My name is Virginia* and my family and I are from Bogota. My husband traveled a lot because we owned a farm and he managed it. He was a cattle farmer and he had travel to the fields every week.
He was kidnapped by paramilitaries on December 1st 2000. We used to think that kidnapping was something that happened to other people, not to us. My husband was found dead on March 31st. We even paid a ransom, but we found out later that by then they had already killed him.
I think these things happen in Colombia because people are too greedy. They want too much money and they want it without having to work.
*Names and places have been altered upon the request of the narrators.
*Excerpts from the book “Voices, Stories of Violence and hope in Colombia” 2009