Every April 9, Colombia briefly pauses its pace to remember the victims left by decades of armed conflict. It is not a celebration, but an act of collective memory that seeks to acknowledge the pain, dignify those who have suffered it, and reiterate the need not to repeat the violence.
In public squares, institutions, and communities, the country comes together to listen to testimonies, light candles, and make visible a history that remains open, despite the Peace Agreement reached ten years ago, with other forms of violence and the continued presence of illegal armed groups.
The date is laden with deep symbolism that connects the country’s political past with its most prolonged tragedy. Victims of the Armed Conflict Day has become a space for national reflection, in which remembrance not only looks back, but also challenges Colombia’s present and future.
April 9: Colombia commemorates Victims’ Day
April 9 refers to one of the most decisive episodes in the country’s contemporary history: the assassination of liberal leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan in 1948. His death unleashed a wave of violence known as “the Bogotazo,” which plunged Bogota into chaos and marked the beginning of a period of political and social confrontation that would lead to decades of internal war.
That day was etched into the national memory as a turning point. Not only because of the magnitude of the unrest, but because it symbolizes the beginning of a spiral of violence that, over the years, evolved into a complex armed conflict involving guerrillas, paramilitaries, and state forces.
The commemoration of April 9 was officially established in 2011 with the enactment of what is known as the Victims and Land Restitution Law. This legislation represented a milestone in the institutional recognition of the suffering of millions of Colombians affected by the conflict.
The law not only created a framework for the comprehensive reparation of victims, but also designated this date as a national day of memory and solidarity. Since then, the Colombian state has been required to promote commemorative acts that make victims visible and reinforce the commitment to their rights.
A prolonged conflict and its figures
The Colombian armed conflict is one of the longest in the contemporary world. Its origins date back to the mid-20th century, but it intensified starting in the 1960s with the emergence of guerrilla groups such as the FARC and the ELN.
Over the years, the violence diversified with the emergence of paramilitary groups and drug trafficking—a true catalyst for the potential of these illegal armed groups that worsened the impact on the civilian population.
The figures are striking. According to the Unified Registry of Victims, more than nine million people have been recognized as victims of the conflict. This includes forcibly displaced persons, the disappeared, those killed, kidnapped individuals, and survivors of multiple forms of violence. Colombia is, in fact, one of the countries with the highest number of internally displaced people in the world.
Behind every number are individual stories of loss, uprooting, and resilience. Entire communities were expelled from their territories, families were torn apart, and generations grew up amid fear. The conflict left not only the dead, but also deep social wounds that still persist.
A turning point in this history was the signing of the 2016 Peace Agreement in Colombia between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrilla. This agreement ended more than five decades of confrontation with the country’s largest insurgent group and opened a new stage focused on reconciliation and peacebuilding.
The agreement included transitional justice mechanisms, such as the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), and established measures for victim reparations, land restitution, and the reintegration of former combatants. It also explicitly recognized victims as the center of the process, granting them a fundamental role in the search for truth and justice.
Reparations for victims, 15 years after the law
More than 2 million victims of Colombia’s armed conflict have received administrative compensation under the reparations policy, with cumulative investment close to 14.85 trillion pesos (approximately US$4.5 billion), most of which was paid over the past four years.
In 2025, institutional services also reached record levels: more than 16.5 million procedures were handled by the Victims Unit, and nearly 3 million people accessed guidance, humanitarian aid, and reparations services.
On the economic reparations front, recent disbursements include collective compensation and individual payments aimed at restoring rights violated by acts such as displacement, sexual violence, and terrorism. At the same time, the State has prioritized heavily affected regions such as Catatumbo, the Nariño Pacific, and Buenaventura, where targeted programs for ethnic communities are concentrated.
Comprehensive Collective Reparation Plans are moving forward with dozens of beneficiaries in implementation phases, including Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities, with measures that combine social investment, rebuilding of the social fabric, and guarantees of non-repetition.
In land restitution, one of the pillars of reparations, the government has made thousands of hectares available to victims of dispossession, while also promoting productive projects to ensure economic sustainability in restored territories.
From a budgetary standpoint, more than 60% of operating resources for the public victims policy are allocated to reparations actions, reflecting fiscal prioritization of compensation and assistance components.
Despite progress, challenges remain in coverage, payment timelines, and security guarantees, in a context where violence continues to affect communities and generates new victims who are added to the assistance system.
La Ley de Víctimas y Restitución de Tierras, fruto del consenso, instauró hace 15 años el 9 de abril como el #DíaDeLasVíctimas.
Hoy, más de 1,5 millones han sido reparadas, se han restituido 700.000 hectáreas y se ha brindado atención psicosocial.
En un gobierno de… pic.twitter.com/3o7MO8Ovhj
— Juan Fernando Cristo (@CristoBustos) April 9, 2026
Colombia and peace, still under construction
However, peace in Colombia remains a work in progress. Many challenges persist, such as the presence of dissident armed groups in some regions, the killing of social leaders, and the difficulties in fully implementing what was agreed upon, which does not enjoy the desired political consensus, as the Colombian right continues to reject it despite the ten years that have passed and despite it being a law of the state.
For many victims, reparation is still incomplete and the guarantee of non-repetition remains a distant aspiration in a society where violence became entrenched in its many forms and requires significant education and time to heal.
Victims’ Day is a date filled with symbolism, but it is also a tool for building a society more aware of its past. Remembering is a form of resistance against forgetting and a necessary condition to prevent violence from being repeated. Understanding and knowing what happened and why should help build a future while keeping the painful past very present.
Every April 9, Colombia reaffirms that victims are not a statistic, but the center of its recent history. In their voices, in their stories, and in their struggle for dignity, lies the possibility of a different country, where memory is not a burden, but a starting point toward reconciliation.