The Castleberry Peace Institute is in Aracataca, Colombia (near Santa Marta and the Caribbean coast) working on peacebuilding. We began work back in December and had a day-long meeting with all of the different victims' organizations and other groups to develop a peacebuilding plan to put forward to the Colombian government and our partners. During the war, Aracataca experienced some of the highest levels of conflict violence and victimization in Colombia, which led to its designation as a PDET--an area of Colombia targeted for special development and peacebuilding. The day of our meeting--March 6--is an especially august moment to begin this effort as it is the birthday of Aracataca's most famous son, and Nobel Prize-winning author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It was here in Aracataca that Gabriel Garcia Marquez's vision of magical realism was born and ultimately led to its fictional counterpart--Macondo--made famous in novels like 100 Years of Solitude.

The Castleberry Peace Institute is partnering with the Reconciliation Committee Foundation (FCR) and 23 victims' groups, community organizations and members of the local and regional government. The roughly 40 individuals who took part in a day of workshops and planning represent many different groups including peasants, the indigenous, the LGBTQ community, the environment, and local government organizations. Each came with visions and ideas to help Aracataca recover from the many years of conflict.

As a result of our planning meeting, we will be moving forward with several initiatives. First, there is a great deal of interest in telling the stories of the people and the times they lived through so that the victims can receive the kind of recognition they deserve and the history of the community can be told. The creation of a museum and a historical route through Aracataca are crucial elements of the plan. Economic capacity building is one of the primary challenges of this area to help people find or regain their livelihoods. Many are especially excited about the kind of development that tourism dollars could bring to this area. In addition to Aracataca's connection with Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which already draws many tourists, there is great natural beauty in the surrounding area that could provide other activities. Preserving the environment and the indigenous ways of life in this region will be key to this effort if a productive and sustainable model of tourism can be built.

The meeting was very successful and now we all work together to begin compiling the ideas and goals into a planning document to put forward. We will continue to assist the community develop the plan and eventually it will be submitted to the national government, the Special Justice and Peace Court, and eventually to those who will support this effort.

We want to thank Major Cesar Maldonado (ret.) of the Colombian Armed Forces, the representatives of all the groups who attended, and all of the other participants. The Castleberry Peace Institute is honored to be a part of this process and we look forward to a successful collaboration with our partners.

We will be back soon!