Caloto, Cauca
This picture was taken during a peace demonstration in Caloto, Cauca, organized by members of the nearby Nasa indigenous communities. The demonstrators took a risk by denouncing all of the armed actors, including the FARC, for committing acts of violence against civilians. Nonetheless, a local army commander accused these marchers of being FARC guerrillas in disguise.
Death by Informant
In July 2008, I photographed this Wanted Dead or Alive-type poster in Leticia, Amazonas, on the fence of an army compound. The “X” marks the the face of FARC commander Ivan Ríos, who was assassinated that year. To add insult to injury, a soldier must have stuck this likeness in the forehead with a ball point pen. The image on the right, under a dotted X, is of Joaquín Gómez, commander of the FARC’s Southern Block. To date, Gómez is still alive, but the dotted line represents the Colombian army’s growing confidence that, one by one, they will cross out the whole FARC leadership.
A statue in Segovia
The statue towers over the main square of Segovia, Antioquia, one of the principal mining centers of Colombia. Segovia is the site of countless acts of violence in the past and a current, festering conflict between the traditional miners of the region and the Canadian multinational, Gran Colombia Gold Corp.
The plaque at the base of the monument does not mention the name of the sculptor. Painted a gold color, the statue shows a naked woman, her ankles and wrists in shackles, raising the traditional wooden pan used by alluvial miners up to the sky. Her face is contorted in an anguished grimace, as a muscular miner hammers at her womb. He has split her open, revealing a lode of golden rocks jaggedly showing through the tear in her skin.
