CASE STUDIES
Restorative Justice
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Author of case study: Marcela Torres Molano
Geopolitical location of space:
Cl. 9 #5-59
Cali, Valle del Cauca
Extant? Yes
Architects:
Fray Pedro Herrera and Perez de Arroyo in charge of brick facade and interiors.
First year of construction: 1773, further modifications have been done to the building.
4 & 5 of December 2016
An act of recognition of responsibilities and dignity of memory, between ex guerrilla members and the families of 12 Valle del Cauca deputies, who were kidnaped and killed in 2002.
One TJ act took place in this space. After the Peace agreement in Cuba, the family of the victims agreed to participate in a truth clarification and memory event for their families, as part of the national transitional justice process.
This is a Catholic church building, which is designed for religious ceremonies, therefore group listening, however the space is not specifically designed for this type of event.
Ex-members of the FARC guerrilla (responsible for the crime), and the victims’ families.
This is a private building that belongs to the catholic church, however it is a building for public use. The reconciliatory event was initially intended to be public and later was established it was only going to be among the families of the victims.
Cali was one of the most affected cities during the Colombian internal conflict. The Valle del Cauca Deputies hostage crisis was the kidnapping of 12 Deputies by FARC members. The guerrilla group wanted to pressure the government to establish a prisoner exchange, as well as to negotiate the demilitarisation of two towns of this region with the intention of initiating the peace dialogues.
The Saint Francis Church was built between 1803 and 1827. The church is composed of two different structures located right next to each other, forming a brick harmonious and coherent urban complex, and the entire front of the block that faces the Plaza de San Francisco. The temple has suffered the effects of the earthquakes of 1885, 1896 and 1925, but it maintains its original appearance.
The church has a rectangular plan which is divided into three naves with a central dome in front of the main altar. The neoclassical character of its architecture is particularly evident in the composition of the facade. The interior has been criticised for its decoration, which clearly does not harmonise with the façade.
The FARC publicly apologised during a meeting in the Saint Francis Church, one block away from the building where on 11 April, 2002, a group of FARC guerrillas kidnapped 12 deputies from the Valle del Cauca Department Assembly. The victims chose the Church, located in front of the local government, because it was the space where the families of the deputies previously met and prayed for the fate of their relatives. The event was open to the public, but not to the media in order to respect the victims’ pain. It was the first public act for the reparation of the victims of the kidnapping and murder of 11 of the 12 deputies, and was carried out as part of the Peace Agreement signed with the FARC in 2016.
Father De Roux witnessed the moment when Pablo Catatumbo, during the reconciliation act, expressed: “We had them in our hands, we killed them, we are responsible. We have no justification for this. We take full responsibility. We ask for forgiveness.” In response, De Roux commented: “I witnessed the strength of children, wives and brothers when expressing their pain and defending with courage their murdered relatives; and also of the unexpected generosity with which they agreed to forgive, to free themselves from the anguish of retaliation and to contribute to the peace of this country” (Quintero, 2018).
is an author, speaker, columnist, and podcaster in the fields of architecture and decorative arts. She is completing her MA in Art History at Concordia University, Montréal, and holds a Bachelor of Commerce with a major in Marketing from John Molson School of Business. She studied Industrial Psychology in Los Angeles, California. Sicotte is the author of two published books on design (2015, 2018) published by Les Éditions Cardinal.
is a Colombian PhD candidate in the Department of Art History at Concordia University. She has a background in architectural design and community activism and holds a master’s degree in Building and Urban Design from the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, England. Her interests focus on socially-engaged art, social movements, collaborative activism in post-conflict scenarios, collectively-produced art, and art produced in relation to the built environment.
is a PhD candidate in Humanities at Concordia University. His research focuses on spatial agency, social aesthetics, youth narratives, and graphic representations of urban memory. He has published on the relationship between children, play, and public space in Cartagena, Colombia. He has also worked as an editor on literary projects, including Territorio Fértil, which received the María Nelly Murillo Hinestroza award for Afro-Colombian literature.
is Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Architectures of Spatial Justice (Tier 2) at the Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture at McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada. Her research interests include low-income housing and participatory design, civil protest and urban design, and campus landscapes and race. Her publications include the co-edited book, Orienting Istanbul (2010) and solo-authored book, Istanbul Open City (2018).
is an artist and a professor of Art History at Concordia University. Her work focuses on women and the history of the built environment, urban landscapes, research-creation, and oral history. She has published on the spatial history of the suffrage movement, public art, gardens, and the politics of urban change. In addition to her research on the spaces of restorative and transitional justice, she is leading an oral history project on the urban memories of diverse Montrealers.
is Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre at Concordia University, Montreal (Quebec, Canada). He is also the second co-director of Concordia’s Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling. His latest publications explore listening in the context of post-conflict performances of memory. For instance, see ‘Facilitating voicing and listening in the context of post-conflict performances of memory. The Colombian scenario.’ In: De Nardi, S., Orange, H., et al. Routledge Handbook of Memoryscapes. Routledge: London. (2019), and his article ‘Not being able to speak is torture: performing listening to painful narratives’. International Journal of Transitional Justice, Special Issue Creative Approaches to Transitional Justice: Contributions of Arts and Culture. (March, 2020)
