1997, the United
Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC),

a terrifying coalition of paramilitary groups
scattered around the country, were formalized.

In response to guerrilla attacks,
kidnappings, and extortion,

paramilitaries spread terror and
massacres of civilians throughout Colombia.

The government also sought
to strengthen itself militarily.

With the excuse of combating drug trafficking
and creating social investment programs,

it received billions of dollars in US military
aide in what was known as Plan Colombia.

That way it consolidated a powerful air
force and professionalized its army.

With this background music,
peace talks didn’t advance.

Violence proliferated.

At the beginning of the new millennium,

Colombia was going through its worst
humanitarian crisis in history.

Good day.

Nice to meet you.

Ciro Galindo,

beneficiary of a house here.

We had a contract with the
Chigüiros construction company.

-Oh, yes.

- What do you know of the Chigüiros
construction company? Did they retire?

- I don’t know.
The truth, not much is known.

I took possession of what is mine,
what is written on paper.

- Yes?
- Nothing is known. Yes, no.

But Villavicencio’s Housing Department had
agreed with an insurer to continue construction.

And they had a year to…

- To finish and deliver them?
- To finish and deliver them.

What happened with that?
We had to leave to Bogotá.

- And which is your lot?
Your lot, because there is no housing.

- That way.
- That way? There’s nothing there.

- There’s nothing?
- Nothing.

-Damn.

We have to look for it around here.

- What’s the number? 13?
- 13.

- We have to look for it.
One is over there… 10, 11, 12, 13.

It should be around here in this part.

Ciro, so there’s no house?

No, not even hope.

Maybe I could harvest some guavas here.

I’ve been able to check
this database with your ID number

and in fact your
subsidy hasn’t been spent.

It’s in a trust fund.
It hasn’t been moved.

At this moment,
we cannot deliver your house.

But at least, the insurer will
soon start construction in that area.

I can guarantee you there will be no relocation
of your house, nor will you lose your right.

My wife dreamed of...

living in that house.

After so much suffering,

she couldn’t achieve that.

She fell into depression and finally died.

It’s only the two of us left, with my son.

This is where we are staying.
The boys sleep here. I sleep in the back.

Two or three people stay here.

- And here?
- We don’t use it.

We have the fridge, but it’s empty.
Most of the time we are not here.

This is where I’m staying.

- I could come and cook for you.
- You’d have to take it to the site.

I’m staying here with some friends.
We have a fan.

We don’t remain much time here,
only to sleep.

Here’s the shower and the bathroom.

This is where we live.

- Play.
- Which is mine?

-Who’s turn is it?

I’m in.

- How are you Mr. Ciro?
- Very good.

- Last time we met you
told me you wanted to return.

-Yes, of course.

For this reason,
we want to make you an offer.

There is the Victim's Reparation Fund.

This Fund manages property
turned in by people

who’ve presented themselves
before the Justice and Peace law.

We have a farm called Lusitania.

We would like to offer you a
job opportunity looking after this farm.

- I want us to go the farm.
So you get to know it.

See if you like it, if you like the job,
if you feel comfortable there.

If you don’t feel happy with
this alternative, we can look for another.

People who demobilized from illegal
armed groups handed in the farm Lusitania.

The Victim’s Unit would
hire you for services rendered.

There you’ll have a house that’s in the farm.
The farm is 20 minutes from Puerto Gaitán.

You will receive USD
$300 a month as salary.

I don’t think it’s that
difficult to earn some money,

because I can work,
even sweeping the streets.

I don’t remain still.

I don’t like the city.
I don’t like it. I feel bad.

I like the countryside.
All my life I’ve lived in the countryside.

- What are we going to see?
- The house, Mr. Ciro. Look.

- Very good.
- Right? Come and I’ll show you around here. It’s big.

I was born in Coyaima, Tolima.

At that time violence was terrible.

Conservatives and liberals were fighting.

My mom told me she was afraid,
because our town was liberal,

and it seems the conservatives arrived
and wiped out everything liberal.

That was the cause for her
leaving that town to Meta.

The commander of that area
was called Dumar Aljure.

All the time you heard about war,

and combats,
and the most terrible fear.

At that time there was
a lot of talk about

Manuel Marulanda and
Guadalupe Salcedo.

Dumar Aljure recruited all the youth
and I was very afraid.

When they said Dumar Aljure
was coming to my area,

I would say, “I won’t go for anything.”

-Ciro, when did Elkin return?

-A year later.

- After a year in the guerrilla. And
during that year you didn’t know anything?

