Grupo Prodeco acompañó a la comunidad de Estados Unidos en acto de conmemoración de sus víctimas
Grupo Prodeco accompanied the Estados Unidos community in a ceremony honoring its
victims
01|10|2018
October 1, 2018. In a ceremony carried out on September 30 in the main square of the Estados Unidos village, in the municipality of Becerril, the community presented an homage for the victims of the armed conflict in this community of Cesar, as a sign of their process of building their historical memory.
Among the attendants to the commemoration ceremony were Father Francisco de Roux, President of the Commission of Truth; Juan Francisco Rojas, Mayor of Becerril; Mark McManus, President of Grupo Prodeco; Amaury Padilla, Director of the Program of Development and Peace of Cesar -PDPC; as well as representatives from the Council of Becerril, the Estados Unidos Community Action Board, Social Prosperity, The National Center of Historical Memory, the National Federation of Coffee Growers; and member of the community.
With its presence in this event, Prodeco demonstrates its commitment to peace and its support to the initiative of building the historical memory of the village. “The reality is that we have not had a long history in the region with which we can fully understand the past. Even if we look for and continue looking for, an understanding of the past, we decided that our best possibility for contributing to peace is to focus on projects that would develop sustainable communities, which in turn supports the objective of non-repetition of violence”, said Mark McManus, President of Grupo Prodeco during his intervention in the event.
Since 2016, in alliance with the Program of Development and Peace of Cesar -PDPC, Grupo Prodeco supports the communities in its area of influence in the Department in a process of strengthening their organizational and entrepreneurial capabilities, with the aim to promote citizen’s participation and sustainable development.
For almost a year, the alliance has been working with the Becerril Municipality in the Estados Unidos community in the collaborative design of a local development plan that includes income generation projects, as well as psychosocial support for the community and activities of embellishment of some areas of the town. Furthermore, together with the MIMA Foundation Prodeco has been supporting the establishment of a recycling center for the comprehensive management of solid waste. In the same way, some other projects are expected to start with the active participation of the community through the Social-Entrepreneurial Experimental Organization Laboratories – LEOS (for its Spanish acronym).
During the event, Amaury Padilla, Director of the PDPC, highlighted the work of many actors, among them Prodeco “which has made it possible for us to continue advancing in a mindful process of transformation and change for building development and territorial peace in Cesar”.
On the other hand, Erasmo Villar, leader of the Estados Unidos community, expressed that the purpose of commemorating the victims is to “soften the wounds, but not to forget; to tell our grandchildren and the children of our grandchildren what happened, and leave that behind by continuing moving forward with different purposes and projects”.
The memorial to the victims included the presentation of a play created by the community, the intervention of some of the representatives of the village, in remembrance of the victims, and the interpretation of a musical repertoire in charge of the Voces de la Esperanza (Voices of Hope) Chorus, directed by the Batuta Foundation and sponsored by Prodeco.