2023-07-02 03:39:24
Former Commissioner Sergio Jaramillo: you, the writer Héctor Abad Faciolince and the journalist Catalina Gómez survived the missile attack on the city of Kramatorsk and can tell the story. But they could also have died and no longer exist. Have you thought about that?
Former Commissioner Sergio Jaramillo: you, the writer Héctor Abad Faciolince and the journalist Catalina Gómez survived the missile attack on the city of Kramatorsk and can tell the tale. But they could also have died and no longer exist. Have you thought about that?
When the missile exploded, the awning that covered the terrace where we were sitting blew into a thousand pieces, which spun around us. At that moment one does not think of oneself, but of those who are next to them. Hector, who fell to the floor, seemed hurt by some spots he had, but he wasn’t. I turned my head and saw Victoria Amelina, the Ukrainian writer who was traveling with us, absolutely motionless and pale as porcelain.
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(Also: ‘Instead of throwing me up, that infernal noise threw me to the ground’: Héctor Abad)
What did you do?
We spoke to Catalina and she did not respond. I took his pulse and we began to ask for an ambulance to be called. By coincidence, next to our table was a Ukrainian lady who spoke perfect Spanish and who had started chatting to us when she saw the ‘Hold on Ukraine!’ on my bag. She made the call while paramedics at the restaurant were giving her first aid.
Going back to reflecting on how life goes by in a fraction of a second, have you thought that among the twelve people who died you could have been?
It’s true. Victoria was sitting upright next to me at the time of the explosion, my head bowed to the level of the table as I picked up a napkin. She received a blow to the back of the head, and I did not. That’s how arbitrary life is. But I confess that all my attention is currently on Victoria.
And how is she?
In a delicate state. The family wants to keep the secret about his health, as is his right, and will announce what has to be announced.
(You may be interested: Gustavo Petro asks to send a protest note to Russia for an attack that affected Colombians)
Tell us, who is the Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina who accompanied the three Colombians?
An extraordinary being. I had met her in Cartagena, at the Hay Festival, when we were invited to present our campaign ‘Hold on Ukraine!’. For the book fair in kyiv, I proposed that he join us on the panel, along with Oleksandra Matviichuk, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and Volodymyr Yermolenko. Catalina Gómez, who moderated the panel and who is another extraordinary being, had contacted us weeks before as a result of a trip they had taken together through Donbas. Victoria had founded a literary festival in a town called “New York”, as an ironic form of resistance to the brutality of the Russians, I think. She is devoted body and soul to her country.
Her trade is writing, author of the novels Dom’s Dream Kingdom and Fall Syndrome. Now she was dedicated to the defense of her country after the Russian attack?
After the invasion, he made the decision to put literature on hiatus and dedicate himself to investigating war crimes. He is part of an organization called the Truth Hounds, with whom I happened to have been in kyiv in August. They are investigators trained in forensic techniques that when a missile falls on a residential building, for example, they help identify the type, collect evidence, take photos and everything else that needs to be done to bring those crimes to court. Imagine: a war crimes investigator who is the victim of a war crime.
(In context: The harsh story of Héctor Abad Faciolince after surviving a missile attack in Ukraine)
Right there in that pizzeria, in addition to the dead – among them there are four children – 60 were injured. How to tell what happened?
The pain of those families is infinite. Two fourteen-year-old twins died, for example. It is, as I told you, a war crime. Anyone who knows about the Geneva Conventions and International Humanitarian Law knows that civilian objects are protected, and that in any case the principles of necessity and proportionality must be observed. Launching an Iskander missile at a pizzeria full of families and children is a true act of barbarism.
Among sectors that try to justify the actions of the Russians, there are theses that say that it could be a mistake. It’s possible?
There is no chance, the pizzeria is attached to a shopping complex in the center of the city. There is no military objective there and for that very reason we were calm. It was an intentional attack, which makes it especially shocking. Last year the Russians had already killed 63 civilians with a missile at the Kramatorsk train station, and they also do so in cities hundreds of kilometers from the front, such as Uman and Vinnytsia.
