The Colombian Exile in Spain: Peace Dialogues, a Before and an Afte

Abstract

Despite having been the scene of a long internal conflict, Colombia has been perceived as a clearly democratic country since it has not been involved in military governments like those taking place in Latin America in a good part of the 20th century. However, the intervention in the political arena has implied high risks for a wide range of sectors of the population. This is specially evident with those from the political and social left, who have been the object of systematic pursuit, obliging them to take the road to exile. 

This paper starts with a short presentation of the Colombian exile as a study case. Secondly, it clarifies the relation between the concepts of exile and forced migrations. Afterwards, it deals with the difficulties to categorise the Colombians' forced migrations within the armed conflict context. The following section refers to the special programmes of protection for Colombians in Spain and it analyses the political militancy and participation characteristics of the exilees from this country left. The last part looks into the new participatory practices developed within the Peace Talks atmosphere, paying attention to the resources used to include their demands in the Peace Process. Finally, the essay suggests some possible tensions and concerns which can emerge in the future, as a collective, and outlines new research perspectives.