El Testigo (The Witness)

Announcement

Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a screening of the Colombian film El Testigo (The Witness) followed by a discussion with the film’s protagonist, Jesús Abad Colorado.

Photojournalist Jesús “Chucho” Abad, born in 1967, focuses his work on human rights and armed conflict. El Testigo documents the trajectory of Colombia’s brutal internal armed conflict through the lens of his camera, capturing the magnitude of the violence and the suffering it has wrought. Years later, Abad returns to search for the subjects of his photographs and talks to them about their lives and their opinions of his work. Their narratives reveal the tragedy of the conflict and their hope for forgiveness and reconciliation.

The hard-won 2016 peace accord between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, is fragile. Implementation has been slow and in late August a sector of the FARC announced they had rearmed. Yet throughout the country, popular support for peace persists – people yearn for a different future. El Testigo helps its viewers understand why. 

The 73-minute film, produced by Caracol Television in Colombia, is in Spanish with English subtitles.

This screening will be open to Members of Congress, congressional staff, the interested public, and the media. For any questions, please contact Kimberly Stanton at 202-225-3599 (for Co-Chair McGovern) or Piero Tozzi at 202-225-3765 (for Co-Chair Smith). 

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