María Jimena Duzán: Colombia goes left and faces its truths

From Saturday Morning, 8:40 am on 9 July 2022
María Jimena Duzán

María Jimena Duzán Photo: supplied/María Jimena Duzán

Colombia’s Truth Commission has presented its final report on the country’s civil conflict, announcing that at least 450,664 people were killed over nearly six decades. 

Meanwhile, for the first time in 200 years the country has moved to the left with the election of Gustavo Petro as president. The former Bogotá mayor and guerilla fighter campaigned to expand social programmes, tax the rich and move away from fossil fuel dependency.

María Jimena Duzán is a celebrated journalist and political scientist, known for her fearless reporting for both Colombian and international media. In 2010 she published My Trip to Hell, telling the story of the murder of her sister at the hands of paramilitary groups.

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - JUNE 28: Hundreds of people attend the delivery of the final report of the Truth Commission at the Jorge Eliecer Gaitan Theater in Bogota, Colombia, on June 28, 2022. The commission is a body in charge of discovering and reveal past wrongdoing by a government, hoping to resolve conflicts left in the past. According to the president of the commission, Father Francisco de Roux, it is a document with "inconvenient truths" and a message to stop the conflict. Juan David Moreno Gallego / Anadolu Agency (Photo by Juan David Moreno Gallego / ANADOLU AGENCY / Anadolu Agency via AFP)

Hundreds of people attend the delivery of the final report of the Truth Commission at the Jorge Eliecer Gaitan Theater in Bogota, Colombia. Photo: JUAN DAVID MORENO GALLEGO