-No, nothing. Until he came back.

The kids from school said to me, “Hey,
your brother arrived and he’s enormous.

Oh, how he grew! Your
brother is over there,

run, run go see him.” I
was yearning to see him.

Elkin arrived sick to La Macarena.
You could tell he was exhausted, sick.

He was no longer the boy who left.

He arrived different, changed.
He really changed. He was not like before.

-How was he different?

First, he was calm. But after he came back
from the jungle he was very haughty.

- And violent.
- Violent. He changed a lot.

-What did he say?

-That they gave him some tied up people.

- “I felt bad, dad,” he said.
He felt regret. “I’m miserable,” he said.

Whoever said they had been in the guerrillas
and hadn’t killed people was a liar.

He told us he was in combat, and a helicopter
had machine-gunned them very close.

The explosive wave affected him a lot.

He had attacks.

- Those attacks were strong.
He lost consciousness.

They would start;
he tightened up, became purple.

You had to be on top of him, otherwise…

- He told us it was
consequence of a battle

that had been very
hard, very hard.

-I think he was jittery.

So what did we do?

With the help of the ombudsman
we sent him to a hospital in Villavicencio.

We didn’t hear from him again.

From there on we were disconnected.

According to archive I’ve found,

between February 28
and March 12, 2001,

Memín is admitted to the ER mental ward
of the Vilavicencio hospital.

“He was temperamental and was acting
strange, he laughed and talked to himself.”

For a month there’s no track of him,
until on April 12, 2001.

Memín voluntarily surrenders to Colombia’s
Army VII Brigade in Villavicencio.

He defects from Farc.

He surrenders without war equipment.

On April 14, 2001 he testifies
to the Prosecutor’s Office.

“I am currently 16 years old.

My profession was guerrilla commander
of the 43rd front of the Eastern Bloc.

There they knew me with
the alias of “Alberio Córdoba”.

I studied in the Isaías Pardo
National School of Guerrillas,

located near the Secretariat,
close to San Vicente del Caguán.

“I was a reserve in the attack on
Puerto Lleras, more than two years ago,

when the army killed
more than 80 guerrillas.

I was under the command of “Alejandro Chuck
Norris”, guarding the ramps and gas cylinders.”

I also took part in the attack
on Guyabetal, two years ago,

under the command of
“Romaña” and “Buendía”.

We had seven casualties
and the confrontation was with helicopters.

Kill me!

I turned myself in because
my commander mistreated me

and I want to have access to the benefits
the national government is offering.

Memín is sent to a children center run by
the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare.

He is accused of rebellion, sedition,
disturbance, and conspiracy.

He must appear before a court that will decide if he
receives legal immunity for the crimes he’s accused of.

However, on April 16 he runs away.

One day he calls me.

I’m at home; he calls,
and tells me he’s here in Bogotá.

And I’m like, “What do you mean? What
happened?” He says, “I’m near your house.”

I thought it was incredible.

I met him and we went to a cafeteria.

He tells me had escaped from the
guerrillas, and tells me a lot of things.

I take Elkin home;
he stays at home that night.

But suddenly I’m scared,
because he’s been in the guerrillas,

and everything we just
talked about is frightening.

Commander John 40 sent me to Villavicencio
to do a social cleansing job.

We killed three homeless.

Briefly, I went back and we killed six.

As the paramilitary operated in that area,
they blamed them; that was the main mission.

I deserted because I was tired and they
wanted me to go into towns and kill people.

We had an office at 67th and 4th,
and I would take him there.

I never forget the image of him
showing people how they tied the kidnapped.

In those images I began to understand
all of Memín’s drama and his problems.

He’s just a kid and who knows
what he’s been through.

He just tells this to people
in such a natural way.

So I made the decision to find a hotel for
him. I prefer he’s there, I feel better.

I didn’t know what to do with him
and talking to Ciro was quite difficult.

So I decided to look for the
reintegration program of the government.

On May 4, 2001.

Memín is sent to an Emergency Center of
the Colombian Family Welfare Institute,

where he is evaluated
medically and psychologically.

According to the report,
“there is a high degree of resentment

due to the inhumane treatment
received in the gang.

He misbehaves and is aggressive
with peers and educators.

After his evaluation,

he is sent to a specialized institution for
children disengaged from the armed conflict,

to be reeducated.

On December 14, 2001, after eight months
in the reintegration program,

the Colombian state recognizes
Elkin’s willingness to join civil life.

He obtains judicial immunity.

