# La Colombia fuera de Colombia (Exile) — Digest

## 1. Identity & purpose

This is **Tomo 10** of the Colombian Truth Commission's (CEV — *Comisión para el Esclarecimiento de la Verdad, la Convivencia y la No Repetición*) final report *Hay Futuro Si Hay Verdad* (2022): **"La Colombia fuera de Colombia. Las verdades del exilio"** ("The Colombia outside Colombia. The truths of exile"). Directed by commissioner **Carlos Martín Beristain** and coordinated through the Commission's **Macro Internacional** (international macro-territorial team), the volume is the report's pioneering attempt to make visible the **more than one million Colombians** forced into exile by the armed conflict. It is described internally as "a pioneering work in making visible the million people exiled by reason of the internal armed conflict" — the **first time any truth commission has systematically incorporated the diaspora** into a transitional-justice process.

Its purpose is threefold: (1) to **recognize exile as a grave human-rights violation in its own right** ("una violación de derechos humanos en sí misma"); (2) to **return and amplify the voices** of those who left, who "in general only count for their families, friends, communities and movements"; and (3) to pose a challenge to Colombia — *will Colombian society and the State be able to see themselves in this history too, and recognize it?* Underlying everything is the moral wager of the whole report: the exile "was not in vain — it saved lives, families, truths."

## 2. Central thesis (exile as an invisibilized violation; "la Colombia fuera de Colombia")

The thesis is that **exile is an invisibilized grave violation** — invisible both *inside* and *outside* Colombia ("un hecho invisible adentro y afuera"). Of the more than nine million registered conflict victims (1985–2021), the majority of those who fled the country are **not counted**. This invisibility is not accidental but **structural**: the State has never recognized exile as a distinct human-rights violation, so there is no register, no protection, no reparation policy. Stigmatization and impunity complete the erasure.

The coined banner concept is **"la Colombia fuera de Colombia"** — *the Colombia outside Colombia*: the idea that the exiled population is not "victims who are outside" the country but people who **"had to leave"** (*"no son víctimas que «están fuera» de Colombia, sino que «tuvieron que salir» de Colombia"*), and who never stopped belonging to the Colombian political community. The report insists: **no one interviewed in 24 countries fled because they wanted to.** Exile was almost always the **last resort** ("el último recurso") after a chain of prior violations — internal displacement, threats, loss of loved ones, attempts on their lives. On average, victims and their families suffered **about four victimizing events over roughly six years** before fleeing. Exile thus "shows the failure of the State's institutions in their duty to protect victims," and splits lives into a definitive **before and after**.

## 3. Structure

The volume is organized into **eight chapters** plus an introduction and final recommendations:

1. **Quantitative and qualitative dimension** of Colombian exile (magnitude, sub-registration, demographics).
2. **The times of banishment** ("Los tiempos del destierro") — periodization of forced departures across five decades.
3. **Who left: voices, faces and causes** — seven principal causal patterns of exile.
4. **The routes of exile** — the forced, long, traumatic and dangerous departure and arrival.
5. **International protection** — asylum, refugee status, obstacles, statelessness.
6. **Impacts** — what exile means, individually, in the family, collectively (incl. gender, LGBTIQ+, ethnic lenses).
7. **Exile as resistance** — memory, art, spirituality, networks, continued participation.
8. **Expectations and realities of return** to Colombia.

Then **Recommendations** (recognition, reparation, return conditions, access to justice), references, and annexes (a *Legado testimonial* / testimonial legacy summarizing all testimonies, plus nine prioritized cases).

## 4. Key findings

- **Exile is a violation in itself**, not reducible to internal displacement: crossing a border to save one's life entails loss of homeland, social bonds, and even citizenship, plus the persecution suffered. Many exiles had already been internally displaced one or more times first.
- **State responsibility is by action AND omission**: state agents/institutions (army, police, intelligence — DAS) were direct perpetrators in some cases; but the State is also responsible for failing to protect and to investigate. In several testimonies, **officials themselves advised victims to leave the country**, admitting they could not guarantee security.
- **All armed actors are responsible**: paramilitaries, guerrillas (FARC-EP, ELN), state forces, and civilian third parties. (The Commission could not access testimony from *ex-paramilitaries* who left the country, despite attempts in Sweden and Canada.)
- **Exile is an indicator of the conflict's persistence**: it continues even after the 2016 Peace Accord. Paradoxically, asylum claims are now **denied** on the argument that "the Accord ended the conflict" — of ~10,000 Colombian asylum requests in 2019, ~5,000 were rejected citing Colombian constitutional protections.
- **The Victims Law (Ley 1448 of 2011) does not recognize exile**: the words "refugio" and "exilio" do not appear; the RUV (Single Victims Register) recognizes internal displacement but **not exile**. Those registered got there via *other* violations committed before leaving.
- **Exile is the "second victimization" in Colombia** after internal forced displacement, by number of people affected.

