Andrés Romero Molano |
Bogotá, (EFE).- For Elmira Ramos it was “the greatest thing” to be able to express the pain experienced after being a victim of sexual violence through a poem, as a way of healing with which she has participated in “Desamadas”, an exhibition in Bogotá, in which she and 34 other victims of the Colombian conflict have participated.
“The entire artistic process is liberating,” Ramos, a victim known as “Linda Mur” in Huila, told EFE.
Mur, with tears in her eyes and quite moved, assures: “I don’t wish this on anyone.”
“Linda Mur” is a reference to a “phoenix” that rose from the ashes, which is what she did after what she suffered in the conflict, which she prefers not to talk about and focus on the healing process.
She has participated in this restorative act that this week takes place in the Fragmentos space, in the center of Bogotá, and that for her is an aid to “free herself from that burden”, a way that “the wounds that have ‘lemon or let’s get rid of that ardor” in “a process of liberation, of healing”, he assures the ambient melody of the cello.
35 victims of sexual violence participate
In “Desamadas”, the 35 victims of sexual violence heal “a little” their tragedies with actions of symbolic reparation, such as writing and, more specifically, with a poem that they have all written with the help of the Colombian artist Doris Salcedo.
These stories that are embodied and handwritten on the walls of the space seek to “recount in a beautiful way, the atrocities they have experienced.”
This was explained by the director of the Investigation and Prosecution Unit (UIA) of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), Giovanni Álvarez.
Álvarez assures EFE that he feels “satisfied” with this fruit of five years of work.
In addition, it wants to “make the victims who have suffered throughout the conflict (…) believe in justice, believe in this new transitional justice that exists”, and of which the JEP is a part.
The director of the UIA wants it to be a boost for other victims, to “raise their voices.”
“So that the rest of the Colombians and the entire world know what happened to them, and understand that together we can rebuild this society that has been wounded over more than 60 years of conflict,” he explained.
“Scary things”
Mónica, who was a victim not only of sexual violence but also of forced recruitment by the FARC guerrillas when she was a 9-year-old girl, tells EFE that “terrifying things are experienced, too terrifying.”
She feels that she has healed from some things, but not from all because she lost her family along the way and she is aware that she will never be with her again.
Mónica did not stop suffering abuse while in the jungle until she escaped at the age of 17 and had to get by without anyone’s support.
It was not until recently that the State came to help in its repair: “we want them to listen to us, to realize that we exist,” he claims.
“I’m releasing my load,” he claims with a big sigh and adds that he still has things to heal; The conflict affected her a lot, so much so that her greatest fear is that her children experience something similar.
Stigmatization of victims of sexual violence
There are many women who do not want to speak for fear of “saying I was a victim,” Jenny, who is from Tuluá, Valle del Cauca, told EFE.
In that territory, it did not matter which group or armed actor was, they all used sexual violence equally, he details.
“Terrible stereotypes are handled where the woman is practically the bad one, the one who looked for him, the one who did it, something happened to her,” says Elmira Ramos.
“A person who survived”
Monica emphasizes the “rejection” for having been in the conflict and wants them not to be treated as “things” but as “a person who survived”.
She dared to speak after 20 years and knows that bringing her case to light is the best way to avoid that rejection,
In addition, he considers that it is a way to rescue children who are suffering in the war.
Sexual violence becomes universal in most world conflicts.
“Being a victim is not easy, I think it’s the stigma just like in Kosovo (…) many times we don’t feel supported,” Shyrete Sulimani alleges.
Shyrete was a victim of sexual violence in the Kosovo war and was invited by the JEP, along with other victims from different parts of the world.
The objective is to show the symbolic repair tools that are being implemented in Colombia.
“Society needs to help the survivors,” concludes Sulimani.