He is also promised USD $3000
to start a productive venture.

Memín dreams of a chorizo factory.

The municipal ombudsmen
said to me, “don’t worry.

Your son is in the demobilized program.
He is fine, well.”

I was relieved, I said, “thank god, he’ll be
well there, from there he’ll move forward.”

I stopped worrying
and told Anita,

“Elkin’s joined
the program, he’s well.”

After three years of negotiations between the
Farc guerrillas and the government of Colombia

the peace process has failed.

The demilitarized zone has
become like Ali Baba’s den,

where Farc keep their hostages chained,

grows coca uncontrollably,

and strengthens its war army.

The peace process ends on February 20,
2002, after Farc hijack the airplane

in which the president of the
Senate Peace Commission traveled in

and take him hostage
to the demilitarized zone.

For this reason I’ve decided to end
the peace process with Farc.

On February 21, the army initiates
the recovery of the demilitarized zone.

Oh my god! It was scary,

because now it was a war zone;
it was no longer a peace zone.

The airplanes flew overhead,
it was terrifying.

When the demilitarized zone ended
the army starting bombing all around.

The first ones down
were the kids I knew.

The town started smelling badly,
so they announced on a megaphone,

'Those who have family in the guerrillas
please come by the airstrip

as a number of corpses
have arrived. 10, 20, 40…

I walked by and I knew them all;

all of them young, those who were
in class with me, just kids.

Three days after the end
of the peace process,

Farc kidnaps Ingrid Betancur,

at the time a presidential candidate,
on her way to the old demilitarized zone.

War in Colombia intensifies
and hopes for peace dilute.

I came here frequently. Maybe I
didn’t come for two or three months.

I think it’s this one.

A neighbor helped us locate it.
We began to search.

What a surprise it was to find
the house built and delivered.

I never thought they would build the house
and deliver it in that short time span.

- How many years have you waited for the house?
- Seven years.

On March 2002, after a row
of indiscipline acts,

Memín escapes from the
government shelter in Bogotá.

You never know how disturbed a kid like
this could be, and how far he’d go.

But from there on he got lost.

He then left and we lost track of him,
we lost contact with him.

On June 22, 2002,
after stumbling around the country,

Mermín returns to La Macarena
in search of his parents.

The army had no
control of the area

and a guerrilla deserter
was suspicious to all parts.

-We were traveling when…

- He arrived there.
- He arrived.

- To La Macarena?
- To our house.

- To La Macarena?
- To our house. At around this time of day.

- Oh! When I saw him. “Hey, what are you up to?”
“Dad, I’m here because I needed to see you.”

- “I’ve come to take you.'
- 'I’m bored without you. '

I want to you to come with me because
I haven’t received funding

from the government program
to start my venture, as I am a minor.

But if you come, we can start the venture,
and we’ll get to work and live well.

Then my dad told me, “Don’t say he’s here,
because it is dangerous.”

And the next day
he began arranging how to leave.

We were going to have a problem,

because we were going to be declared
military objective by them.

-Who would declare you? Why?

- The guerrilla, now that they knew our son
was in the government program,

they were not going
to show a good face.

We took what was necessary.
The rest, the house, was abandoned.

Animals know when you leave.

For example our dogs never went after us, but
that day the all came out, in a single line,

all the way to the airport.
They started crying when we left.

Between 1985 and 2012 Colombia had more
than six million people displaced by war,

making it the second country in the world
with more internal refugees.

We arrived at Villa del Sol, Villavicencio.

From there you come
out with psychosis,

you think everyone is your enemy.

You want to hide from people
and avoid being seen.

Whatever you say you think
you are betraying someone; it was horrible.

- Who left that day?
- The four of us. Elkin, Esneider, Anita and me.

-Do you remember when you left?

- Yes of course. We left and
were sad when we arrived here,

because life here…
We lived too badly here.

-You lived badly here?

- Yes of course because we were newcomers
and didn’t know anything.

We didn’t know what to do,
we were minors,

my dad didn’t have a job,
and my mother was older.

I remember some days there was no food.
We arrived really badly.

We thought life for us here
wouldn’t be that hard.

But when we got here we crashed.

We had all sort of needs here.

We were hopeful on his productive venture.

We were filled with illusions.

It was a project my brother
had made of chorizos.

We were looking for a place as supposedly
the money would arrive at any moment

and we had to start working.

We had worked in La Macarena
doing that so we had experience.

But it never came.

With you, the president elect
of Colombia Álvaro Uribe Vélez.

