Page 12 - AT

A12 WORLD NEWS
Friday 27 december 2019
Colombia's conflict spills over to museum of memory

By CHRISTINE ARMARIO started new conflict by in-
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) citing paramilitary violence
— On a vacant grassy lot against any who chal-
squeezed between several lenged powerful landlords?
smoggy highways lies the Many say all those descrip-
property where Colombia's tions are true at the same
government hopes to build time.
a large museum paying "In Colombia the line be-
homage to victims of the tween hero and villain is not
country's long civil conflict. clear," writer Santiago Villa
But for now, the terrain oc- noted in a recent El Espe-
cupied only by a rusted ctador newspaper column.
cubic metal sculpture is a The debate has coincided
reminder of how polarized with street protests against
this South American nation inequality, corruption and
remains. what critics perceive as
In recent weeks, the future Duque's lackluster imple-
of the Museum of Memory mentation of a 2016 peace
has become a public feud deal with the main rebel
because of the director group.
overseeing it. Some protesters turned
President Iván Duque's ap- their attention to Acevedo,
pointee – history profes- portraying him as a hench-
sor Darío Acevedo – is a Dario Acevedo, director of the National Center for Historical Memory, speaks during an interview man for the ruling conser-
conservative who has ex- at his office in Bogota, Colombia, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019. vative political party intent
pressed a view of the con- Associated Press on masking the state's role
flict that critics say could in crimes committed during
excuse the state of much Memory dates to a 2011 caine trade. In decades because it lacks a clear the conflict.
of its responsibility for the law that vowed to make of bombings, kidnappings start and end. Though some "He's a thief," said Carlos
violence. symbolic reparations to the and assassinations, millions 10,500 former guerrillas Oviedo, 36, who held a sign
Acevedo has rejected estimated 8.6 million vic- were forcibly displaced are now living as civilians, railing against Acevedo at
a draft plan for the mu- tims by creating a space of and an estimated 260,000 deadly skirmishes between a protest outside a gov-
seum's content and has documentation and reflec- left dead. remnant armed groups in ernment building where
questioned the number of tion. "For a nation struggling to the countryside persist. events honoring victims are
victims of the five-decade The conflict has dominated recover from historical con- Who should go down in his- often held. "A thief of our
war. In response, some vic- a half-century of Colom- flict and trauma, it is vital tory as a demon and who historical memory."
tim groups vow not to work bian life. Marxist guerrillas to create a narrative that as a savior is a matter of When Acevedo was ap-
with the historical center. formed the Revolutionary resonates with public mem- fierce debate. pointed in February to lead
"What's at stake is potential- Armed Forces of Colombia ory," said Jennifer Hansen- Were Revolutionary Armed the National Center for
ly losing the opportunity for in the mid-1960s to over- Glucklich, who wrote a Forces of Colombia reb- Historical Memory, 89 vic-
the museum to be another throw the government, re- book examining the chal- els fighting for the poor or tims' organizations urged
instrument through which distribute land and erase lenges faced by Holocaust were they primarily a drug Duque to reconsider. Sev-
to build peace in Colom- economic inequality. The museums. "But it can be a trafficking organization? eral threatened to remove
bia," said Rafael Tamayo, war evolved into battle be- very tricky thing to do be- Did former President Álvaro archival material they con-
an academic who until tween guerrillas, the state cause of the question of Uribe help Colombia move tributed from the center's
recently served as the mu- and paramilitary groups, consensus." toward peace by pushing vaults. Even Acevedo's his-
seum's leader. complicated by the rise of Colombia's conflict is espe- rebels to the verge of ex- tory professor colleagues
The idea of a Museum of the multi-billion-dollar co- cially difficult terrain, partly tinction – or the one who objected. q

Helicopters in Chile douse fire that destroyed 200 homes

Associated Press The fire destroyed more paraíso.
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — than 200 homes and af- The fire was doused in ur-
Helicopters dropped thou- fected more than 1,000 ban areas but remained
sands of gallons of water people, Agriculture Min- "active" in the woods, said
on the outskirts of the Chil- ister Antonio Walker said Ricardo Toro, head of
ean port city of Valparaiso Wednesday evening. Chile's national emergency
on Wednesday to extin- Earlier, Interior Minister Gon- office.
guish a fire that destroyed zalo Blumel said authorities Many homes in the low-
more than 200 homes. believe arson caused the income neighborhoods
Dozens of people living in blaze and urged people to where the fire occurred
the city's Rocuant and San report any suspicious activ- don't have running water
Roque hills sifted through ity. and get their supply from
the ruins of their homes af- "We're not certain, but ev- tanker trucks a couple of
ter strong winds whipped erything indicates that yes- times a week.
the blaze through their terday's fire was intention- Wildfires have affected
Residents spray water over remains of their homes after a wild- neighborhoods Tuesday. al, and began in an area parts of Valparaiso sev-
fire damaged dozens of houses on the outskirts of Valparaiso, Residents had been evac- quite close to the homes," eral times in the last month
Chile, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2019. uated and there were no said Ezio Passadore, emer- as Chile contends with its
Associated Press reports of casualties. gency manager for Val- worst drought on record.q