Outwitting outlaws.

• Author: Warah, Rasna
• Position: Creating a culture of peace

When Gloria Cuartas was elected Mayor of the Colombian town of Apartado in 1994, no one was quite sure if the 33-year-old former theology student and disaster relief worker would survive her term. Almost all the mayors in the region had either been attacked or assassinated by urban guerrilla forces or paramilitary troops, and the town was virtually under siege. "As Mayor, I felt helpless because I could not protect the rights of my people", says Ms. Cuartas. "The insurgents were killing people, many of whom were my friends. The killings were not only undermining the legitimacy of the State, but were also creating mistrust within the community."

Ms. Cuartas decided to take on the guerrillas and the paramilitary forces single-handedly by waging a personal war of peace and solidarity against them. She started a civic education campaign which encouraged the community to talk about and discuss the violence in their town. The campaign, whose slogan was "Let us discuss our differences with our tongues and not our guns", was aimed at breaking the culture of silence that had permeated the community.

"Fear (of the insurgents) had made people afraid to talk. They feared retribution", explains Gloria Cuartas. "I took the risk of creating a new mentality among the people of Apartado, especially among the women. I told the women that instead of keeping quiet or fleeing the region, they must return to the land and stand up to the insurgents through non-violent reactions and through solidarity."

Thanks to her efforts, the women of Apartado are struggling to create what she calls "corridors of peace" in the town by speaking up against the violence and refusing to be intimidated. Cuartas herself refuses to hire bodyguards or escorts despite repeated threats to her life. Once, someone called her at her office and declared that he was going to shoot her at 3 o'clock that afternoon. Cuartas' response? "Well, it's only 10 o'clock in the morning. Goodbye."

Today, Cuartas, whose term as mayor ended in December 1997, is a member and leading advocate of the Women for Peace Network, which was formed in Istanbul, Turkey, in June 1996 during the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) by women from six war-torn countries, namely, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Colombia, Palestine and Rwanda. The main objective of the Network, whose motto is "Peace for Homes, Homes for Peace", is to strengthen peace-building activities in order...