On August 7, 2002, Álvaro Uribe Vélez,
a cattle rancher from Antioquia

is sworn in as president of Colombia
after a landslide victory in the election.

He spoke of
“democratic security”,

tough combat against the communist
guerrillas, especially Farc,

and the need of strengthening
the State’s presence in all of the country.

During Uribe’s inauguration, Farc attack
the presidential palace with rockets.

A full out war has been declared.

On the other hand, Uribe announces a peace
process with right-wing paramilitary groups.

Within a few months, Congress passes a new
law that seeks to facilitate this process.

From now on, all underage combatants
regardless of their side,

are considered
“victims of political violence.”

The reintegration program is modified and
the Colombian State starts a special plan

to protect child combatants.

This changes the rules
of the game for Memín.

When we arrived in Bogotá,

they said to him, “You are a minor,
we cannot give you a venture,

you have to remain in the program
until the age of 18.”

He had to go to a shelter and
they sent us to “Man and Myth”.

There were minors, elders,

women, men, everything
in that shelter.

They had demobilized and
handed in their weapons.

The Farc guerrillas brought war to the cities
and started a series of attacks in Bogotá.

On October 22, 2002, they put a car bomb
against the Police Intelligence Services.

On December 13, they put a bomb in a briefcase in
the Tequendama building, a traditional Bogotá hotel.

On February 7, 2003,

they put a car bomb in the Nogal Club, the
business and sports center of the Bogotá elite.

36 people were killed and
more than 200 injured.

Terror had arrived at the nation’s capital.

Uribe’s government reacted with
an aggressive policy of informers.

“Reward Mondays” was started, an economic
compensation program that rewarded citizens

who helped the public force avoid terrorist
acts and dismantle illegal armed organizations.

-Cooperating friend, I hand you our money.

Many combatants demobilized and
handed in their weapons under this program.

Somewhere in a park
in La Soledad,

we ran into this guy.

When my son saw him he said,

“Look that was my commander,
I was under his command,”

and he went and greeted him.

He asked him “You here?”
He replied, “Yes, I’m here.”

He said, “What are you doing?”
He replied, “I demobilized.”

And Elkin told him, “me too.”

- Country or death!
Ever onward to victory!

Two or three days later,
around 7PM on TV

was the news of the arrest
of commander Pedro,

from the 43rd font,
with two women.

Intelligence agencies
continue to try to establish

whether the alleged Farc guerrilla
who was captured,

Duberney Loaiza alias “Pedro”,

is one of the men responsible
of leaving a bomb inside a briefcase

in the Tequendama hotel.

Memín lured by the money offered
by the government to informers,

appeared before the police
to give information on alias “Pedro”,

his former commander in the guerrilla.

I’m sure that once
he recognized him,

and said yes, this is Pedro 43,

and said who knows
what other things,

they took him and did that interview.

-Where did you meet him?

-On the 43rd front.

-How long ago did you meet him?

- I first came across him…
right after the demilitarized zone started.

- How long has that guy
been in the guerrillas?

- At 14 he started working
with the guerrilla.

- Hold on a second Ciro, did Elkin
present himself voluntarily to say this?

-No, they took him from the shelter.

-How did they take him?

-Some guys came in car,

in an extra large car, a
gray car, and asked for him.

He ran down the stairs
and left with them.

“You are needed by the colonel”,

they said, and he got
in the car and left.

- Why is he here?
- Because he saw Pedro on TV.

- I asked him if it was dangerous.
He said no.

He said he had to recognize people
and they would pay him.

I was afraid.

I didn’t like that at all.

- If I show you some photos of the
guerrillas are you able to recognize them?

-Just like this?

-Do you know her, Paloma?

-No.

-Do you know him?

-Neither.

- Yoyo, do you know her?
- Yes, I do.

-Who is she?

- I saw her in the Hernando González
Acosta training school, but I can't…

- You don’t know her alias, her name?
We are talking about Paola.

- Do you know him?
- He is Bejuco.

-He is Bejuco.

The photograph put present is
the photograph of Javier Paz.

Tell me about Bejuco.

Bejuco, alias Javier Paz, was the main
suspect of the recent attacks in Bogotá

and he was considered as one of the
masterminds of the bomb at the Nogal Club.

Memín's statements were
useful for military intelligence.

All of a sudden they told him he would
be independent from now on.

So they gave him some money.

-But he was a minor.

-Yes of course, he was a minor.

He hadn’t turned 18 yet to declare him
independent and give him the productive venture.

