In Colombia two million people have been displaced by the armed conflict

Between pain and hope.- Fleeing from barbarism and despair that fill the areas of conflict, IDPs seeking a better life in the cities, although they do not always get it. They are innocent victims of a war that they did not seek for and longer sought to see no solution. Silence reigned in their lives, and they wander from one place to another to reach a goal: hope.

The Orinoquia region, a land of deep silences, where the murmur of the river water is mixed with the sound of white, black and red herons across the sky at sunset, forming a perfect tricolor flag. Huge mountains and endless plains are mixed in this territory where the sunrises are colorful and warm tropical air caressing the skin with a warm blanket covering the life of the Colombian plains.

Men and women living in the depths of these places are tough and silent. Surrounded by cattle, and they live for their lands. The silence of the flat part of them, perhaps because before such immensity words are unnecessary. But in them is not only the silence of reflection, but also fear.

Benjamin Palacios is taciturn. Question answered just with the basics, and does not speak more than necessary, because he has learned to live that way. Almost four years ago he left Vista Hermosa, located on the plains of Meta department, the city, “I left without money (money) with nothing, leaving all there”. In his farm had cattle and a small growing vegetables for personal consumption. Survived by growing coca, like many of the locals, which was then sold to drug trafficking. He left it all under death threats, and went on to be one of the two million displaced, according to official sources, exist in Colombia.

When Colombians refers to displacement do not use the verb “to be”. “Being moved” implies a transient state that can be reversed, which will eventually end. Consciously or not, use the phrase “be moved” suggesting displacement as something permanent, something that is part of the identity of those people. This reveals that the problem of the displaced in the Caribbean country is an enduring reality that leaves deep scars on people for the rest of his life. It is the drama of people who have been forced to flee from the violence that has ravaged their people for over four decades.