Light or Darkness?

Abstract

To smile or to cry? Unknown or truth? Only the passage of life can explain it. One day, I thought about all that as I stood in front of my window contemplating the immensity of the city. I reflected on how I am just 30 years old, and was amazed by all that I have lived through. I eventually could not believe it myself, and felt that it was a dream—that it had not happened to me—but the truth is that I lived it, that it was real.

This story was written by Mercy Yazmin Rincón Ardila, who was born in Acacias, Meta, 30 years ago. The facts narrated here occurred in Cubarral, Medellin del Ariari, andMesetas, Meta, where operations of the 26th Front of the FARC took place. Some of these municipalities were part of the non-militarized zone when former President Andrés Pastrana and the FARC guerrillas began the Caguan peace talks, which ultimately did not succeed.

Translated by Jorge A. Arroyo Varela, Corinna Villar Cole, and Laura M. Stough.