[ Maritza ]We feel unprotected
[ Ana ]It was so… so terrible
we couldn't sleep at night
[ Erika ]We used to be very happy
We had chickens and pigs, a ploughed yucca field,
we had yams and maize
We lived happily, until violence knocked on our door 00:01:10.640 00:01:21.001 [ VO ]There has been civil war in Columbia since the late 1940s, waxing and waning through the years. With the emergence of guerrilla movements in the early 1960s, 00:01:21.001 00:01:32.606 territorial battles became more violent. Farmers trapped in conflict zones were victimised both by guerrilla forces and the regular army, as well as other militarised groups, 00:01:32.606 00:01:45.034 the so-called Paramilitares. And a phrase that became widely known in Columbia, ‘forcibly displaced,’ was used to describe people made to leave their homes by heavily armed force.
[ Erika ]So, we had to flee
Because, as it was, we could all have been killed
Then I came here, to El Carmen de Bolivar, a pregnant refugee with two kids
It was a time when people were massacred and tried to escape en masse
It was hard to survive that relocation, we had to leave so quickly
I went to stay at a relative's place, my mum also moved in,
they had lots of their own problems too
It saddens me to say it but, back then, there were explosions,
there was kidnap and torture
The most atrocious crimes were here in the Montes de Maria mountains
It was horrible!
Just imagine me, a pregnant woman, with two small kids, and a husband with no job
We could only hope for mercy, we were in God's hands, thank God!
It was here, in Montes de Maria, that the violence reached a critical point
I remember how people were taken from here
They broke into homes, knocked down doors and took two, three people from a family
They vanished, never came back, and were never heard of again
I also remember people being taken away in trucks,
they come here very often
Sometimes, we heard cries for help,
people pleading for their lives,
we went through it all ourselves
It's the...
most horrible thing you can imagine,
I wouldn't wish it on anybody
I wouldn't wish it on anyone, just because suffering like that...
kills a person's morale
[ Yohandra ]Let’s go on, that was the whole process
We reworked it, now we'll do two animal exercises that we've prepared
We start with penguins and then tigers. First of all, the penguin is a symbol of unity
and the tiger because, or maybe a tigress, brings us back the power...
that we're meant to have,
recharging our spiritual energy
We have to struggle in so many different ways,
like the fight for our sons and daughters
[ Patrica ]Women, children and, of course, the old are the worst affected by forcible displacement
If we say there are about eight million internal migrants
50% of them are women
Sexual violence is one of the worst aspects of forced displacement in Colombia against women
and young girls
They're subjected to abuse by army units,
militarised groups, the Paramilitares
and, of course, guerrillas
They're victims of sexual violence
[ Pabla ]That night, armed men broke into my house
they wanted to rape me and my children, so we had to flee
I packed up and went to Cartagena forever, no one could talk me out of it
It was horrible, what happened to me in my town,
I had to leave with my children
They killed 12 to 13-year old kids
They killed three of four kids before my eyes just round the corner
My kids would have died too, that's why we left
Four or five armed groups came through my house, I don't know who they were
But there were good days too and even periods
It's not that they murdered people every day,
the mass killings were once every 15 to 20 days, not daily
We all knew that people who talked too much, died
So we kept quiet, we wouldn't say anything
When they came, if a woman was their type, they'd rape her and kill her husband
They did what they wanted, they had no law
They'd rape a woman, make her cook and there was nothing she could do
They lived up in the mountains
There were several groups, no one could talk about them, anyone who did was killed
so, we kept silent and said nothing
Various groups came, they were all the same,
if they liked a woman, they slept with her, many husbands were killed
I didn't have one but many friends' husbands died
They took some women to the mountains to cook and wash for them,
I told them I wouldn't go but, once they'd taken six women, I chose to leave
[ Yohandra ]Each scene of this play is any one of their stories,
a story of displacement,
a story of the sexual violence that many had to endure,
a story of killings and being driven from home
That's what it represents
While gradually recovering, they began to create again
and we started a movement called 'Statues'
Some of the women became sculptors, and others turned to clay
We chose only four true stories that they suggested,
everyone agreed on them
and they started sculpting 00:09:16.494 00:09:31.054 [ VO ]After decades of civil war, women have become more vulnerable tow abject cruelty and sexual violence perpetrated by men with guns. Refugees hiding from war only feel safe when they get together in larger groups. The gatherings give them strength and for a while, help them focus on something other than horrific memories.
