Speaker: Rotary Peace Scholar Juanita Zapata

Juanita started off her talk asking what people knew about Colombia. The main answers were the source of a lot of drugs and violence.

She said that she was born in Bogotá the capital of the Colombia but had travelled around the country a lot. Her father was an activist for humanitarian changes, and he became a professor at Bogotá University on humanitarian subjects. Such people are targeted in Colombia as the ruling elite did not think such things should be allowed. Her Mother was also an activist for native women's rights. So, both her parents were a big inspiration to her when she was growing up.

Juanita was the first woman in her school year to get a degree. This enabled her to start as a volunteer at the United Nations. In 2015 asylum seekers were not considered important in Colombia but are more so now following the change of government.

In 2016 a peace agreement was signed with “The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia” (FARC) to cease the hostilities that had been ongoing since the 1960’s. Juanita was part of the delegation at the peace talks representing youth and women. After peace agreement she joined the truth commission. This was created as one of three entities that were to help the country evolve and provide measures to promote justice and reconciliation.

She arrived Bradford September 2022 having been chosen for the Rotary Peace Scholars Programme. This was a particularly fortunate moment for her to leave Colombia as she was being threatened because of work she had been doing. She was really pleased to leave as her work had been linking some politicians to the drugs trade.

Her father also moved to another country because of threats but her mother stayed to look after her grandmother. Her father is now back in Colombia as the new president who was elected in 2022 has made the country a bit more settled. She still remembers the last question she was asked in the interview to join the Peace Scholars – “What are you doing to promote peace in Colombia?”

Juanita showed picture of border Colombia and Panama which she said is a very beautiful but very dangerous area.

She is now in second semester at the university and as part of her year hopes to go to Rwanda and Israel / Palestine for placement to learn about the ongoing work in those areas. She the intends to write her dissertation on Women in the Middle East. She will be working on projects relating to women affected by violence from armed conflict.

She was asked “Do the professors at Bradford University really understand conflict” - She said not all because some never been to a conflict area. But it helps that a lot of the other students are from conflict areas. This enables them to share knowledge.

She was asked what was causing the changes in the country. Her answer was that the government had always been mainly conservative politicians for many years. The new President was the first left wing president but the economic class still very powerful and right wing. They still control the drug market. The previous president had been using the army and guerrillas (FARC) particularly against human rights workers.