Remembering the Disappeared

A group of human rights activists painted this mural today on Ave. Septima just south of Calle 19, on one of the most-used walls in the city. The mural, which says simply 'More than 20,000 disappeared,' is an in-your-face reminder of human rights violations which most of us prefer not to think about.

The woman on the right is Nydia Erica.

You can debate the numbers, as well as the group's political perspective. During their lively accompanying hip hop performance, the lyrics condemned the government and big corporations, but I heard no mention of Colombia's leftist guerrillas, who continue committing wholesale human rights violations. 

Rapping away.

The group calls itself Beligerarte, and is associated with the Fundacion Nydia Erica. She was a member of the M-19 guerrilla group, who the painters told me was disappeared in 1987, two years after the group's disastrous attack on the Justice Palace. The number of disappeared in that episode is still the center of public controversy.

Some claim that 12 survivors were 'disappeared' by the military. Other sources say only two. But a lawyer representing Colombia before an international human rights court recently made headlines by claiming that there were no disappeared in the episode. 

The group said this was the first of several public events memorializing the disappeared which they plan to carry out this year. When I asked them why they chose this year, they said 'Better this year than next year.'

A good point.

Drumming away. 

The tile says that 12 people were 'disappeared' by the military during the retaking of the Justice Palace in 1985. Other sources say there were only two documented disappearances. 

'More than 20,000 disappeared.'

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours