Published by the alliance for global justice
Colombia’s Largest Union of Bodyguards Needs Your Solidarity
The Memoria Viva (Living Memory) Union of security guards is experiencing targeting and repression from a variety of directions. A majority of their members are veterans of the armed struggle and signers of the 2016 Peace Accords ending 52 years of civil war in Colombia. On one side, they are subject to hard working conditions, as well as false allegations and interference in union affairs, on the part of their employers; on the other, they are targets of paramilitary death squads and enemies of the peace. In just over four years as a union, six of their leaders have been murdered.
The members of Memoria Viva were trained to be security guards as part of their reincorporation into civil society. Their primary contract is to provide protection for activists of the Comunes Party, the political party that was formed following the dissolution of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). When they organized, the became the largest union within the National Protection Unit (UNP, by its initials in Spanish), the government agency responsible for assigning bodyguards to threatened social leaders.
Following is an excerpt from an interview we did with Memoria Viva’s president, Victor Osorio
The interview was conducted by Maya Hernandez and James Patrick Jordan of the Alliance for Global Justice. A video of the interview is available in Spanish on the AFGJ Youtube Channel (be sure and subscribe!).
Victor, please describe Memoria Viva. Tell us a bit about how and why this union was created. Why did you choose the name ‘Memoria Viva’ (translated ‘Living Memory’)? What is the ‘memory’ you are referring to?
Thank you for having me, good afternoon. The national union Memoria Viva was founded following the implementation of the Havana Agreement…. Memoria Viva is an organized effort by the signers of the Peace Accords to stay unified and support the benefits and the reintegration of workers. In Colombia, unions and unionists have been major advocates of peace. At the same time, they are the people who have suffered the most death and imprisonment at the hands of the state. As a result, Memoria Viva strives to recognize the leaders and unionists who have given their lives for the fight for a better country and for peace. This is why we are ‘Memoria Viva’, because we want to exercise a collective memory and emphasize that we cannot forget those who gave their lives for these fights for the construction of peace in Colombia…. Memoria Viva is also affiliated with other organizations such as the Red Si Paz (Yes to Peace network) which is an organization of unions like ours that are working together for the implementation of the Peace Accords. We believe it’s important to ally ourselves with sister organizations that prioritize the implementation of the Peace Accords
Many of our supporters, and a large part of the anti-war movement for peace, include veterans from wars waged by the United States. Groups like Veterans for Peace and About Face are veteran groups that oppose war. I think they would be interested in knowing that you are a veteran and a former member of the FARC. You joined the insurgency when you were quite young. Why did you join? As a guerilla, why did you push for the Peace Accords? Why did you sign the Peace Accords in 2016?
…. Regarding the Peace Accords– In the insurgency, we were always taught that we have to be able to resist in this life but that the least painful way out for Colombians was through dialogue…. I signed the Peace Accords in 2016 as part of a collective decision under the direction of our leaders and as a result of internal discussions held in assemblies. I ratified my decision to sign the Peace Accords personally because I considered this peace agreement to be one that would lay the groundwork to construct a different society, a more just and generous one, and because I believed in the possibility of continuing to fight for the country that we dreamed of by creating mechanisms of participation and of representation of the communities that have been historically denied by this country. I believe that our historical context tells us today that we were correct to sign the Peace Accords, that it is possible to construct change in this lifetime….
Despite the signing of the Peace Accords, many of the Memoria Viva members have suffered stigmatization, false accusations, political incarceration, threats, assaults, disappearances, and assassinations. Can you please tell us more about this situation, and how we, as international solidarity activists for peace, can support or help you all in your efforts to guarantee the safety and security of unionists in Colombia?
…. There have been six assassinations, disappearances, and declarations of inconsistencies regarding the assassinations of my colleagues, as well as regular national persecution…. We have colleagues who were assassinated as a result of not receiving their promised security and protection. These were situations where it was very evident that the person in question was in grave danger, but due to negligence and the lack of action on the part of the government those assassinations happened.
I believe that the Alliance for Global Justice can support us by helping to make visible the situation we are undergoing as a union in Colombia…. I believe that we can help make your work visible and that you and your collective can help make our work visible internationally ….
We are impressed by the progress that the administration of Gustavo Petro, the new president of Colombia, has made regarding his promise to construct all-encompassing peace in Colombia. What are your thoughts on this? Do you believe that all-encompassing peace is possible in Colombia? We would like to know, particularly, if it’s possible for the Colombian Armed Forces and FARC,veterans to unite and create peace in a new Colombia?
Effectively I have to say that the discourse, proposals, and programs orchestrated by Gustavo Petro are compelling and exciting to us. We want to support him, we want to help him, we want to offer our experience and understanding regarding the political situation over the past five, nearly six years, since the implementation of the Peace Accords. We want to help him build the all-encompassing peace that he speaks of across Colombia. We like his proposals; we want to support them. We have sent letters to the government affirming that we are available to meet with the national government and offer our support for the construction of peace across the nation. Still, we feel today that his proposals are primarily talk as of now. We have yet to see a director in place at the Agency for National Reintegration (ARN), and for the normalization of the ARN. No one has been named officially as the person responsible for implementing the Peace Accords with FARC.
The director of the National Protection Unit, who we know to be very close to president Gustavo Petro, has not wanted to meet with unions. He meets instead with the directives who do not have a total grasp on the situations we have had to live through or the conditions we lived under the previous government. Like I said, I like the proposals Petro has made, but I feel that he needs to follow through on what he has proposed, which is to have a dialogue with Colombians….
I believe it is possible for veterans from the FARC and veterans from the ARP to unite in order to construct an all-encompassing peace and a new Colombia. Of course, I believe that. From Havana, our directives and members of the military forces who were in negotiations understood that it is far easier to understand one another, between those who are at the margin of the law and those who are on the side of the institution, than between politicians. We have seen this proven many times. We want to put in the work, we want to do it, we know it’s possible. The members of the public force know that working with guerillas is far easier than working with people from other institutions. We know that we understand each other and that we can create a common cause in the construction of peace in our country….
Today we have a president and a vice president who are different and new cabinet of social and political fighters and representatives and defenders of human rights. We helped select the president in the streets by mobilizing, marching, reclaiming. We will do the same to demand that Petro’s government follow through on the social and political changes they promised…. It is our essence as revolutionaries and fighters for peace and justice. We believe in a country that has dignity and better guarantees for Colombians. Thank you.
