Textile Details

'Desplazamiento / Displacement', Mujeres tejiendo sueños y sabores de paz, Mampuján. (Photo: Martin Melaugh)

Displacement is the theme of this arpillera, created by a group of 15 women who survived the massacre of Mampuján by the paramilitary coalition, United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) on 11 March 2000. AUC was a coalition of right-wing counter-insurgency paramilitary groups which was alleged to have links to the military and members of the government and congress, a number of whom were indicted before the courts for collusion. The entire community of Mampuján Viejo, along with families from the nearby community of Las Brisas, more than 1,400 people, was displaced at this time. Villagers fled when the AUC accused them of cooperating with insurgent guerrillas and threatened to kill them if they didn't vacate within 24 hours.

Juana Alicia Ruiz, one of the women who created this arpillera has this to say on the theme of displacement: "Displacement in Colombia is like any typical displacement as it happens at times during night. It includes violent rape, burning of houses, having to leave behind belongings, houses and animals. The lady who is being carried on a hammock is a sick person, very old and who cannot walk. She is like the soul of the village."

Almost 20 years after the Mampuján massacre, despite the November 2016 peace agreement between the Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), violence continues to displace Colombians. Afro-Colombian communities and indigenous people have been particularly affected. By 2017 a staggering 7.4 million Colombians were internally displaced people (IDPs), making it a nation with one of the highest number of IDPs. UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler (10th March 2017). In the intervening years the figures have not decreased.

Textile Detail Image(s)