Good evening to you all
First of all, I would like to thank Luz Marina Mantilla and the entire team at the Sinchi Institute for organizing this evening to celebrate Europe Day and for this beautiful showcase of products from the Amazon economy, which we support through the “Abrigue” project. To the Government of Caquetá, the Mayor of Florencia, and the 15 other municipalities in Caquetá for welcoming the visit of the European Union Embassies with such dedication and enthusiasm. And of course, to all of you present, many of whom have been close partners of ours for years.
Friends,
It is an honor to be with you today celebrating Europe Day from Caquetá, the golden door of Colombia’s Amazon. The Ambassadors of the EU Member States and I are delighted to celebrate this day of peace and unity in such an emblematic department of our relationship with Colombia. A department with which we have had over 20 years of deep connection, reflecting our commitments to this country.
Caquetá has been one of the territories most affected by the Colombian conflict over the years. It is a strategic ecosystem, connecting the Andes to the Amazon rainforest. A land of biodiversity, home to the mythical Chiribiquete, and also a land severely impacted by deforestation. It is also a territory of immense potential, from ecotourism to carbon credits, from Amazonian fruits and palms to cheese and sustainable livestock. Many of the lessons we have learned over the more than twenty years of working with Colombia’s territories have been learned here in Caquetá. We have gained this knowledge from the people of Caquetá.
This year, we chose as the motto for our Team Europe trip: “Peace is our Nature.” This phrase expresses our shared conviction with Colombia that peace, nature protection, and economic development are one and the same goal, one and the same destiny. “Peace is our Nature” also resonates with our history: since May 9, 1950, the call from French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman to turn coal and steel, the two industries of war, into a weapon of peace, leading to today’s European Union: its 450 million citizens, its 27 Member States, and its supranational institutions, building a common destiny. A project that has brought peace and non-repetition to more than three generations of Europeans.
“Peace is our Nature,” but sadly, war is also part of human nature. And war has returned to the borders of Europe. More recently in the Middle East, due to a brutal, barbaric terrorist act that we have all condemned, but which has provoked a brutal and disproportionate response, resulting in the death of thousands of civilians—a response that will resolve nothing and must give way to dialogue and the search for a lasting solution between two States, Israel and Palestine. And for more than two years, in Ukraine, through an unjustified invasion, violating international law, a country seeking to erase its neighbor from the map of the continent, undermining the principle of the inviolability of borders, which is essential for coexistence among nations. “Peace is our Nature,” but the winds we are receiving from Russia and the Middle East are winds of war and hatred. And we must be prepared to face them.
Despite these winds, this year’s Europe Day is an opportunity to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the accession of eight Central and Eastern European countries and two Mediterranean island states, Cyprus and Malta, to the European Union. Of these ten countries, three are present today: the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. Their accession to the European Union was a moment of great joy, a victory for democracy and pluralism, the reunification of the European continent thanks to the end of the Cold War. However, the events of recent years remind us that freedom and peace are fragile and require constant attention. That peace, in the end, is not a natural state, but something that is built and nurtured step by step. Creating trust. Sharing common goals, dreams, and sometimes fears.
In this regard, despite the difficulties and challenges, I believe it is useful to remember that Colombia is an inspiration for us. The commitment of those who signed the peace agreement to reconciliation. The work of the Truth Commission, and now the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) and the Search Unit, to clarify the facts, achieve non-repetition, and seek a path toward justice and reparations for victims. The will for peace and the courage of Colombian society itself, its leaders, and its indigenous, peasant, and Afro-descendant communities. The will of an entire country to confront the past, understand what happened to avoid repeating it.
The commitment to implement the 2016 Peace Agreement in its entirety and to achieve its two great promises: reducing territorial, social, ethnic, and gender gaps, and ensuring the comprehensive presence of the State throughout the national territory. The complex issue of land and its titling, essential to breaking the vicious cycle of conflict and environmental degradation.
There is also the commitment to support dialogue with new groups that have re-emerged since the FARC-EP left the territories, fulfilling their commitments from Havana, but the State did not arrive. In this regard, as you well know, the European Union has taken on the task of supporting Colombia: Germany, Spain, and Sweden as facilitators in the peace processes with the ELN; Ireland and the European Union in the peace process with the Estado Mayor Central; the European Union, once again, with urban dialogues in Buenaventura and Quibdó. We closely observe the complexity of these processes, but we also see their potential. What can be done to transform ceasefires into ceasing harm to the population. Everything that can be achieved to improve the living conditions of communities, protect their rights, and establish the comprehensive presence of the State in their territories. And how the communities themselves insist that armed groups commit to peace.
