Starting with FARC spokesman Raúl Reyes, killed March 1, 2008 in a cross-border bombing raid on his camp in Ecuadoran territory,  the Colombian security forces have relentlessly been hunting the FARC’s ‘historic’ commanders. Reyes is seen below in an unsigned Proof of Death photo released by the Colombian army.  With each blow, the FARC becomes weaker as a centrally organized force.

This recent military advantage of the Colombian army comes both from having developed  a highly experienced corps of jungle commandos and-due to over 6 billion dollars of US aid over the last decade- an effective air force. But, to locate a clandestine jungle camp requires human intelligence. The forest is too dense for surveillance devices to penetrate, so the army has relied on information bought from informants.

Indeed, since 2007, the Colombian armed forces and the US government have offered rich rewards in exchange for the heads of the FARC’s top commanders, yielding a spectacular harvest of betrayal. According to declarations by then Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos, security forces were able to locate and bomb the camp of FARC spokesman and strategist Raul Reyes within Ecuadoran territory on March 1, 2008 thanks to an informant, who was rewarded a 2.5 million dollar bounty and who then emigrated with his family from Colombia “to enjoy a new life.” Two days later, the chief of security for FARC commander Ivan Ríos (accused by the United States of being the main strategist behind the FARC’s cocaine trafficking operations), executed Ríos and his girlfriend in their sleep, and then came down from the mountains to deliver Ríos’s right hand to the Colombian army, as a real Proof of Death. He reportedly received the sum of $2.600,000, for his efforts. The exact same scenario took place in the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta in August, 2005, when a FARC deserter killed El Indio, commander of the FARC’s 59th Front, chopped off his hand to use as a proof of death, and earned himself $400,000.

In the latest and heaviest blow yet, on November 4, 2011, the Colombian armed forces killed ‘Alfonso Cano’, maximum leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). After an intensive manhunt of over 2 years, Cano and 24 other guerrillas were discovered and attacked by a reported 1000 commandos and infantry, with air support from 4 Supertucano jets, a dozen Black Hawk helicopters, 4 Harpy attack helicopters, and 2 AC-47 Spooky bombers.

The Colombian government had reportedly offered 2.4 million dollars for information leading to the capture or death of this guerrilla leader, with the United States State Department adding another 5 million dollars to the pot. According to news reports, Cano’s coordinates were divulged to authorities by two deserters from the FARC, but the amount of bounty these informants may receive has not been made public.

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.

Ive asked a few Segovians what meaning they see in this sculpture. Some say it is a memorial for the 1988 massacre of 43 civilians by paramiltiaries, that left Segovia in a state of trauma. Others deny any negative connotations,  choosing to regard it as a sincere homage to the dignity of the miner.  Heliodoro Alvarez, co-owner of the Sociedad Minera Roca mine,  responded in philosophical terms:

“We dig in the organs, in the internal parts of Mother Earth.  She lets us tunnel within her womb, to give us sustenance. No matter how much we crush her, she does not say anything, she keeps on offering us what we need to eat. She represents a mother, as with a mother and child, at times the child makes her suffer greatly, yet she does not stop being the mother and the child does not stop being the child, and each day she loves him more.”

I made these images while working on the issue of conflict gold, with a grant from the Magnum Foundation.

This video shows a presentation of the Violentology project as a potential model of grassroots journalism and an alternative to commercial media. In Spanish. Held at the TEDxCeiba x=independently organized TED event, July 31, 2011, at the Universidad de los Andes, in Bogotá:

Armed groups, both guerrillas of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and the smaller ELN (National Liberation Army) and neo-paramilitary militias  are financing themselves through gold mining in Colombia.

This article by Simon Romero of the NYT reports on the situation. To view a slide show of images by Stephen Ferry, click here.