- Brother, from now on, you are going to work with
us, to see if we find the other guerrillas here.

-Yes sir.

We arrived at Villavicencio,

and he stopped working
with Police Intelligence

and began working with
the Army’s Seventh Brigade.

With the Seventh Brigade,
he told me several times.

After working as an
informer for the army

in his former zone of
operations in the guerrilla,

Memín starts working for the
paramilitary group in the area.

A policeman picks him up in a motorcycle
and hands him over to the paramilitary.

They took him on February 25th

and on the 26th he called me and
told me that he was in San Martín,

with “Javier Chatarro”,
his immediate commander,

of the Centaurs Bloc,
commanded by Miguel Arroyave.

- The plain paramilitaries.
- Yes.

The United Self Defense Forces of Colombia
(AUC) arrived in the area in 1997,

leaving a bloody path with
the Mapiripán massacre.

They fought against the Farc guerrilla

for the control of crops and routes
of coca to finance their armies.

Organized under the Centaurs Bloc, by means
of massacres and selective assassinations,

they expanded toward the historical territory
of the Farc in the southeast of the country.

Memín gave them information about
his former comrades in the guerrilla

and the cocaine labs
they had in the area.

I advised him,
“Look honey, you don’t do that,

you are burning yourself honey,
you don’t do that.

Your brother is working,
we are working,

even if it’s just for food
and rent, we are doing it.

You shouldn’t do that.
I begged him, I cried Miguel, my god.

I had this feeling this kid
was up to something.

Sometimes I worried.
I talked with Ciro,

“Look Ciro, I don’t understand
what is going on with Elkin.

I'm scared of Elkin.”

At the end he said,
“Oh, why did I get involved in this?

- At the end he said that?
Was he afraid?

-Of course, he was afraid.

- He was afraid. “I don’t want to work
in that any more, mom.”

He said, “Let’s leave to another
country, I want to leave now.”

He came once to Villavicencio.

He told me, “Dad, go
and tell that mister

that I do not want to
go back to San Martín.”

It was a tough challenge.

I said to him, “OK, let’s go.”

We arrived at San Martín and we met
to talk in front of the police station.

Javier Chatarro, that
guy, said to me,

“What’s up boss?
What do you need?”

I said to him, “I
need to talk to you

about my son.'

I told him I was there
for them to set him free.

The guy said to me,

“he ran away, he ran away.”

Then he said very clearly,

“it’s easy getting in,
but getting out is tough.

Whoever runs away
we’ll even kill their eggs.”

Worse, now.

He said, “We wipe out all
the family, we put an end to it.”

Even worse, now.

I didn’t dare say anything to him.

Fear… I was afraid.

The guy thought for a while
and then said to me,

“OK, the kid is with you,

we will not harass him any more,
he’s now with you.”

We went back to Villavicencio.

I told him,
“Elkin, we already spoke with that guy,

and the guy told us there was no problem,
that you now stayed with us.”

He started laughing.

“That’s a lie, ' he said to
me, 'that’s a lie.”

I said, “no, he told us seriously.”

- He told us they were going to kill him.
- What did he say?

- He had to present himself somewhere,
and probably they were going to kill him,

otherwise they would kill us all.

It was Holy Week.

Anita came out and told him,
“Elkin, they were looking for you today.

Two guys in a motorcycle
are looking for you.”

They gave him the time of 10:30 – 11:00 am.

That night,

I saw he couldn’t sleep.

He lied down, he leaned against the wall.

The next day arrived.

He said to me, “come with me.”

I left with him and I don’t know why I told him,
“I’ll come with you up to this point, Elkin.”

He said, “Come with me
so you see who’s taking me.”

I said to him, “No, I won’t go.”

He said, “Why? Oh, my dad’s
a coward,” and he left.

The motorcycle was there, waiting for him.
I went after him. I could still see him.

The guy gave him a helmet, a vest,

he got on the bike and rode away.

The day went by, he didn’t come back.

I went to the Prosecutor’s Office
and the prosecutor told me,

“We picked up a body.”

When I saw the cattle,
it was all in a circle, here.

I said, “It’s some cow
that just had a calf.”

I went near the fence.

When the cattle opened,

I came this way and saw
something like a lump.

I said, “There’s the calf.”

No way.
It was the dead man.

He was there, in this part.

- He was here in this part.
- He was here in this part.

I was coming down the edge.

It was eight something in the morning.

He was this way, lengthwise.

He had white sneakers.

They were not muddy. Quite strange.