(Another recommended news: Hold on Ukraine, the campaign of solidarity with the Ukrainian people for the war)
And why do they do it?
Putin does not want to simply conquer territories, but to dominate and destroy Ukraine. Since he has failed in the military arena, he resorts to terror against the population.
Why do you consider this fact to be especially serious? I ask you because in the world every day we see terrible acts, terrorism where innocent people fall. Why is this situation different?
We are familiar with the terrorism of jihadist groups, and we ourselves have lived through attacks like the one in El Nogal. But for a country that is a great military power and a permanent member of the Security Council, which should be safeguarding order and international law, to develop a systematic policy of terror against the neighboring civilian population is another level of barbarism.
What consequences does this have?
Russia has literally become a terrorist state. All the countries and societies of Latin America must raise our voices against these atrocities, which is what “Hold on Ukraine!”
Speaking of which, what do you think of what President Gustavo Petro said, that Russia “violates the war protocols” and that Colombia should formally protest?
Which is absolutely right. I highly value President Petro’s words, and I thank him.
When did you start the ‘Hold Ukraine!’ Did you imagine that the situation was so dramatic?
Yes. When in February of last year the Russians invaded Kharkiv or Kharkov, which is a city a few kilometers from the Russian-speaking border and with strong family ties to Russia, people said: “We feel that Putin wants to kill us all, it’s scary.” The Russians were dropping cluster bombs, which are banned, in residential neighborhoods, and people would spend weeks crammed into shelters listening day and night to the explosions. We were with Victoria precisely in Kharkiv talking about it for ‘Hold on Ukraine!’.
Why does Putin do that?
To terrorize the population, as I already told you. But, in my opinion, there is also another element, which is violence as an example. The Ukrainians say that in the first year of the invasion the Russians fired 5,000 missiles at them, imagine that. It is as if Putin wanted to punish Ukraine for not accepting his delusional vision and wanting to be a free country.
By the way, how and why did you go from being the peace commissioner in Colombia to leading an international campaign in defense of Ukraine?
Because it seemed to me that Putin could not get away with the story that Ukraine is a simple pawn of the West, as if it did not exist and had no initiative of its own, and that Latin America also had to have its own voice in the international discussion. We have our own reasons for being directly affected by this barbaric invasion.
Which is it?
For me there are two, in addition to obvious things such as the tremendous increase in food prices and the consequent inflation. In the first place, as former President Sanguinetti of Uruguay told us, the countries of Latin America have had relative peace among ourselves for two centuries because we mutually respect our sovereignty. If Russia gets its way, it’s every man for himself and our protection depends on being under the umbrella of one regional power or another. That world of the law of the strongest, of the law of the jungle, does not serve any country in Latin America.
And the other?
The other is that if we know of anything in our continent it is the violation of human rights. Claudio Grossman, the former Chilean president of the Inter-American Commission, recalls in a video that he recorded for ‘Hold on Ukraine!’ that it was Latin America that insisted on including the crime of forced disappearance in the Rome Statute, which is what is happening everywhere where the Russians are in Ukraine, including the disappearance of children. The connection from there to Argentina, Chile, Mexico and also Colombia is direct. Grossman concludes: “Ukraine is far away, but it is very close to our values.” I could not agree more.
Finally, after what happened, what do you think can be done?
The first thing is to get out of the vision that some governments have of the Russian invasion as a kind of soccer game, in which we eat tote corn while we wait for the score. As I already told you, what happens in Ukraine affects us directly, and there are many ways to help, also from society. This war will only end when the Kremlin sees that all doors have been closed to it. For the people of Latin America to tell Russia: “No more barbaric acts, no more state terrorism” is not only a way to help protect civilians, but also to end the war.
ARMANDO NEIRA
POLITICS EDITOR OF EL TIEMPO
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