Memory as Resistance: Colombia’s Day of Remembrance for Victims

By Juliana Torres Garzon, MSc Gender and International Relations

Content warning: This article contains discussions of extreme violence, including sexual violence.

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On 9 April each year, Colombia commemorates the National Day of Remembrance and Solidarity with the Victims of the Armed Conflict. It is a day to honour the dignity and resistance of those most affected by the war, to uphold their right to memory and truth, and to reaffirm our collective commitment to peace and reparation. 

After more than 50 years of internal conflict, the Colombian government signed a Peace Agreement in 2016 with the FARC-EP (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo), the largest guerrilla group in the country. However, FARC were far from the only actors involved, as victims often suffered at the hands of multiple perpetrators, including paramilitary groups, state forces, other guerrillas, and drug-trafficking criminal organisations. As of February 2025, a total of 9,888,182 people have been officially recognised as victims of the conflict—those who endured massacres, forced displacement, disappearances, torture, sexual violence, and more.

Crucially, the Colombian State recognised the importance of memory even before the 2016 Peace Agreement. In 2011, the Victims and Land Restitution Law established 9 April as the National Day of Remembrance. But this date was not chosen at random. On this day in 1948, Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, the leader of the Liberal Party and a symbol of political reform, was assassinated in Bogotá. His murder triggered an urban uprising known as El Bogotazo, plunging the capital into chaos and deepening the country’s political and economic division. It intensified a period of bipartisan violence between Liberals and Conservatives known as La Violencia (1946–1960s). Gaitán’s death marked a turning point—setting in motion the political, social, and economic fractures that would later evolve into Colombia’s long-standing internal armed conflict. 

Jorge Eliécer Gaitán. Credit: Archivo Gaitán.

Today, the National Day of Remembrance opens space for national reflection, public acknowledgement of victims, and collective commitment to peace. This year, under the lemma ‘Empowering Victims' Voices Dignifies, Transforms, and Repairs’, several acts of remembrance will be held across the country to honour victims, hear their stories, and commit as a society to prevent repetition. Peace consolidation may not erase the scars of violence, but it can help rebuild a society grounded in memory and truth. 

Art often plays a central role in these efforts. For instance, Bogotá’s Fundación Gilberto Alzate Avendaño (FUGA), one of the city's key cultural centres, is currently hosting a free exhibition by Colombian-Panamanian painter Enrique Grau, who used his art to show the brutality of conflict. The exhibit invites visitors to reflect on the ongoing construction of collective memory.

But victims have not been passive actors in this process. Many have led efforts to uncover truth and build peace. Mujeres Caminando por la Verdad MCV (Women Walking for the Truth), a women’s organization whose loved ones were forcibly disappeared—many during the military’s 2002 Operation Orion in Commune 13, Medellín—have turned pain into activism. Since 2002, they have denounced that the remains of the disappeared lie buried in ‘La Escombrera’, a mass dumping area. Thanks to their advocacy and the work of transitional justice mechanisms such as the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) and the Unit for the Search of Missing Persons (UBPD), in 2024 the first human remains that could correspond to victims of the armed conflict have been recovered from there.

This finding not only aligns with the claims of MCV and other victim’s organizations in Medellín, but also, as expressed by Luz Galeano- MCV’s spokeswoman- ‘it shows that we weren't crazy, that we always told the truth, and that we must always listen to the victims’. Their decades-long struggle has become a symbol of dignity, memory, and resistance—demonstrating how victims should always be at the centre of peacebuilding efforts.  

Remembrance is not just about honoring the past, but about building a transformative future. Despite peace efforts, Colombia’s conflict persists, affecting communities daily. This day reaffirms the need to uphold victims’ rights and memory, and it is a reminder—to us Colombians and to the world— to continue advocating for truth, justice, and reparation—essential steps on the path towards lasting peace.

Edited by Scarlett Bantin