-The one with mud was Abel.

- With so much mud and he was not muddy.
The white socks were not muddy either.

What’s incredible is how
they brought him here.

- It would be by plane that they
brought him and threw him.

When they turned him around,
he was full of ants, terrible.

It was then when we realized
he was wounded, here in the head.

He didn’t have anything in his body.
He didn’t have anything here.

-In an arm, around here, I’m not sure.

At that moment I thought
they would take him

and probably I wouldn’t
see him again,

but I never thought they would kill him.

They had the order
to eliminate him

because he knew too many things,
that’s what he told me.

He said, “They told me I knew too many
things and they couldn’t let me go.

It’s a tough blow.

Children bury parents.
Parents shouldn’t bury children.

That’s what is sad for me.

In 2004, a year after Elkin’s murder,

I met Ciro again and went with him to
Villavicencio to put a tombstone in his grave.

I recorded these images as witness,
as memory, against war, against oblivion.

We were arranging
for the funeral

when a woman arrived
and said to us,

“There were two guys in a motorcycle
at your house asking for you.

They said they needed you as they had
Elkin, and Elkin wanted to talk to you.”

And Elkin had already been buried.

So I went to the People’s Advocate
and told them

they were looking for us
and they were going to kill us.

The People’s Advocate wrote
a letter to Police Intelligence,

and Police Intelligence
ordered a commission

to protect us until
we were able to leave to Bogotá.

While the country was
engulfed in a bloody war,

innocent victims, as Ciro,
filled Colombia’s city streets.

We arrived here in Bogotá,
looking for support, for help.

And the help we received was,
“No, he was the one in the program.

If they killed him, we are sorry,
but we have nothing to do with you anymore.

You should go to the Refugee’s Office and
register as a displaced person to get some aid,

but we have nothing
to do with you anymore.

See what you can do.”

So I went to the shelter.

When we arrived here, we had nothing.

I washed my uniform, and
remained in shorts,

I left my shoes upstairs
and they stole them.

I had only my shorts left. I couldn’t go out
for eight days, as I had nothing to wear.

“There’s the kitchen.
You’ll see if you are up to cook.”

I said, “Oh my god, now to start cooking.”

But I knew that if I didn’t cook,

in a few days time they would tell me I had to
leave, as there was nothing else they could do.

When I started cooking,
there were 120 people.

- And you made three meals a day for 120 people?
- Yes, three meals, yes sir.

- Between the three of us,
my mom, my dad, and me.

At the beginning we made
some horrible soups.

I don’t know why, but people
supported us and said to us,

“don’t worry,
go on, no problem with us.”

Alvaro Uribe’s government reaches an agreement
with the majority of paramilitary groups.

With prison sentences of up to
eight years for commanders,

the Justice and Peace Law seeks the demobilization
of combatants in exchange for truth and reparation.

-Welcome to civility.

During the following years, thousands of demobilized
boys and girls entered the reintegration program.

At the beginning, there were
people from the guerrillas.

Farc and ELN guerrillas.

At the end, people arrived
from the paramilitary, the AUC,

the Centaurs Bloc,
in Meta state.

Some of those who arrived

probably belonged to
the same group of people

who killed my son.

I was full of resentment, hatred,

and I had to serve them.

This is where we lived,
this is where we slept.

There was a bunk bed here, another
one here, and a small one here.

I grew up from the age of
13 to 16 in the shelter.

My dad told the pals to leave me alone.

So everyone said, “he’s a fag.
Even his dad takes care of him.”

So I felt bad, and decided to leave the
house and not depend on my parents anymore.

This guy called “Mollars” said to me,
“Hey, are you looking for work?

Because if you want to I’ll take you to Meta,
with the cattle and everything there, we’ll work.

I’ve seen that you like to work.”

And I said, “when?”
He said, “now, if you want to.”

After he said that I left immediately, wearing
only the clothes I had, I took no bags.

After he disappeared, I despaired
and went looking for him everywhere.

I went to the police. The police said,
“No, don’t worry, leave him alone,

the kid needs freedom
and he wants to go to work.

Why do you worry so much
for him, there’s no problem.”

But how could we not worry?

So we got there and he said,
“Tonight we have to stay in a hotel.”

First some kids arrived and
then another pick-up truck.

Before we got in, “the Russian” said,
“And you, what’s up with you?

Do you know where you are going?”

I said, “Yes, of course, I’m going to work.”
He said, “No, that’s not going to happen, kid.”

