Catalina Martínez Coral, Senior Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean for the Center, answers our questions about the Truth Commission of Colombia.
On 28 June, Colombia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission unveiled its final report on that country’s 60-year armed conflict. Its central message, gathered in a nearly 900-page chapter on findings and recommendations, focuses less on the violence and more on reflecting on why it continued for so long and what to do to stop it.
The document includes the number of victims of crimes such as kidnapping, forced disappearance, extrajudicial executions and forced displacement. It also defines who are the actors in the conflict and the importance of true reconciliation.
Two political crises in two weeks have shaken Colombia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, while its final report is now due to be published just over a month: first, the resignation of retired major and commissioner Carlos Ospina; and then the polemic statements on false positives by another commissioner, Alejandro Valencia. Both episodes rekindled concerns about how the TRC will complete its three years’ mandate.