Colombia

Alejo Vargas Velásquez is a Professor at the National University of Colombia and a member of the Civilian Facilitation Commission.

Augusto Ramírez Ocampo is a former Foreign Minister. He led the United Nations Mission in El Salvador following the peace agreement, and is a member of the National Conciliation Commission.

A former Minister of Health in the Colombian government, Camilo González Posso has participated in various peace negotiations since 1984, including the coordination of the citizen’s forums for participation in the 1998–2002 negotiations with the FARC and the ELN. He is a university professor and President of the Institute of Peace and Development Studies (INDEPAZ).

Carlos Lozano is a lawyer and editor of the weekly paper VOZ. He was a member of the Comisión de Personalidades for the Caguán talks and is a member of the national leadership of the Communist Party.

 Carlos Hernán Fernández Niño has collaborated on pedagogical projects and research on civil peace mobilisation in Colombia, working as project adviser at the Programa por la Paz from 1997 to 2003.

Daniel García-Peña headed the Office of the High Commissioner for Peace between 1995 and 1998. He also led Lucho Garzon’s campaigns for the Presidency in 2002 and for mayor of Bogotá in 2003. He is currently director of Planeta Paz and professor of political science at the National University.

Esperanza Hernández is a researcher, teacher and consultant. She is co-author of the book Con la Esperanza Intacta about grassroots peacebuilding experiences.

Fernán González has worked at CINEP for 32 years as a researcher on Colombian political history, the relationship of the Church and the State and the historical origins of recent violence. He is completing a PhD from the University of Berkeley, California and teaches in universities in Colombia and abroad.

Fernando Sarmiento Santander has done peace education work with young people and community organisations and research on civil society peace mobilisation in Colombia. He is currently a researcher at CINEP and teaches at the Javeriana University in Bogotá.

Jorge Rojas Rodríguez is a journalist and author of many books on displacement, human rights and the armed conflict in Colombia. He is a peace activist and the Director of the Consultancy on Human Rights and Displacement. 

Mauricio Katz García worked at the Magdalena Medio Peace and Development Programme from 1996 – 2002, spending three years as deputy director. He works with international oraganisations and social movements in the formation of intersectoral regional development programmes.

Mauricio Romero holds a PhD in Political Science from the New School for Social Research in New York. He teaches at the National University and recently published the book Paramilitares y Autodefensas, 1982–2003.

Rodrigo Gutiérrez is the Ex-President of the business group ‘organización Corona y Fundación Corona ‘ and currently advises various organisations and businesses in Colombia. He is President of the ‘Ideas para la Paz’ foundation.

Vera Grabe was a co-founder of the M-19 and led the movement until 1990. She was subsequently an AD M-19 Senator and currently teaches peace education in communities and at university level.

Winifred Tate has researched and written about human rights and peace issues in Colombia for the past 15 years, including three years as a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America. An anthropologist trained at New York University, she is completing her dissertation on the history of Colombian human rights activism.