He said to me, “Come here kid, the thing is
that you are coming with us to the paramilitary.

Are you from La Macarena?
Do you like the guerrilla?”

I said, “No, I just need to do something
because I can’t be at home.”

But inside, I knew I couldn’t go back.

There were plenty of people to recruit,
most of them minors.

I was one of the elders, being 16.

There were kids aged 14,
15, but they looked older.

I thought of my mom.

Yes, I thought of my mom.
It was all I thought.

I thought that now she was alone,
without my brothers, she would miss me.

I thought about the time I would
be there, or if I could go back.

I thought about all that.
I felt regret at that time.

She got depressed,
of all the suffering, and got sick.

She got sick, really sick.

We arrived at the training school
and some guys came to meet us.

There was no welcome or anything.
At 6 pm.

So he said, “Some things we have to
say to you: whoever steals, dies.

Whoever dissociates people, also dies.
Whoever sticks to things, and this and that.”

Next day at 4 am, to run.

I ran so much that day.

They took us far away. And I thought
they would bring us back by car.

I was wrong, we had to go back.

I went to the morgue,

to the Prosecutor’s Office,
and filed the complaint.

After twenty days there, I realized
they were in dispute with the army;

they were enemies.

I mean, that Bloc had always
worked with the army.

But once they informed of a bunch of
newly brought youngsters with guns.

The helicopter arrived, killed
them, took their weapons,

and presented all those
youngsters as dead guerrillas.

The people killed by the Bloc
were sold to the 21st Battalion

and they would present them
as guerrillas killed in combat.

People killed in discos and around.

The economy was down,

so in the morning they would give us
a pasta soup but with no salt, nothing.

Pasta with water, or sometimes
they would put some salt.

I used to brush my teeth two or three times
a day, but over there, how?

So my teeth swelled. It swelled here,
here, and right here it really swelled.

I saw they took some kids
with the same problem to San Martin.

I got to San Martin and they said
they could not care for me,

that no one could
take care of me.

So I told this lad
whose name I don’t remember,

“I’m going to Villavicencio
because I can’t go back like this,

and if I stay here there could be a problem
with the commander for the delay.”

He said, “Well, let’s go to Villavicencio.
Call me when you’re done.

Call me when you are done,
call me and tell me what happened.”

I saw him turn around the corner,

and immediately I took
a taxi to the airport.

I went back home, to the same shelter,
to my mom and dad.

Suddenly he showed up.

He showed up thin,
skinny, black,

horrible.

Oh, my God, where was he?

I didn’t last long there.

I came back scared

because I thought that
guy was after me,

I thought I would run into him in the
corner, I thought he was behind me.

A month later,

the doctor ordered that we could not be in
Bogotá because the altitude was affecting her.

They had cancelled her oxygen supply.

We had to move to a hot weather area.

The only hot weather area for us
was Villavicencio.

A few months later,
the last paramilitary groups,

including Esneider’s.
Demobilize and hand in their weapons.

Several of the demobilized paramilitaries

tell the truth about their crimes
in the Justice and Peace courts.

However, within a few years, several
of the commanders are extradited to the US,

their truths uncomfortable to part of the
political and leading class in Colombia.

Other members of the paramilitary groups
do not reincorporate into civilian life,

but rather regroup in criminal gangs
that continue blood and fire

with the trafficking and
production of cocaine in the area.

In Villavicencio,
Esneider thought things had changed,

that everything was normal
and he would be left alone.

But they located him

and started harassing him.

I saw a guy staring at me,

so I stared back at him.

He came, sat next to me
and said, “I know you.

You know, no one
really gets out.

You will always remain inside, and no
matter where you go, you will find trouble.

Do you think the organization will just
claim a loss over what you ate over there,

and lose all that was invested in you?

We went back to the Prosecutor’s Office,

we filed a claim

saying they wanted to recruit him again.

They took us out of the
neighborhood in a police car.

- Where were you sent?
- A hotel.

Then they came here to interview me,
the Police Intelligence Corps,

looking for information.

I didn’t accept.

They wanted me to turn
over all the people

and they wanted me
to go on a recognition ride.

They insisted many times,
but I didn’t want to.

A lot of things had
happened with my brother,

when he was under protection,

so one learns how the system works.

Anita’s health began to deteriorate.

She thought a lot about Elkin’s murder,

and now once again another threat;

it was tough for her.

She thought not that
we were under protection

but were rather prisoners.

She didn’t eat or sleep.

They didn’t do anything for her
at the hospital.

They just gave her a pill,

some oxygen,

and that’s it.

