Colombia: Shining a light on conflict and peace

David González was born in the Colombian capital Bogotá in 1981 and grew up in Tunja, a small city in the Colombian Andes. He began studying law at the Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá but found it "so incredibly boring" that after a few semesters, he switched to journalism. "All I wanted to do was write," he says. González later worked for the Foundation for the Freedom of the Press (FLIP), a Colombian NGO, and it was there that he came across topics that have since become the focus of his work: Colombia's decades-long civil war and the impact that violence has had on the country. But he also looks at stories of hope that have emerged from the conflict. In 2014 González won the ¡Investiga! journalism prize, awarded annually since 2012 by DW Akademie and the Universidad del Norte to Colombian investigative journalists.

Colombia's civil war is a complex and dangerous topic for journalists to cover. What initially sparked your interest?
People who spend their whole lives in Bogotá are often sheltered from the daily terror resulting from the war. That's because the conflict takes place mainly in the countryside. If you're someone like me who grew up outside of large cities, you have a different perspective on things. There are so many questions that come up - I'm just trying to find some of the answers.

How did you first become involved in the conflict as a journalist?
I worked for the Foundation for the Freedom of the Press (FLIP) from 2010 to 2011 and was one of the people responsible for documenting attacks on journalists and freedom of expression. I travelled to rural areas like Cauca, Arauca and Urabá, where the conflict is most intense and attacks against journalists happen frequently. That's also when I started reporting for various media.

Is that when you learned about the murder of Colombian journalist Luis Eduardo Gómez? You later wrote an article about it ("En el nombre del padre y del hijo") which took first prize at the 2014 ¡Investiga! awards.
Yes. I met Carmenza Ruiz, the wife of Luis Eduardo Gómez, while I was working for FLIP and that's when I learned about what had happened to him. Gómez is, you might say, the "father of journalism" in the Urabá region. He founded a number of media outlets and spent his life campaigning for press freedom and transparency. But when the couple's son was murdered in 2009, most likely by the paramilitary, Gómez wanted to find out who was responsible. That's when he began documenting paramilitary activities in Urabá.

And it got dangerous for Gómez…
Yes. For example, he would go to the village marketplace and record the license plates of well-known paramilitary members or go to where paramilitary forces were dealing drugs. The paramilitary eventually found out about this and killed him. That was in 2011.

You had to travel to Urabá several times to research the piece. What is it like working as an investigative journalist in Colombia?

Working through Germany's past at historic sites in and around Berlin

It's hard. I once wrote a story for one of Colombia's largest newspapers about the kidnapping of the French journalist Romeo Langlois in Caquetá. That area is a dangerous one and I had to cover the costs for the flight, accommodation and food myself. I ended up earning about 100.000 Colombian pesos - that's less than 40 euros. So it never pays off financially to report on the conflict as a freelance journalist.

Then why do journalists keep reporting?
We have an obligation to tell people about what's happening in our country. The reports help people understand why Colombians have been killing each other for decades and they serve as a contribution to the overall peace process.

What effect does reporting on war and violence have on journalists themselves?
When I started researching Colombia's war in the countryside I couldn't imagine the horrors people face there - people not involved in the conflict are being driven from their homes from one day to the next, or even massacred. But there are other stories - ones about survival and courage. It seems like a paradox, but it's an incredible experience to meet people who have gone through these kinds of horrors but who are still hopeful and continue to campaign for peace. It shakes you up, but it also motivates you. As journalists we need to take these types of stories seriously.

You latest journalistic project "¡Pacifista!" ("Pacifist!") focuses on stories like these. The platform was started together with the Colombian editorial staff of the VICE magazine and went online at the end of December 2014. What exactly is "¡Pacifista!"?
"¡Pacifista!" is a VICE magazine project co-founded with Colombian journalists like myself. A while back we decided to promote a culture of peace in Colombia by showing that even within a conflict you can find stories of peace. These are stories of survivors of the civil war, of people who have had the courage to reconcile with others. Colombia is starting to enter the so-called "post-conflict" phase, which means that although the conflict is waning there is still no real peace. Journalism projects like these are important because they don't just focus on war but in fact concentrate primarily on peace.

Your journalistic approach is based on a conviction that crimes and armed conflicts in Colombia should never be forgotten. But wouldn't it be better for a country like Colombia, which has gone through decades of bloodshed and hatred, to just forget the trauma and move on?
I don't think so. Being in this workshop in Berlin has made it clear to me just how important it is to really deal with the past. There's no doubt that when the conflict in Colombia is finally over, there'll need to be a phase where things can settle down and wounds have a chance to heal. But after that, we'll need to remember what happened. Germany is an excellent example of a country that has come to terms with its past, trying to understand why two dictatorships were able to emerge in the 20th century, what made the Holocaust possible and why the former East German regime systematically tried to limit the freedoms of its own people. We need to go through a process like this so that we can provide answers to future generations.

Do you see journalism, then, as a way to come to terms with the past?
Journalists are the historians of our time. Even now in the present we're recording the events that will become memories in the future.

Does that mean you believe journalism has the power to transform?
Yes. If I didn't, I couldn't be a journalist. Journalists have a great responsibility - not only to shape opinions and promote analytical skills, but to also strengthen democracy. Balanced reporting can help break the cycle of violence and I believe that if we do our jobs well, journalists can prevent history from repeating itself.

"Peace, Conflict and Region" was the focus of the 2014 ¡Investiga! awards. This was the first time that DW Akademie and the Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla presented the awards with support from Consejo de Redacción, a Bogotá-based journalists' network.