Gloria Arias Nieto

It is catharsis and art to paint forgiveness, to carve it in stone or cast it in metal; but more difficult than sculpting marble is to carve the spirit and, after a tragedy, to dedicate oneself to work for the…

11 July 2023, El Espectador A few weeks ago, when the joint work of indigenous people and the army succeeded in finding the four children lost in the jungle alive, Mauricio Rodríguez – a peace and leadership builder – wrote:…

” She doesn’t give up as long as she has a heart. She doesn’t give up as long as she has a reason”. One hour and 25 minutes of reflections, voices that cry, that evoke, that spill out and get…

Four years ago, on 20 February, in the midst of a government that we need to remember because contexts are necessary to understand things, the Defend Peace movement was born. We joined together civil society, artists, former ministers, and peace…

In the summer of 1927, where there is the bluest sea in the world, Simone Veil was born. Her love for her family and for justice, and that air of freedom she breathed as a child in the Mediterranean [region]…

25 October 2022, El Espectador At the time of sending this column I have gone 364 days without hearing my mother’s voice, without a hug from her or finding her at home reading a book about the cosmos or writing…

27 September 2022, El Espectador Beyond political parties, beyond faith or agnosticism, beyond the courage or fear that we carry on our backs, and beyond obsessions with enclosing ourselves between visible and invisible borders, something on which almost all of…

13 September 2022, El Espectador Memento mori, a Latin expression that reminds us of the fragility of life, the inexorable nature of death and the futility of vanity. In a country adept at statements of violence, one might think it…

6 September 2022, El Espectador A month ago, Colombia lived through the most symbolic presidential inauguration in its history. In 30 days, fundamental changes have been proposed that had not been outlined in 30 or even 300 years; but we…

In order not to make the same mistakes or fall into the traps that have dehumanised us to death and beyond, Colombia’s children and young people need to know what happened to us, why it happened to us and how…