[ Deyanira ]It started thanks to us, the women, to our life stories, our families' stories
we don't want it to be forgotten,
we don't want our history to vanish
I must make the most of this...
getting home so early, at noon!
It happened to us,
a relative of my husband's wouldn't leave his house,
two of his daughters were kidnapped
The burnt bodies were left at the El Carmen de Bolivar cemetery
the charred remains were left in bags
That's how it was… They…
Sometimes, people just can't leave
because they love their land
Stretch your arms!
Grab your fingers
on your left hand, with your right, squeeze till it hurts
tense your muscles...
as tightly as you can
I had nightmares that made me scream
My neighbours used to wake up and ask what had happened
I panicked, I heard footsteps…
I told my kids to be quiet, I didn't want night to come,
and when it did, we locked ourselves in
because I felt I was being followed
I felt as if… footsteps…
Sometimes, we had cuts, electrical power cuts,
and I panicked; in that darkness, I thought they'd do something to me and my family
I remember it was on December 5, 1998
We left our ranch with nothing because of constant threats:
'If you don't go, you know what'll happen, the same as happened to your neighbour'
We left because my in-laws and other relatives lived on the estate too,
it was a family estate
We left with nothing
because we were terribly scared,
we left everything and moved out at midnight
and when we came here, starting from scratch was hard because
we had nothing, absolutely nothing
It got to the point where we had no money for food or clothes
[ Patrica ]I’ve monitored the situation ever since crowds of women roamed the streets
not knowing where to go or what institutions to contact
In the last 20 years, when I set up the League of Displaced Women
its main goal was to protect women's and families' rights,
and black community and indigenous migrants
who were displaced in the last 50 years by violence, socio-political violence
in the armed conflict that's plagued Colombia for the last 50-60 years
[ Patrica ]We’ve worked on different agendas for 20 years
the legal agenda and the gender agenda
the agenda of organising various projects
We started by trying to arrange decent housing for the women,
that was how the project came into being
the City of Women
It was a long and difficult process, I think everything was against us
now, as time passes, the biggest surprise is the result!
We have the City of Women! It has houses, children,
life and love, and a few quarrels!
[ Ana ]The developers didn't have any faith in us
but when we started to prepare plots of land, and machines got to work
when the excavators started working,
our women dug too,
they mixed mortar,
pushed cement barrows,
carried water
It was great!
I was given a workman as a teacher and I built my own house by myself!
To be honest, that's how the City of Women began and our great team was born!
The team was very balanced and always lived by the principle:
'Here goes nothing!', just to make the City of Women real!
[ Deyanira ]This city consists only of houses that we built
We did it with our own hands, developed and made the project work ourselves!
It's given us a fresh start, a good, new life
It was important to me because, like all forcibly displaced women,
I dreamt of having my own house again
I had dreams about it,
I dreamed that someone gave me a key and I opened my own house with it
but back then, I had no chance of getting one
When I heard they'd started building the City of Women, I knew my dream had come true! 00:15:31.986 00:15:43.757 [ VO ]This city, consisting of hundreds of houses, was built by women who’d been driven from their homelands. This was their response to the cruelty of men, and the state’s disregard for their lives.
We also succeeded because our project was called the 'Dream of a Decent Life'
and I said my dream had come true!
Don't just drive by, give me a coin, so I can buy myself some chicken and rice!
Queen of chickens!
Bye-bye! See you!
