Colombia’s Conflict Has Formally Ended but Victims’ Struggle for Truth Continues

Family members of those executed, then dressed up as guerrillas by military, fear they will never find out who ordered the killings

María Doris Tejada (L), showing a tattoo of her missing son on her arm, and Jacqueline Castillo, the legal representative of Madres de Soacha, or Mothers of Soacha, who lost her brother in the phenomenon most commonly known as the “false positives” scandal, pose for a photo on Oct. 13, 2018, in Bogota, Colombia, before going on a 16-hour bus ride to the other side of the country to commemorate their loved ones who lost their lives in the scandal. Luke Taylor/Special to The Epoch Times

BOGOTA, Colombia—Scrambling to get on the road for the grueling 16-hour bus journey that lay ahead, Jacqueline Castillo crouches on the pavement, hastily dividing up a shopping bag full of bread, cheese, and dried meats.

“Santos promised there would be money for the victims of the conflict,” she said, referring to the former-president and architect of Colombia’s peace agreement. “But we can barely scrape together enough for these sandwiches. How sad.”