Colombia is a country plagued by guerrilla warfare and drug trafficking – wounds that nonetheless have been unable to suppress the people’s vitality and urge to react. Like other countries of the so-called New Continent, signs of reawakening are emerging, especially from the new generations. It was thanks to their initiative that a meeting of youth from different Latin American countries took place from September 8 to 10 at Tocancipà, an important region of industrial development near Bogotà. The aim of the meeting: to unite peace forces in Colombia and throughout the continent. Title: “Fraternity: a political agent for peace.” Promoters: politically committed youth members of the Focolare Movement, the Third Millenium Generation, and the Promised Land Foundation. The challenge posed by the meeting was decidedly praiseworthy: Colombia has been suffering serious internal conflicts for over 20 years, between government forces and guerilla elements. The result, a yearly death toll of close to one thousand among the civilian population, union workers, politicians, human rights activists and journalists. Then there is the sad phenomenon of the desplaçados – the two million or more persons who are forced to leave the rural areas and move to the cities, leaving behind their houses and possessions. The Colombian meeting was held just a week after the meeting of the first Latin American university parliament in Buenos Aires, and just a few months after the recent “Cities for Unity,” meeting held at Rosario (Argentina) – the first convention of Latin American mayors, promoted by the members of the International Political Movement for Unity (MPPU) belonging to the Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Here, too, the youth played a major role. Moreover, several MPPU courses for formation for the youth for young people began a year ago in Argentina, one more sign of the new initiatives that are emerging in the “New Continent.” “Without you, peace cannot be full:” With these words, the young people extended the invitation to their peers to join the meeting. The price of admission: let fraternity guide your every action.

Among the objectives of the meeting: to listen to what the youth have to say about the problems in Latin America; to propose together concrete solutions that could have a direct impact on achieving the common good of each one’s community of origin; to promote interaction between the youth and public and private institutions, and to create a network among those who work to build a peaceful, just, worthy, autonomous and fraternal society.

The programalso included a presentation of the experience of Argentina’s socio-political formation schools, and of “the practice of fraternity” worked out in one Latin American city. Round table discussions revolved around such topics as conflict and peace; fraternity as a pro-peace methodology in the context of problem situations in Latin America, especially Colombia; the need to found a new economic paradigm and the Economy of Communion. Discussions were then followed by workshops.