¿Qué historia se nos contará?Me pregunto -aunque debo admitir que ya tengo una sentencia- sí las imágenes que hasta hace poco estaban de pasarela en los medios de comunicación serán -¡son!- la pluma de los héroes de la patria, que escribe los capítulos recientes de la historia oficial de Colombia. La historia ya no se escribe; se cuenta con flashes. Así, aparece el colombiano número 1 haciendo la paz con los paramilitares y persiguiendo a los “bandidos” de la guerrilla. Años después, lo que sign...

Colombia is the third largest recipient of U.S. military aid. More journalists, teachers and trade unionists are killed in Colombia each year than in any other country in the world. This army is also killing unarmed civilians – men, women, and children – in order to take their land for the benefit of large US corporations. The displaced people who become refugees are known as desterrados, the displaced ones. Molina writes as a journalist who was forced to flee his country. This book is a collect...

3.5*. I felt the story telling a little choppy but overall I thought this was a good and important read. I appreciated the context provided at the beginning and end and feel this is a good start to learning more about Colombia.

Alfredo Molano has serious courage for continuously writing truth to power in Colombia. This is the same writing that forced him into exile for a period of time many years back. The displaced in Colombia, and those centered in this book, are victims of absolute injustice and oppression. This is a difficult read because it will make your heart ache for those who've been killed, tortured, silenced, impoverished, displaced, repressed, and oppressed for over a half a century of war in Colombia. This...

“Aquí no es como allá. Aquí cada uno es cada uno. Nada de que me ayude, que fue que . Aquí lo que se usa para poder vivir no son las manos sino los codos, que sirven para dar codazos. Entienda que no es que yo no quiera: es que aquí no se puede. O sobrevive usted, o sobrevivo yo. Así que vaya cogiendo camino”.Después de leerlo no me sorprenden todas las charlas con mi hermano menor, contándome emocionado Alfredo Molano esto, Alfredo Molano lo otro. Al hablar de la academia, de la situación del p...

I read this book in Spanish, don’t know if the translation can really capture the stories and their essence as the use of localisms is constant. All the chapters are first-person accounts of victims of the war in Colombia. Mostly peasants caught in between left wing guerrillas and right wing militias... the stories are deeply troubling and painful. It is mind-numbing the amount of violence Colombians have experienced and hard to know the long-term impact on the children and grand children of the...

Unbelievably sad, yet paints a very real picture of the current situation in Colombia.

This is a powerful, beautiful and yet very depressing book that I believe most people could benefit from reading. It touches some very grim aspects of everyday life for people living in a country that has been in complete turmoil for decades. The country that we know as Colombia is still one of the most violent countries in the world and some people even describe it as the by far worst humanitarian catastrophe in the Western hemisphere. The tremendous number of internally displaced people has on...

Un libro muy crudo, pero excelente. Desterrados (titulo original en español) narra diferentes historias de victimas de los grupos armados al margen de la ley colombiana (paramilitares y guerrilla específicamente), cada una de estas tiene a protagonistas diferentes y son historias de vida reales extremadamente tristes, pero que me hicieron abrir los ojos a la realidad de estas personas que terminan desplazadas de sus viviendas y con familiares asesinados crudamente. En lo personal, el libro se me...

What a thoughtful, thought-provoking and terribly depressing book. Traces the violence in Colombia to peasants being forced off the land, from their homes, by the wealthy, to multi-national businesses forcing out the indigenous to the drug trade (keeping the US high.) But interestingly, starts with interviews and family stories way before the drug trade. We tend to hear about the troubles in Colombia as only being tied to the drug trade. But they started in the early '50's with La Violencia, sad...

Muchas de las cronicas en este libro tuvieron lugar cuando yo era una preadolescente viviendo en Bogota. La problematica del desplazamiento se me presento en las numerosas familias campesinas que atestaban los suburbios, las terminales, las calles. A ciencia cierta, nunca supe que habia detras de su escape. Dolor de patria me dio este libro, saber el sufrimiento inmenso que la guerra ha producido en los mas vulnerables es algo que no se alcanza a percibir en los titulares de los noticieros.

Terrible and powerful. These 'testimonios' of victims of the Colombian conflict reveal the appalling banality of violence and fear, the continuities and inevitability of murder, corruption, violence and impunity that has reigned in Colombia for so long. Tough to read and not feel a sense of anger, sadness and frustration of the pain and injustices suffered, that still go on today

Crónicas desgarradoras que nos hacen entender y reflexionar sobre algunos aspectos de nuestra sociedad colombiana. Recomiendo el libro y al autor, Alfredo Molano es un gran escritor e investigador sobre el conflicto armado colombiano.

Debería ser lectura obligatoria en Colombia.

This was a hard, but good read. Hard because it's hard to know that this is reality for people out there. I am adopted from Bogotá, Colombia which is why I picked this book up originally. Knowing that this very well could've been my life has made this read quite heavy and it's been giving me nightmares, tbh.

Es increible encontrar la profunda realidad que se vive como nacion, poder llegar a entender que "no eres al unico al que le pasan este tipo de cosas" es lo mas importante de esta lectura. Es una profunda tristeza que una de las cosas que nos defina como nacion sea la misma causa de su separacion, dividido tan solo por el fino hilo entre victimas y victimarios.

Me encantó, no sabía que Molano escribía así de bien. Son historias de desterrados, de gente que tiene que irse de casa para no volver, por la guerrilla, por los paras, porque ajá. Muy hermoso. Me dieron ganas de leerle todos los libros.

3

A good English translation of Alfredo Molano, a must read for anyone looking to understand post-conflict Colombia! Hopefully a new updated version will be released eventually.

Me toco leer este libro para el colegio pero es impresionante como te muestran la perspectiva de todas las victimas del conflicto armado en colombia es mas un 3.75 la calificacion.