Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno

I am probably somewhat biased about McFarland's book. Having done similar research for Human Rights Watch (and written [b:More Terrible Than Death: Drugs, Violence, and America's War in Colombia|145070|More Terrible Than Death Drugs, Violence, and America's War in Colombia|Robin Kirk|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347668313s/145070.jpg|2094778], and UY with the "dead" in the titles) and having known not only Jesus Valle but others like Ivan Velasquez and the slain CTI agents, this is one of the cases that literally broke my heart (I preceded McFarland at HRW). These are such good people and their tenacity and commitment to justice shines through these pages. Figuring out these twists and turns absolutely exhausts me, but it took someone with real doggedness to follow every link. Colombia is often portrayed as a place where violence is endemic and unstoppable, but this riveting story shows that the truth is much more complex. Again and again, Colombians step up to fight for justice even though they face daunting odds. Their story is well told.… (lisätietoja)

The violence in Colombia towards the end of the 20th century is something I knew very little about, so this book was very educational. I think it did a good job connecting the dots and building a narrative out of a lot of different events. The tendency to jump around in time (e.g. "Velásquez went to his office on a day in 1998. He was working with Peréz. They met in 1995 and here's a 3-page story about that. In the middle of talking about what happened in 1995, though, we're going to also relate some important facts from 1980. So anyway about that thing in 1998...") made it a little hard for me to follow, but I feel like I got the gist of the story.… (lisätietoja)

This is an incredible look at the lives of three Colombians during the days succeeding Pablo Escobar's reign. Like many people, I am fascinated by Escobar and the Colombian cartels. But I never thought to look into the aftermath of them, or to see how (and if) Colombia was able to recover and thrive. There Are No Dead Here opens us up to the sad reality of living in Colombia in the 1990s on and dealing with paramilitary groups. This book will open your eyes and expose the truth of these groups like FARC by highlighting the lives of three amazing Colombians.

I highly recommend for history buffs and those interested in South America.… (lisätietoja)