## 5. Statistics & data (magnitude, destinations, demographics)

**Magnitude.** Working with **UNHCR/ACNUR** (joint working group, regional HQ in Panama), the Commission estimates that **more than one million Colombians** left the country seeking international protection between **1982 and 2020** — roughly **twice the maximum figure considered until then**, and itself an under-count. UNHCR figures jumped from **72,793 refugees (2006) to 551,741 (2007)** purely due to the new "**refugee-like / in need of international protection**" category.

**The iceberg.** *Graph 1* frames the **visible vs. invisible** exile: visible = refugees + asylum-seekers + "refugee-like"; invisible = those on other visas (Mercosur, humanitarian), those who never applied, those who changed status (work/residence/naturalization), the undocumented, and the **second and third generations**.

**Colombian State registers (gross under-count).** The RUV recognizes only **26,269** "victims abroad" across **43 countries** — **less than 2%** of the estimated million. A DANE cross-match found **234,296** RUV-registered victims who left Colombia (2004–2020) without a recorded return.

**Destinations (2019 UNHCR data).** Latin America first (proximity, language, possibility of return): **Ecuador (~112,846)**, **Venezuela (~67,671)**, Chile (5,091), Costa Rica (3,663), Panama (3,599), Brazil (3,130), Peru (1,935). Outside Latin America: **Spain (34,352)** — the leading non-LatAm destination — then **USA (15,506)** and **Canada (9,795)**.

**Why each country:** Ecuador/Venezuela/Panama = proximity to Colombia; Canada = chance of refugee status; USA = security; Spain/Costa Rica/Chile = security + family/friend support networks.

**Periodization of departures** (from the Commission's 2,080 exile-related interviews): 1958–1977 = **1.2%**; **1978–1991 = 10.5%**; **1992–2005 = 37.4%** (the peak); **2006–2016 = 27.9%**; **2017–2022 = 21.9%**.

**Demographics of those interviewed** (~2,244 with data): **51% men, 49% women**; **74.6% heterosexual, 5.7% LGBTIQ+**; **37.3% held some social or political leadership**; ethnicity: **10.8% Afro-Colombian/palenquero/Black, 2.5% Indigenous, 0.2% Rrom**. Most left as **adults (29–59: 42.2%)**; **14.3% were minors**. **51.1%** of departures were family, **47%** individual, **1.7%** collective.

**Prior violations (1,543 detailed interviews): 6,830 victimizations** before exile — most commonly **threats (1,872), internal displacement (1,619), homicide of a relative/associate (637), torture (438), attempts (339)**. Principal perpetrators of threats: paramilitaries 34.5%, guerrillas 22%, state forces/intelligence 11.6%. Of torture: state forces 35.6%, paramilitaries 30.1%.

## 6. Who was exiled and why

The volume identifies **seven principal causal patterns** of exile, "all faces and voices of Colombia":

1. **Political persecution** of opponents, social organizations, **unions, and social leaders** — leftist and opposition party militants (notably the **Unión Patriótica genocide**: ~8,300 victims, 5,733 homicides/disappearances, per the joint CEV–JEP study), student and educational movements, **human-rights defenders**, **women leaders**, **environmental defenders** (Colombia is the world's most dangerous country for them — ≥661 killed Sept-2016 to Sept-2021), **LGBTIQ+ people** ("the costs of living one's own gender identity"), **academics**, **journalists** who denounced massacres, and **trade unionists** ("unionism by blood and fire" — *"sindicalismo a sangre y fuego"*).
2. **Territorial control and generalized sociopolitical violence** against the civilian population — peasant and ethnic communities, plus merchants, business owners, health workers, students caught in crossfire, massacres, forced collaboration.
3. **Forced recruitment** of children and youth — families fleeing to protect them; "forced seduction" tied to recruitment.
4. **Kidnapping and extortion** — businesspeople, farm/ranch owners, but also poor victims ("life took priority, freedom took priority").
5. **Persecution and absence of protection within State responsibility** — including the **omission of protection to public servants**, and the documented exile of **judges, prosecutors, investigators** (the Human Rights Unit of the Prosecutor's office, created 1994, was infiltrated by paramilitaries); also persecution of **journalists, artists, and clergy** working against poverty and war.
6. **Persecution of ex-combatants, peace signatories and their families** in post-accord/peace-negotiation contexts — including military who refused or denounced **"false positives"** (extrajudicial killings disguised as combat deaths, esp. 2002–2008), and FARC-EP signatories killed after demobilization.
7. **Harassment and threats against relatives of victims who demand justice** — families of the disappeared, land-restitution claimants, persecuted precisely for seeking truth and justice ("when denunciation is a risk and impunity the answer").

