This interview with Jorge Eduardo Borja was conducted by Pete Hämmerle and Michaela Söllinger during a meeting of the Commission for Peace of Blanquita Murrí in May 2025.
Q: Thank you very much for your time. Could you please introduce yourself briefly? What were three important milestones in your life?
A: I am Jorge Eduardo Borja, born and raised here in Murrí. I am president of the Junta de Acción Comunal of Pantanos, a signatory to the peace agreement, and co-founder of the Interethnic Commission for Peace in Blanquita Murrí. Throughout my life, as president of the social committee of the communities, I saw many lies, and so I went to war—not because I wanted war, but to exert pressure for the rights of the people. Disappointed by that attempt, in 2018 we founded the Interethnic Commission, which is a counter-project to resist all the harm that has been done throughout this time. From now on, we aim to make up for all the mistakes of the past 35 years by promoting reconciliation through the Interethnic Commission for Peace in Murrí.
Q: What were your reasons for joining the guerrilla? What were your experiences?
A: I entered the war when the UP (Unión Patriótica) was founded in 1985, and I joined the party—not with the aim of killing or stealing, but with the goal of achieving social change, because it was and is the party of the workers. What happened was that everything turned into a personal matter for four or five people, due to envy and resentment. I was disappointed that our success did not turn out as we had hoped and that power remained in the hands of only a few.
The birth of this war came from the search for social change through the workers’ party, as Karl Marx says, and we were the majority at that time. But the working class had been co-opted by misery—by low wages and lies that led nowhere. We were betrayed, as were teachers, for example: the state puts them in a position where they can’t even speak out, and if they do, they lose their jobs. That is a great injustice.
The search for justice and social change is still very confusing today. Four things are still missing for it to truly emerge: democracy, justice, solidarity, and equality. After that, we must keep seeking change.
Q: Why did you sign the peace agreement? How did that come about?
A: I was in the movement for almost 35 years, from 1983 until I joined the 2016 peace agreement. The agreement included the surrender of weapons in exchange for recognized political status. That was an achievement—but it has proven to be a disappointing one, because political status alone does not solve anything, and the agreements have not been honored.
Not one of the agreed-upon commitments has been fulfilled. So we are back to square one, with a lot of disagreement and frustration. Thirty-five years of fighting for social change for the people have not brought the results we hoped for. And I would like to add: the change the country needs is not charity—it is a necessity.
Q: What were your motives?
A: When the peace agreement was reached, I was happy, because there had been so much bloodshed on both sides. I said to our commander-in-chief, Trujillo, in private: “How far do we want to go? One side is killing the other, and vice versa.” Still, I remained calm, because advocating for change was the position of the brave.
When the agreement became clear, many said, “They will kill us with weapons,” and I replied, “If you exchange weapons for political status, you will gain respect.” But things can change quickly—just like in 1953, when the liberal guerrillas surrendered their weapons under a peace agreement, and later, everyone they found was killed.
So there is a sense of déjà vu—not that we will return to arms, but that we have broadened our perspective. The government is the one failing to comply with the agreement, even though it is binding for both sides. The Constitution and the accords oblige it to act, and yet they are not being implemented. That is my position.
Q: What role do the weapons of both sides play in this peace process?
A: When it comes to weapons, the government has money for killing, but not for development. There is a love of war—a desire to support it, not end it. As campesinos, we want peace and work. They prefer to buy helicopters and bombs, but it would be better to buy land and distribute it to campesinos or ex-guerrilleros, because we work and produce what we eat.
What does a helicopter produce? Only expenses and disorder. A helicopter can carry and drop four bombs, creating only destruction. Those bombs are very expensive. This, to me, is a great brutality against the people themselves. Instead of saying “peace, no more war, we want development,” they continue to spend on war. That means all of us who surrendered our weapons are left without work and without opportunities.
All of us who have laid down our arms are now civilians like everyone else. When I speak as a signatory to the peace agreement, it applies not only to us, but to everyone. We want to be reintegrated into civilian life through reconciliation, repentance, and sharing.
Q: What contribution can the Interethnic Roundtable make to peace, and how?
A: At the time of planning and creating Casa Madre, I was and still am very happy, because the past war gave rise to the Interethnic Roundtable for Peace in Blanquita Murrí as a counterpoint to conflict. If we succeed—if we give up our weapons and reconcile—the Interethnic Roundtable will be the foundation for unity, renewal, and forgetting the war.
But something is still missing: if we want to live in peace, we must have a roof over our heads and a job. A person who has a small house and a piece of land to work is already on the side of peace, because they can grow cassava, bananas, and corn, and thus have food to eat. But if I don’t have a house or land, I am still at war, because I suffer from hunger and despair.
Q: Are there any concrete examples of this from the Round Table?
A: Since the founding of Casa Madre, we have had some very clear examples:
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A medical mission in Mandé, Altas de Murrí, when malaria was spreading among the Afro-Colombian population. A medical team was brought in by helicopter to combat the disease.
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The repair of the road from Frontino to Murrí, with a budget of around 300,000 euros, and the construction of the access road to Casa Madre.
These are two very tangible examples of progress toward well-being. And there are more—improvements in education, the work of the Guardias Indígenas, and many other initiatives that together represent real change. The total value of these efforts is about 2.5 million euros. That is an immense success.
I must admit, I was skeptical at first—I thought it was just dirty politics, empty talk. But I was proven wrong. Progress is slow, but that makes it meaningful. Every process has its challenges, so we must move carefully and use strategies that lead us successfully toward our goals.
As a Round Table, we dream of growing—of expanding beyond a small central group and turning this into a permanent space, an institution. Many people see the value in uniting. But it is not easy to convince campesinos who are discouraged or who feel they cannot express themselves. You have to start working on this dream today, even though the results may only come tomorrow. It takes time, patience, and awareness that peace is a long-term process—not easy, but not impossible either.
Q: What message do you have for people in Austria and in Europe?
A: There is a great misconception: if someone has never experienced war, they think you fire two or three shots and kill one or two people. But it’s not like that. When a shot is fired, it kills one person—and fifty or a hundred people cry. So when I kill one, I harm fifty others. What follows from that? That is not the way.
A rifle serves only to make wars bigger. That is the key. Today, we have a law called Justicia Especial para la Paz (JEP, Transitional Justice). No one wants to show their face, because if we deviate from the plan, if we stray from what must be done, we risk returning to weapons. But if we start a dialogue, as we are doing here, we can go much further—without any more deaths.
I cannot deny anyone the right to make mistakes—because if you make them, so do I, and so do they. Death is not a punishment; it is something we all face. But those who are truly punished by death are the families of the victims, who are not to blame. That is how it is.
Q: Thank you very much!
Further Information:
In the wake of the 2016 peace agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), many former guerrillas were integrated into civilian life. Some settled in the municipality of Blanquita Murrí, in western Antioquia, and became co-founders of the Interethnic Commission for Peace.
The Commission was founded as an initiative of representatives from Indigenous Embera communities, the Afro-Colombian population, and local campesinos/as. Its work centers around Casa Madre—both a physical meeting place and a symbol of the community’s shared territory and collective identity.