Ex-combatants demobilized from the now-defunct FARC guerrilla are this week presenting business projects at Colombia’s Second Congress for Tourism for Memory and Peace. Tourism, as well as agricultural production and manufacturing, are the main income-generating activities for former guerrillas who have reintegrated into civilian life, almost eight years after the signing of Colombia’s historic peace agreement.
In several regions of the country, signatories to the peace agreement have dedicated themselves to discovering and showing to the world parts of Colombia that were previously impossible to reach due to the country’s internal armed conflict. In many cases, these former combatants now work hand-in-hand with the communities they once terrorized.
From FARC guerrilla to tourism guide
The II Tourism Congress for Memory and Peace, which is taking place this week in the Colombian capital, Bogota, aims to provide a space for the exchange of academic knowledge and experiences on tourism as a tool for peace and reconciliation. Running from September 25 to 27, the event will be attended by international exhibitors, academics, businessmen, signatories to Colombia’s peace agreement, victims of the conflict and communities that lead tourism projects.
The Tourism Congress is organized by the Colegio Mayor de Cundinamarca University; the Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization; the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism; the Unit for the Attention and Integral Reparation to the Victims; and the Network of Memory Weavers. It is supported by the Bogota Chamber of Commerce and the Independent Center for Tourism Research, Alba Sud.
“The Tourism Congress for Memory and Peace is a very important event because it aims to promote social and ecological tourism in which peace signatories participate, who make a contribution to peace building, to the relationship with nature, from the protection and coexistence with it and with the territories,” said Yolvi Lena Padilla, advisor to the General Directorate of the Agency for Reincorporation and Normalization. “The Agency is looking forward to the conclusions that may emerge from these spaces, to take them to COP16”, she said, referring to the COP16 biodiversity summit taking place in October in the Colombian city of Cali.
Peace signatories representing five tourism projects attended the Congress, while victims of the conflict presented four projects. Representatives from particularly vulnerable communities presented 10 initiatives. The participants came together to participate in discussions, exchange experiences and analyze the various challenges they face. They also captivated other attendees with their messages of hope and care for Colombia’s land and nature.
Ecotourism helps overcome traumatic pasts
Uriel Fajardo is one of the peace signatories participating in the Congress. He presented his project ‘Finca Ecoturística La Libertad’, a farm located near Barbosa, in Santander department, which offers lodging in cabins built of bamboo. It also has a motocross track, natural swimming pool, restaurant, spaces for traditional games, buffalo curd production and cattle raising.
“This [initiative aims] to enrich oneself and improve our project, and I want to implement all the teachings imparted by the international lecturers, which will help us bring more tourists to the region,” said Uriel Fajardo.
Stefania Ntregka, a teacher and tourism researcher from Holland who specializes in community tourism, said that “it is very important to share what we are doing in other countries, but it is more relevant that the communities can build a tourism model that suits them and adjusts to their local needs.”
The Tourism Congress continues this Thursday, September 26 with a closed day of advice to the projects of peace signatories, victims and vulnerable population at the Casa de la Paz. Tomorrow, September 27, the Congress will close with a fair in Bogota’s Plaza de Bolivar. Organized to coincide with World Tourism Day, the event will feature productive tourism projects and talks on culture, peace and reconciliation.
Ex-guerrillas reintegrate into civilian life
A key achievement of Colombia’s peace accord, finalized in Havana, Cuba, in 2016, was the agreement by 13,609 former guerrillas to officially lay down their arms and embrace peace. To enable them to reintegrate into society and start a new life, 19 Transitory Zones for Normalization and 7 Transitory Normalization Points were set up across 14 of Colombia’s 32 departments. These were rural reception areas which received militiamen who laid down their arms and abandoned the areas they had occupied during the war.
Once concentrated in these spaces, many former guerrillas – who had been dedicated to the armed struggle for years – began training courses to enable them to develop income-generating skills. With funding from the international community, they engaged in activities such ranging from the production of coffee and craft beer to the creation of agricultural and fish farming cooperatives. These initiatives provided legal employment for more than 3,500 people up to last year. The overall demilitarization process and subsequent reintegration of guerrillas into civilian life required an enormous financial and logistical effort as well as cultural perception shift.
Reclaiming life for Colombia’s former FARC guerrillas
Despite the progress made since the 2016 peace agreement, which ended more than five decades of war, more than 400 former guerrillas have been killed since demobilizing. Protection policies have not worked and true peace remains elusive in Colombia. After the FARC disarmed and departed from the territories they previously controlled, other illegal armed groups took over. Other criminal organizations have vied for control of the land and its connected lucrative but illicit industries, such as drug trafficking and illegal mining.
This reality is not new. In the 1950s, after the demobilization of the liberal guerrillas during the dictatorship of General Rojas Pinilla, a similar pattern emerged and dozens of former combatants who agreed to disarm were murdered.
However, eight years after the signing of the peace agreement, former FARC guerrillas are determined to turn the page on the terror of the past and recover their lives with their families and within Colombian communities.
Through nature tourism, community nurseries for the reforestation of the Amazon, agro-ecological practices in food production, and the preservation of ecosystems, the peace signatories, together with victims of the armed conflict, indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, are generating cultural transformations that enable them to live together in peace and reconciliation.