Father Francisco de Roux expressed his concern for his collaborators of the Truth Commission, at the Hay Festival in Querétaro, Mexico

Father Francisco de Roux, 78, who was appointed two years ago to chair the Truth Commission, with which an approach is sought to clarify what happened in the Colombian armed conflict, after 60 years of ‘violent actions, revealed that he feared for his collaborators at this entity during a conversation he conducted in a video interview with Jan Martínez Ahrens, director of the newspaper El País in America, during the Hay Festival in Querétano, Mexico.

“I care about the life of our team. We visited 28 of the most difficult territories in the country, also here in Bogotá. I worry about what can happen to my people. I am not afraid, existence does not end with death ”, he said to the reporter.

Followed up he said that it was not the first time that his relatives were in danger, since in the strongest years of the war in the country, They came to assassinate more than twenty people close to him.

“I have already had the most painful experience with Magdalena Medio’s Development and Peace program, where I had to bury and funerals for 24 of the people who worked with us. It was the bravest moment of the conflict, and yet no one backed down “, he assured during the interview.

He added that the Colombian conflict left nothing but destruction in the country: “Everything that the war touched, the war damaged, was useless and started by harming the protagonists themselves, then it harmed and violated the communities, it harmed the warriors, it harmed Justice, it harmed politics, it was useless ”.

De Roux also gave an overview of the content that will have the final report on which the Truth Commission has been working.

“It will have an entry of about 30 pages that we want to be very moving and that we hope that Colombia really resonates and that it can shed light on what we have been through, that’s one of the fundamental things. Then there will be a chapter of recommendations which is at the end, but which we hope will be able to give an answer to the Colombians. on which paths must we take so that these dynamics which led us to the conflict can be stopped ”, Explain.

He added that the content will have revelations that they hope will have a positive impact on the country, despite the harshness of its content.

“They will say very harsh things about what happened here, things that affect the army, the police, the army in its different bodies, the paramilitaries, the different guerrillas, the politicians, the governments, the journalists, the different forms of leadership, including businessmen that they found themselves involved in these things and from all sides, ”he warned.

De Roux added that the report will contain content on the situation of women in conflict, ethnic groups, both indigenous and Afro-descendant, children recruited by illegal armed groups and the LGBTIQ + community.

“It’s a set of truths that can be interpreted in their enormous complexity to show how these things are intertwined, far from being a simple matter. But it is not a truth to increase appetites for revenge, accusations, anger, but on the contrary so that we understand what has happened to us as a nation and leave ready to contribute together, in our differences, for a different country, ”he said.

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