Escudo de Colombia y texto de la Unidad para las Víctimas

The last shot

Silvia Berroca’sl son was murdered at the age of 16 in the slaughter of La Chinita, in Apartadó, in events that occurred on January 23, 1994. In total, the FARC’s violent incursion left 35 people dead and 17 wounded.

“My son was born and died in the Apartadó hospital. He was injured during the La Chinita massacre and died after being transferred to the hospital. He was only 16 years old. “

Thus, without hints of sadness, thanks to an analgesic called time, began her story Silvia Berrocal, mother of Alcides Segundo Lozano Berrocal, one of the 35 dead left by the violent incursion of the Farc in a festivity that took place on 23 January 1994 in Apartadó, Antioquia.

Silvia was born in Montería (Córdoba), in 1955. She married very young with who would be the father of her four children: “I was only 16 years old, I married Alcides Lozano de la Rosa, and I came to live in Urabá in search of job opportunities, because the situation in Monteria was quite difficult, and despite everything now I start thinking and I think it was worth it. We arrived with two sacks: in one the stuff and in another the clothes, and we began to work in a banana plantation, where my husband worked as a ‘stripping machine’ (cut to the banana tree what does not work) and I in the kitchen ” .

In Apartadó their four children were born, and after some time the lack of money forced them to return to Montería. In the capital of Córdoba they tried to live, but they barely survived, so the economy once again oriented their destiny towards Urabá. There, her husband returned to work in a banana plantation and Silvia was trained as an auxiliary nurse to work in the same farm as Alcides.

By 1992, people invaded La Chinita farm (rice terrain close to Apartadó), and Silvia and her husband were not left behind.

“On February 8, 1992, we came here, at eight o’clock at night, and each one decided to start measuring his lot; that caused us problems because it was logical that the owner of the land did not want to be invaded by his land, but I made it clear that the intention was always to buy his lot, even though he did not want to sell because he cultivated rice here, and we did not want to go out because we really did not have anywhere to live. Finally, with the support of INURBE in that time, we reached an agreement and the owner was bought the land (107 hectares), and thousands of families live here, “says Silvia.

In 1993, rumors began that there was going to be a massacre, but they believed it was just that: rumors. What they did show were selective deaths. Finally, the threats of massacre became reality on January 23, 1994. “There was a meeting at the house of Mrs. Rufina Gutiérrez, which was called a festivity, and it was so that Mrs. Rufina could collect money to buy school supplies for her children. “Recalls Silvia.

At about 1 a.m. Shots began to be heard, nobody knew what the real reason for the shooting was, as there were selective deaths by which one, two or three shots were often heard. But that night the bursts of fire went out of the ordinary.

“I remember that my son was in that festivity, but I never thought that those shots came from that place. I left running and when we arrived at the corner of the site of the festival they would not let me pass because they thought that the FARC were still there. After a while I managed to enter the site and saw my son sitting in a chair, face down on the table and I said: ‘Alcidito’, that’s what we told him at home, and he answered me. I was hurt. After a few minutes the hammock was brought to me and among several people they helped me to take him to the hospital, when we arrived there he already had a green face and only lasted about 10 minutes with life “.

She says that a couple of women survivors of the massacre told him that Alcidito was killed by the last shot that the perpetrators did because he, who was on the floor facing up, opened his eyes when the killer who was already leaving saw him and He shot.

“There were a total of 35 dead (34 men and one woman) and 17 injured. I remember that Alcidito practiced a lot of soccer, I believe that if he lived today he would be an excellent soccer player “.

From hatred to forgiveness

After that massacre, “I was left with a lot of hatred, resentment, pain and thirst for revenge, so much so that I bought a machete because I was told that a man who sold raffles had been the one who passed information to the FARC to go there, then I said that when I saw him I killed him; but he never saw that guy around again, and we did not really know if that version was true or not. After this, companies and NGOs began to come, and they began to train us and make meetings with the victims, and little by little, the hatred was taken away from me, then projects for us the victims appeared. “

In that sense, “we have worked with the Victims Unit, much progress has been made in the collective reparation process, but there are still things to be done. I emphasize the advance work in the emotional part that helped me a lot to forgive “.

In the middle of the peace process between the Government and Farc, in a letter addressed to the dialogue table in Havana, the victims of La Chinita requested that the FARC go to Apartadó to ask for forgiveness in a public act. Initially, they were informed that the FARC negotiators would not go, but they did want direct victims of the massacre to go to Havana. “Then we went three people to Havana three times. The first meeting was a complaint because I wanted to ask them in the face why my son was killed. They cried and we cried too. They said that they, those who were in that meeting, had not been the perpetrators, but they did respond for the massacre because they had been the FARC. Then it was the event that Iván Márquez and Pastor Álape came here on September 30, 2016, where they asked us for forgiveness in a public event. “

As a member of the impulse committee of the repairer of La Chinita and as a leader of her community, Silvia will continue to seek welfare for the inhabitants of Obrero neighborhood, without forgetting `Alcidito ‘, that handsome young man, as she said, and that today would surely be a great athlete.

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