Palmira Valle (Vereda El Pomo) Páramo de las Hermosas

This painting tells a story that I had to witness around 2003 – 2004, while patrolling an upland zone of Palmira called El Pomo, near las Hermosas moor (Valle del Cauca).

We heard some screams… when we arrived we found a situation; a person had been dismembered with a chainsaw.

When we searched we heard cries, we started to search and we found two kids under the house, hiding. There, houses are made of wood and above the ground level. The kids were underneath, scared, crying out of fear. We started to talk to them, and they didn’t want to come out, they were scared because the guerrillas, the paramilitaries, and us wear the same uniform. We had to show them our emblems and tell them, “We are soldiers.”

After they calmed down they started to talk, they started to tell us that a paramilitary group (AUC) had arrived, that their father had been taken out of his house and he was accused of being a guerrilla cooperator, then they proceeded to kill him in that way, and in front of his kids.

The Calima Block (AUC) was the one that operated in that area. That group was the one that did it… their commander was known as “El Costeño”.

On more than one occasion we found in this moor thumbs, corpses, as well as people shot to death, chopped with machetes.

The AUC group always left their mark, their signature in all the things they did.