Across all profiles, the through-line: people were persecuted **for who they were and what they did** — and the State failed to protect them.

## 7. The lived experience of exile (departure, asylum, return barriers, second generation)

**Departure.** Forced, sudden, traumatic. People flee "often with only the clothes on their back," "from the ashes" (*"desde las cenizas"*), unable even to say goodbye to children. The "**¡Ya no más!**" ("No more!") moment comes only after accumulated violence.

**The language of status.** The report distinguishes refugee (1951 Geneva Convention), the **broadened Cartagena Declaration (1984)** definition (covering generalized violence, internal conflicts, massive HR violations — Latin America only), asylum-seeker, "víctima en el exterior," and the contested **"desplazamiento forzado transfronterizo"** (cross-border forced displacement — used for collective exoduses of whole border communities: e.g., the **Barí people** and **La Gabarra peasants** after the 1999 paramilitary incursion; **Afro/Indigenous to Panama during Operation Génesis, 1997**; the **Awá to Ecuador, 2009**). Many never claimed protection at all, surviving on humanitarian/work/student visas or the **Mercosur** visa, or undocumented — making them statistically invisible.

**Asylum and statelessness.** Crossing the border brings first **relief**, then a prolonged limbo. Victims must "**prove they are refugees**" without papers, are disbelieved, stigmatized as criminals or "guerrilla collaborators," and wait years for decisions. Some lost their nationality (e.g., an M-19 ex-militant forced to renounce Colombian citizenship to become Swedish, since dual nationality wasn't recognized). Reasentamiento (resettlement to a third country) prolongs the "destiempo."

**Return barriers.** Most expected a quick return that "almost never came"; lives were lived "between parentheses" (didn't buy a bed, didn't decorate). Of those interviewed, **~80% had not returned**. Return often becomes a **new forced migration** (deportations, economic crises in host countries — notably the Venezuela crisis from 2014 pushing ~500,000 Colombians back in vulnerability). There is **no return policy** with guarantees; returnees come back without State support, security, or restoration of their good name — and some must flee **a second time** (e.g., Imelda Daza, UP councillor, fled to Sweden in 1989, returned 1997, fled again in 1999).

**Second and third generations.** Children and grandchildren with **binational, transcultural identities** ("between the *aquí* and the *allá*") who are absent from registers (they hold host-country nationality) yet inherit the family's wounds. The young say to their parents: *"We want you to tell us not so much what happened, but what happened **to you**"* (*"qué les pasó"*) — an emotional truth needed to reconnect with Colombia.

## 8. Methodological novelty (testimony gathered abroad in 24 countries)

This is the volume's signature contribution. **For the first time, a truth commission systematically gathered the diaspora's testimony.** Facing geographic dispersion, isolation, polarization (post-plebiscite 2016), the pandemic, and minimal budget/staff abroad, the **Macro Internacional** built a **collaborative "nodos" model** — networks of victims, civil-society organizations, universities, and volunteers in **24 countries**. They held **eleven training workshops** worldwide; **400+ volunteers** participated and **200 became interviewers**. The motto from victims: ***"no queremos ser objeto de estudio, sino sujetos de este proceso"*** ("we don't want to be objects of study, but subjects of this process").

Results: **more than 2,000 testimonies in 24 countries** — of **2,080 exile-related interviews** out of 14,260 total, ~2,350 victims heard, plus 172 protection specialists, 15 armed actors, and 2 civilian third parties. Cross-national "internodal" groups (gender, psychosocial, 2nd/3rd generation, forced disappearance, inter-ethnic). A working group with **UNHCR** rebuilt the statistical picture; a joint listening process with the **JEP** on the **UP macrocase 06**. Recognition acts included the **VII Encuentro por la Verdad "El retorno de nuestras voces"** (Bogotá + Bilbao, Nov 2020) and a cross-border recognition event in Ibarra, Ecuador (Feb 2021). The companion art project **"Arqueologías vivas del exilio"** ("living archaeologies of exile") photographed objects exiles carried — shoes, a shawl, earrings, a Borges book — as witnesses to their survival. 30+ supporting reports were filed; 9 cases prioritized.

## 9. Representative quotes (2–4 short)

> *"¿En qué momento uno pierde el derecho de ser un ser humano? Yo no salí amando el país. Yo sentía que el Estado me había traicionado."*
> — Arhuaca Indigenous leader, HR defender, exiled in North America. ("At what moment does one lose the right to be a human being? I didn't leave loving the country. I felt the State had betrayed me.")

