PBI-Colombia accompanies NOMADESC in Cali as mural painters highlight paramilitary and state violence in Medellín
PBI-Colombia has posted on Instagram and X/Twitter:
“We accompanied NOMADESC [the Association for Social Research and Action] in the mural day on January 19 in Cali, in their work to defend #humanrights and fight against #impunity. In the Luna de la Resistencia [Moon of Resistance], emblematic site of the 2021 National Strike, murals were made in support of the search for missing persons in the Comuna [neighbourhood] 13 of Medellín. NOMADESC’s denouncement of an armed man threatening the activist youth who carried out the work is of concern. Urgent investigations and #guarantees for those who defend human rights.”
Video by NOMADESC.
Photo from that day.
NOMADESC has also explained on Instagram: “In response to the constant denial of the right to justice, memory and freedom of expression, artists, human rights defenders and social organizations in #Cali united last January 19, in artistic and cultural expressions in support of the national sentiment of the searching mothers of #Medellín and all of Colombia who have been right to denounce the murders, disappearances and torture of their children at the hands of the public forces.”
Missing persons, the clandestine ‘La Escombrera’ burial ground
Freelance reporter Joshua Collins has provided crucial context in his article Mass Grave in Medellín Tourist Hotspot Sparks War of Words—and Walls (NACLA, January 21, 2025).
Collins explains that:
“For decades, residents of the working class neighborhood of Comuna 13, in Medellín, Colombia have sworn that a garbage dump near the community also served as a clandestine burial ground for some of the city’s thousands of ‘disappeared’ – victims of gangs, paramilitaries, and Colombian security forces during the country’s more than half-century civil war.
On December 18, Colombia’s Peace Court (JEP for its Spanish initials) finally confirmed these suspicions when investigators uncovered human remains during a search of the grounds. The grim revelation has renewed the debate in the city over paramilitary ‘social cleansings’, which claimed thousands of lives in Medellin and culminated in 2002 in ‘Operation Orion’, a joint armed offensive in Comuna 13 carried out by state forces and their paramilitary allies that left hundreds of victims.
It has also inspired a graffiti war in a city that has become famous for its street art.
On Sunday, January 12, street artists and activists painted a mural on an underpass in the city honoring the victims of conflict in Comuna 13. The mural also depicted a group of mothers of missing children who have spent decades insisting that authorities investigate ‘La Escombrera’, which residents have long claimed is ‘the largest mass grave in the country’.
‘Las cuchas tenían la razón’, (the old ladies were right), read the mural, using a slang term for ‘mothers’ that can imply affection or serve as a pejorative depending on the context.
The following day Medellin’s right-wing mayor, Federico Gutiérrez, better known as ‘Fico’, ordered the mural removed and sent city workers to repaint the underpass with grey primer. The decision was met with public outcry.
Undeterred, activists and artists returned to the site on January 14 and repainted the mural, this time twice as big, amid impromptu celebrations.”
W Radio Colombia Video (January 14): “Artistic groups from Medellín repaint the mural ‘Las cuchas eran razón’ that had been erased by order of the Mayor’s Office.”
The mural was defaced on Wednesday, January 17, when unknown parties partially erased one of the images, an homage to an iconic photo of paramilitaries directing government forces during Operation Orion.
According to Colombia’s Center for Historical Memory, [Operation Orion] resulted in six hundred direct victims: displaced, wounded, disappeared, and dead. According to Colombia’s Center for Historical Memory, the operation resulted in six hundred direct victims: displaced, wounded, disappeared, and dead. Seventy-five residents of Comuna 13 were killed and 105 disappeared.”
More about Operation Orion
On December 24, 2024, Colombia One also explained:
“On October 16 and 17, 2002, the military incursion into Comuna 13, one of Medellín’s most dangerous neighborhoods, left residents caught in the crossfire from both ground and air, resulting in forced displacement, disappearances, and numerous deaths.
The operation, which continued throughout November and December, was a joint initiative of the Colombian government and involved the Army, the DAS (intelligence services), the Police, and special military forces equipped with tanks and supported by armed helicopters. A total of 1,500 personnel, some with their faces concealed, participated in the operation.
Fifteen years ago, former paramilitary leader alias Don Berna, who headed the Cacique Nutibara paramilitary group, publicly acknowledged the involvement of paramilitary forces in Operation Orion. He stated that they conducted prior intelligence gathering, accompanied the military, and actively participated in ground operations.”
“They are killing us”, the National Strike in 2021
Infobae has also recently reported:
“The Vice President of Colombia, Francia Márquez, defended the mural that reads ‘The cuchas were right’, alluding to the skeletal remains found in La Escombrera, in the 13th commune of Medellín.
The mural also refers to a broader context: its predecessor, which bore the phrase ‘They are killing us’, had previously been removed. This graffiti recalled the deaths and disappearances that occurred during the 2021 national strike, as well as the crimes against social leaders. Its elimination generated a new wave of protests and culminated in the appearance of the current phrase, reaffirming the cyclical nature of tensions between popular expression and government decisions.”
Accompaniment
The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has accompanied NOMADESC since 2011 and its president Berenice Celeita since 1999.
Further reading: NOMADESC upholds the right of mural painting in Cali, denounces police violence and genocide (September 16, 2021).
Photo: This is the mural “They are killing us”. In a short statement, they stated that they are demonstrating “against the selective assassinations of social leaders, systematic massacres, femicides and homicides as a result of the brutality of the police in Colombia.” Photo by Graffiti Collectives of Medellín (RCN Radio, September 14, 2020).
0 Comments