She woke up normally,

but I saw her in disarray,
completely disengaged.

Immediately she said,

“Call my children',
and turned her face like this.

I stuck my arms underneath her.
I had no shirt and no shoes.

I ran down the stairs carrying her.
We took the first taxi that went by.

I didn’t know if she was dead or alive.

We got there, entered quickly

and they asked us for
all this paperwork.

I said we would be back with
the paperwork for her to be admitted.

They soon called us,
after two minutes, “No, don’t go.”

When I heard that

I knew they were going to tell me
what they told me.

She was dead.

I just wanted time to go by, didn’t eat.

Both of us were out of place.

And that’s when we went back
to the neighborhood.

Another mistake.
We should have left straight to Bogotá.

Yes, right.

We were in the neighborhood,
and around 4 am, he went out.

Suddenly, I heard a motorcycle.

The motorcycle went by twice.

The motorbike turned around and came
in this way. I lived in the corner.

The guy came in this way,
stopped and said, “Here’s this sucker.”

I turned around
and looked into his eyes and…

I don’t know how I
got up so quickly.

The guy got off the bike.

I ran, got tangled up with
the shoelaces and fell.

When I fell,

the guy came with a tremendous
knife, took it out, and stabbed me.

I got up and kept on running.

They guy came all the way to the door.

Esneider entered,
closed the door and shut it.

The guy came up to there
and then went back.

I touched myself,
and felt something piercing through here.

It had a point, so I took it out.
It was obviously the point of the knife.

I lost a lot of blood.
They took me to the hospital.

I told Esneider,

“If you want to live,
we need to go to Bogotá,

because here,
you will be killed.”

That is how Ciro
and Esneider arrived in Bogotá

and we decided to make this film.

Ingrid is coming down.
Ingrid.

Between 2008 and 2012

the Colombian Armed Forces achieved
their hardest blows in history

in their fight against Farc guerrillas.

Through a meticulous
intelligence work

they rescue several of the civilians
and military held hostage.

Through bombings
they kill their main commanders.

Of the more than 20,000 combatants
they had in the year 2000,

Farc see their members reduced
to less than 8,000.

On September 4, 2012

the government of President
Juan Manuel Santos

initiates peace negotiations
with the Farc guerrillas,

trying to put an end
to a sixty-year-old war.

At the same time, his government
seeks to repair victims of the conflict

and give a chance
to people like Ciro,

to heal the wounds of the past
and rebuild their lives.

Previously, when my mom died…

it lasted for three years,
until a year ago…

I started drinking and
started thinking about all of that,

about my brother,
about everything.

I wanted to kill myself.
I felt down.

Not now.
Now I study,

I want to finish my studies,
move on, start a family.

I want to become a common person,
normal, but with more tranquility.

When I come to San Antonio,

I’m ashamed, I’m embarrassed.

Because a 14 year old problem,

with no solution
by so many mayors,

makes you feel embarrassed.

You don’t know what it means…

or you do know what it means for
a person to get their house.

Today we deliver 17, next week 35.
That’s what we came for today.

Let God bless your houses

and we will proceed to give them
to you with affection.

Thank you.

Here it is Mr. Ciro,
congratulations.

Thank you.

Thanks a lot, mayor.

How do you feel Mr. Ciro?
I see tears in your eyes.

Congratulations!

Thank you.
Seven years waiting for the house.

Congratulations to Ciro
and all the family.

They finally have their own house.

Open it.

We need to buy lightbulbs.

At the end of 2016, the government
of Colombia and the Farc guerrilla

sign a peace agreement to end the war.

I’ve said it everywhere.

All groups have hurt me:

Police, army,
guerrilla, paramilitary,

all of them have hurt me.

We need forgiveness as
contribution to peace.

We will forgive,
but we will not forget.

Welcome back Esneider.

- This has changed a lot.
- Really, what’s different?

- Everything.
- The landing strip is now paved.

This hasn’t changed.

The coliseum is over here.
There was nothing over there.

Ciro Galindo was born on
August 29th, 1952 in Colombia.

Wherever he’s gone,
war has found him.

After twenty years
of friendship,

I understood Ciro‘s life
sums up Colombia’s history.

As so many Colombians
he is a survivor,

who has run away from war
for more than sixty years,

and now dreams of
finally living in peace.

In memory of Anita, John, and Elkin.

In memory of all victims
of the Colombian war.

Subtitles by Futuro Digital Tec S.A.S.
www.futurodigital.com.co