> *"El exilio es como una especie de desplazamiento forzoso internacional… se sabe dónde empieza, pero no cuándo termina."*
> — Saúl Franco, physician and Truth commissioner, exiled to Brazil in 1987. ("Exile is a kind of international forced displacement… you know where it begins, but not when it ends.")

> *"Estoy vivo, pero estoy muerto, porque vivir aquí como estoy viviendo es como estar muerto."*
> — relayed by Ignacio Montanos, Amnesty International protection coordinator, Spain. ("I'm alive, but I'm dead, because to live here the way I'm living is like being dead.")

> *"A mí me duele que me digan que soy una exiliada… Me quitaron el derecho a vivir ahí."*
> — Yuvelis, 21, environmental defender of the Magdalena River (anti-fracking, Puerto Wilches), exiled to France in 2022. ("It hurts me to be called an exile… They took from me the right to live there.")

## 10. Recommendations + distinctive coined concepts

**Recommendations** (to the Colombian State above all):

- **Legal recognition of exile** as a grave HR violation — amend **Ley 1448/2011** and Decree 4800/2011 to include *exile, refuge, and cross-border forced displacement* as victimizing acts; incorporate a concept of **"extraterritorialidad"** so truth/justice/reparation/non-repetition reach victims abroad; align with the Geneva Convention and Cartagena Declaration; implement Auto 092/2008 for women.
- **Recognition of responsibility** by all armed actors (guerrillas, paramilitaries, military, police) and by the State for action and omission — including public acknowledgment of **Operación Europa** (illegal DAS surveillance/persecution of defenders and victims abroad).
- **A complete historical register**: an inter-institutional data roundtable (State + civil society + UNHCR) to minimize sub-registration; extended RUV deadlines; international registration routes beyond consulates.
- **Recognition that the conflict persists** as a cause of exile — the State should give host countries accurate context so asylum claims aren't denied on the false premise that "the conflict ended in 2016."
- **Integral, differentiated, transformative reparation** (indemnification, restitution, satisfaction, rehabilitation, non-repetition guarantees) for those who stay abroad *and* those who return; a dedicated **Fondo para la Memoria del Exilio**; museums of exile memory; exile included in the national history curriculum; restitution of the **good name** ("buen nombre") of those falsely accused of terrorism/rebellion.
- **Effective participation**: seats for victims abroad in the Mesa Nacional de Víctimas; an international **"Conferencia internacional sobre paz y exilio"**; binational/multilateral agreements (degree/pension recognition).
- **Dignified return** under voluntariness, security, dignity — an integral return policy (housing, pension-credit validation, education incl. degree validation, integral health) with special attention to the **second generation** (migratory regularization for foreign-born relatives).
- **Access to justice**: virtual JEP hearings from abroad; recommend that **exile/refuge become a JEP macrocase** given its systematicity and scale; access to the UBPD (disappearance search) from abroad, incl. repatriation of remains.

**Distinctive coined concepts (preserve with gloss):**

- **"La Colombia fuera de Colombia"** — *the Colombia outside Colombia*: the exiled population as a still-belonging part of the nation.
- **"Insilio"** — *insile/inner exile*: the experience of **those who stay behind** — "staying while having lost something fundamental," the inverse banishment, silence, and confinement within the home country. "For every person who left, an incomplete and grieving family stayed in Colombia"; insilio affects **millions**.
- **"Destierro"** — *banishment / un-earthing*: exile as life pulled from its natural course, "a small death amid so many estrangements."
- **"Destiempo"** — *out-of-time / mistiming*: exile as a prolonged limbo, "a transitory moment that endures and seems never to end" — you know when it starts, not when it ends.
- **"Desplazamiento forzado transfronterizo"** — *cross-border forced displacement*: collective exoduses of whole border communities (not formally recognized in Colombian or international law as internal displacement is).
- **"Exilios dorados"** — *golden exiles*: the **distorted, stigmatizing image** that those who left found a better life or "won the lottery" — false: exiles lost status, property, bonds, and rebuilt "from the ashes," carrying survivor guilt.
- **"No-lugar"** (Marc Augé) — *non-place*: transit spaces (airports, migration checkpoints, refugee transit camps) where the exile's identity is reduced to a passport or seat number; "tierra de nadie."
- **"Arqueologías vivas del exilio"** — *living archaeologies of exile*: the methodology/art project using photographed personal objects as witnesses of survival.
- **"No queremos ser objeto de estudio, sino sujetos de este proceso"** — the victim-as-subject principle that defined the collaborative nodos method.

The closing wager, in the words of María Tila Uribe at the recognition event: *recognition of exile's validity is fundamental, "because if we forget that it existed and what its causes were, what remains is concealment, or worse, manipulated memory."* The volume ends as a megaphone so that in Colombia "no one, ever again, forgets" the Colombia outside Colombia.