51³Ô¹ÏÍø

SAN ANDRES, COLOMBIA - MAY 26: The Truth Commission, headed by Commissioner Leyner Palacios, held a vindication event with the Raizal Community in the First Baptist Church in San Andres Island in Colombia, on Thursday (May 26). The President of the Raizal Authority, Pastor Alberto Gordon attended the event showing his support for the work carried out by the Truth Commission and for the victims of violence in Colombia and the island. “At the level of the community and of the Raizal people, it was a very emotional experience, which at the same time was able to help through this process to heal those wounds and close those cycles, it has been the opportunity to pay tribute to these dead and disappeared people, and that is why leaving the disappeared person calm and giving him a decent funeral service is an emotional, spiritual and cultural therapy,� said Gordon. “Colombia must understand that San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina have suffered the scourges of war, the second thing we want is to create awareness within the country, that despite being an archipelago, we are not far from the violence that occurs in the country, that is why we want you to be understood from the perspective of our people , without forcing us to move and to change what we are to integrate within that country, I believe that diversity is a wealth and cultures do not have to be changed, we have to help them to strengthen them,� he added. Nicaragua and Colombia have disputed the sovereignty of the archipelago of the islands of San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina for decades and also the right to freely exercise activities in the disputed waters. According to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Colombia violated its sovereignty by holding operations with the Colombian Navy in the Nicaraguan Caribbean Sea zone and subsequently issuing a decree establishing security control 24 nautical miles from San Andres. (Footage by Juan David Moreno Gallego /Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)