[ Maritza ]In Colombia, it's always the women who have to suffer in war
The army rapes us, guerrillas rape us, other militarised groups come, it's the same,
we're an easy target
[ Ana ]That night, three armed men came to us,
one of them was wearing a mask,
and the other two, they had
a pistol and a revolver
I asked them not to hurt my children,
not to do anything to them
And...
the next moment, they dragged me outside,
there was another man out there,
a tall one,
and he pointed a rifle at my head
He pointed at my son...
and said they'd take him
Luckily, my daughters were fast asleep
If they'd woken, I don't know what would've happened,
I didn't want them to see it
I thought we'd all die that night
They ordered me to sit silently
They said they'd bash my head in and blow my brains out
They forced me to keep quiet
I think someone wanted to recruit my son, to press him into service,
and I had to go through all that...
after I'd been displaced
Sadly, that is the situation in Colombia now,
all we can do is pretend that nothing is happening, but war still looms over us
[ Yohandra ]Extend the arc as much as you can, try to use your whole body
Now, the other way around,
still bringing your arms round
but in the other direction
[ Patrica ]Our team's work was…
it was arduous… it was hard
We had threats and not just us, the whole project was being threatened,
people from our organisation were kidnapped and murdered
[ Patrica ]They tried to intimidate me as well I had to leave the country a few times
We had threats from the Black Eagles, a little known group
They've intimidated people for 15-20 years, but none has ever been arrested!
The time when the City of Women was being built was very hard for us
[ Maritza ]There were seven of them… and those seven
They took my daughter
She was sixteen
and all seven raped her
I told my husband she was being raped but he said, 'no, she's not'
I screamed, 'she is, they're raping her!' and he kept saying, 'no, she's not being raped'
They tied him up when he got up from bed and went to the kitchen
He got out to the patio
they shot him right in the face...
the bullet hit him right here
Then they left my daughter alone
I said, 'are you ok?' She said, 'no, no'
I don't remember much more, I fainted
When I woke up, I saw that my husband had been shot,
I held him,
but he died in my arms…
I whispered to him...
'I don't understand why this is happening to us,
we never harmed anyone'
[ Maritza ]It happened to many of us,
women had to abandon their farms, their livestock and they came here
hoping that everything would be fine in this part of the country
but it wasn't, it was the same
People came from afar and got caught up in war again,
Families came here, to suffer again
I came here the same way
It didn't work out
Now fix the back with a stapler
It's a perfect fit!
You think it fits? It's a bit tight
Use a stapler to fix it, stick it!
[ Yohandra ]Our play is called, 'Women's Truth'
we'll show it at the History Museum in Cartagena
A significant place; it was the Holy Inquisition
We only had two days to prepare
but the first day was a very hard job, we tried to boost memories
so they'd remember everything and open up
Older ones told the young what really happened
and why we're gathered here of all places
We try to rebuild their identities,
take a new look at each step that took them here, where they are now
to understand why they act as they do
Done! You don't need the ribbon anymore?
This is size 31, girl! Size 31!
But my blouse is poking out!
We want two things:
firstly, to be seen by a society that shows total disregard
To show that the City of Women exists, that certain processes...
are underway and that the current armed conflict is not the first in the history of Cartagena
That's the first goal, secondly,
we want the work done
by the League of Displaced Women
to be fully recognised,
all that they've done must be acknowledged
They need to hear,
you are heroes, you are fundamental in these processes, and...
this play will get them noticed and they will be applauded 00:24:06.995 00:24:16.755 [ VO ]According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, 7.5 million people were displaced as a direct result of the armed conflict between Government forces, 00:24:16.755 00:24:27.113 militarised groups, and rebels. Displaced women and children are the most vulnerable to crime, sexual violence and hunger. 00:24:50.569 00:25:03.206 And while the City of Women was built as a utopian response to decades of violence towards Columbian women, not even this refuge can provide protection against the continuing violence.
Women's truth!
[ Patrica ]Protecting women gets harder and harder, it's not easy but our struggle goes on,
and we won't stop!
Our country's reality is that,
just this year, no less than 350 human rights activists, male and female,
have been killed: just in this year
[ Erica ]The only thing we feel now is fear
The man killed in Macayepo 4 days ago, was a local public figure
from El Carmen de Bolivar, Montes de Maria
They say he was shot 7 times
but these things happen often nowadays
[ Deyanira ]We’ve all come together
we know that forced displacement still happens, women still suffer
and fall victim to sexual violence
Relocating wasn't easy for us
One of the...
scariest things...
the most painful things, is what's going on in our country
People live in fear of their leaders because they have killed too
Even though we have our own organisation, we're still scared
Sometimes people ask:
'Can women really achieve anything?'
Yes!
Yes, they can!
We can change our own lives
We can create many things
and withstand a lot of bad things
That's all I wanted to tell you