VII Colombian Student and Professional Conference

The 8th Colombian Student and Professional conference took place at GW February 7th-8th in 2015. Well renowned speakers such as Camilo Gomez Alzate (Former Peace Commissioner under Pastrana’s government), Michael Shifter (President if the Inter-American Dialogue), Cynthia McClintock (Professor at GW), and others provided a scholar and politicla view of the peace process situation going on in Colombia. One of the topics touched upon was how the FARC would pay for the crimes against humanities they’ve done while alos agreeign to peace. The participers highlighted that the FARC would not give their guns and go to jail.

This would be an outcome that would put them in disadvantage, and one in which peace would not be achueved. The way would be to come to an agreemnt for both sides and rather focus on peacekeeping, which would be the greatest step in this peace process. Attending to this conference that awaken my curiosity of knowing what would happen to the country, willing to bring our generation to construct a different Colombia, and most importantly, being able to construct it while being abroad studying at GW was what let me to apply as the Vice-President of such organization. Knowing there was a community of Colombian students and friends of Colombia at GW who were so interested and driven to put uo a conference as this one, come from arond the US to attend the conference, not oly awakened me to the of the big community and support there was for Colombia, but it pushed me to participate and make part of the change.