The events were framed to commemorate both the Municipal Victims' Day and the 21 years of the massacre perpetrated in Barrancabermeja on May 16, 1998.

The victims of Barrancabermeja joined together to carry out activities to commemorate one of the most representative events that marked the lives of inhabitants of the oil port and who institutionalized this date as the Municipal Victims' Day.

Around 8:30 a.m. In the auditorium of SENA, the conversation entitled " Why did what happened  on May 16, 1998", activity commemorating the 21 years of the massacre occurred in Barrancabermeja.

This meeting, which was attended by an approximate of 200 students, also congregated to different social and civil organizations. "What we are looking for with these spaces of discussion is to call on the youth, the new generations so that they know the real truth of what happened here on that tragic date, not only what they did, because that is already too much known people who did it, but the reflection is that people knew what was going on at that time in Barrancabermeja, and not only what happened but why it happened that night, "said Jaime Peña, representative of Colectivo Familiares of May 16.

The activity, which had the support of the Truth Commission, the Magdalena Medio Development and Peace Program, the Jesuit Refugee Service, the National Movement of Victims of State Crimes and the Association of Detained Relatives of the Disappeared, wants to create the collective memory of events in the youth of the city, "because young people come to know a real story of what happened, not the skewed story they have been told, and we had to do it when we started doing pedagogy in educational centers, young people were amazed because that was not the story they knew", adds Jaime Peña.

To end this space, a staging was carried out by the Jesuit Refugee Service, which congratulated all the attendees and concluded with the delivery of plants to the entities and organizations that participated in this space.

In addition to commemorating the 21 years of the massacre that took place in Barrancabermeja that May 16, 1998, this municipality of Santander also commemorated the municipal day of  victims of armed conflict, an activity that was developed between 10:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. in  the Cacique Pipatón Square and that brought together representatives of the Municipal Participation Table, Secretariat of Victims of Santander Government, representatives of the Municipal Mayor's Office, Victims Unit, representatives of the Collective May 16, leaders of different organizations of victims and community in general.

In this space a ceremonial act was developed, in which the different entities extended words to the attendees, later recognition was given to the different organizations of victims and representatives of Municipal Participation Table of Barrancabermeja, to later perform cultural events.

For her part, the territorial director of the Victims Unit in Middle Magdalena, Amparo Chicué Cristancho, who attended as a guest at both spaces said: "We rescued how valuable it is for young people to participate in these spaces of reconciliation, truth and rescue to the memory, because they will be the voices of the next generations. On the part of the Unit we commit ourselves to continue accompanying the reparation of victims of conflict, from each one of the components that the Law of Victims in our country has".

Thus the victims of Barrancabermeja reminded once again that these acts of commemoration dignify the memory of those who are no longer because of conflict and repair the lives of those who are still fighting to defend their rights.

(Fin/jarn/cmc)