Also inspiring is Colombia’s determined commitment to defending nature and our planet. It is no secret that the issue of the green transition generates important debates in the EU countries, which I believe are legitimate, particularly regarding the distribution of sacrifices and the re-dignification of the relationship between rural and urban areas. However, Europe is aware of its past and present responsibilities, and we are determined to take our share of the fight against climate change and the biodiversity crisis. Colombia, in this struggle on the international stage, has been one of the closest and most aligned countries, with the same climate goals, the same willingness to transform its economy toward clean energy, sustainable transport, and circular production and consumption processes. And now, its significant decision to host COP16 on biodiversity.
We have worked extensively with successive governments, with our great allies: National Natural Parks, Sinchi, Humboldt, IDEAM, the Agustin Codazzi Geographic Institute, and many others, to protect the strategic ecosystems of this country: its páramos, mangroves, forests, of course the Amazon, and its connection to the Andes and the Pacific, an indispensable corridor for preserving this ecosystem.
We are also aware of the magnitude of the investments needed to achieve this dual digital and green transition, and even more so to achieve it fairly, leaving no one behind. This is precisely the offer we have brought to Colombia through the “Global Gateway,” bringing together efforts between the European Investment Bank (EIB), national development banks, cooperation, and European and Colombian companies.
Lastly, I find the strength of Colombian civil society inspiring. The women and youth, immense forces of transformation, strategic allies of the European Union and its Member States in our work for peace and the environment. The civil society organizations, peasants, indigenous, Afro-descendant, the representations of victims and their seats in Congress, the “peace curules.” The social leaders, journalists, human rights and environmental defenders, and the LGBTIQ+ collectives, who continue to fight for a more just society.
What I have just said may seem more general, but I have not stopped talking about Caquetá and our great gathering these days around our motto: “Peace is our Nature.” I think of the peace signatories from the department, particularly the Former Territorial Training and Reintegration Space of Agua Bonita that we visited on May 6. An example of reintegration and building a life and community project with all the neighboring villages in the municipality of La Montañita. In the great work done by the Agency for Reintegration and Normalization, the Mayor’s Office, the Government, and our long-time partners, the UN Verification Mission and MAPP-OAS, to support their reintegration process and their commitment to peace in Colombia.
More generally, I think of all the partners in the Rutas PDET program, who have made it possible to envision a path to achieve peace and economic development alongside environmental protection, through strengthening the dairy and cocoa chains, sustainable livestock farming, forest regeneration, and improving rural roads by the communities themselves. Here today are the Agency for Territorial Renewal – ART, the Adelco Network, the International Biodiversity Alliance, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, ICCO Connection, and colleagues from this emblematic project of the European Peace Fund.
And as I mentioned a few minutes ago about the courage of Colombian communities and leadership, I want to pay tribute to the community of Pato Balsillas, north of Caquetá. The first peasant reserve in the country, one of the most robust organizational processes in Colombia, which faces strong pressure from two armed groups, and continues to fight for their rights and for a territory free from armed actors. The European Union stands with them. We will continue to insist that the country’s authorities protect their community, a symbol of the Colombian peasantry’s struggle for peace and the protection of nature.
I won’t extend my remarks further, but I do want to invite you to explore this farm, this forest of biodiverse flavors, and to meet its protagonists: dairy products, cocoa, copoazú, non-timber forest products, food security, and ecotourism – which are also the protagonists of Caquetá’s future. Thanks to Magnolia and Johny, our hosts, for so kindly lending us their beautiful Casa Campesina.
The reason for our joint visit to Caquetá, what we came to celebrate and reaffirm here, can be summed up in a few words. Colombia’s peace is a project of country and territory, built over the years. The Peace Agreement itself reaches this month seven and a half years into its 15 years of implementation, that is, precisely halfway through. Team Europe has been by Caquetá’s side from the beginning. We will be with you for the rest of the way.
Long live Caquetá. Long live Colombia. Long live the European Union. And long live peace, because it is our nature.