The following experts on the Colombia conflict have confirmed their participation in the conference at this time.

 

 

 

Marta Rodríguez

 

Legendary Colombian filmmaker, has devoted her career to exposing human rights violations in her native country, from her early, ground-breaking documentary on working-poor families, The Brickmakers(1972), which she made with her husband, Jorge Silva, to her newest documentary on Colombia 's displaced peasants, Nunca Más / Never Again(2001), a collaboration with Ecuadorian filmmaker Gustavo Guayasamin. Cinema verite by Latin American filmmakers demonstrates the special advantage of the insider's eye and the different social relations evoked in front of the camera when the media makers are of the culture they film or tape. [back]

 

 

Sen Antonio Navarro Wolf

 

The senator was born in Pasto , capital of the southwestern province of Nariño , on July 9, 1948 . He earned a master's degree in industrial engineering from the University of the Valley in the southwestern city of Cali and studied environmental engineering at Loughborough University in Leicestershire , England . From 1972 to 1978, as a University of the Valley professor, he coordinated the Multidisciplinary Research Center for Rural Development. In 1972, additionally, he helped form the April 19th Movement (M-19), a guerrilla group that developed a strong urban base before withering in the late 1980s. As a central command member, he signed accords under which the M-19 became a legal political party. After the 1990 assassination of M-19 presidential candidate Carlos Pizarro Leongómez, Navarro became the party's candidate and finished third in the national vote. President César Gaviria appointed him health minister later that year. And Navarro was president of a National Constituent Assembly that developed the nation's Constitution in 1991. In 1995, he began a two-year term as Pasto mayor. In 1998, he was elected to the Chamber of Representatives, the lower house of Congress, whose members serve four-year terms. As a member of the chamber's peace commission, he helped represent civil society in 1998 peace negotiations with the National Liberation Army (ELN), another guerrilla group. In 2002, he finished fourth in at-large national voting to fill the Senate's 102 seats. Beginning a four-year term, Navarro described his priorities as economic justice, human rights, clean government, political democratization, and a negotiated solution to the armed conflict. In 2003, he helped form the Independent Democratic Pole (PDI), the party that helped elect Bogotá Mayor Luis Eduardo "Lucho" Garzón later that year. [back]

 

 

 

Alfredo Rangel

 

Alfredo Rangel, executive director of the Bogota-based security and foreign affairs research firm Fundacion Seguridad y Democracia, is one of the most prominent political analysts in Colombia . Political analyst graduated from Universidad de Los Andes , he has served as former advisor to the Colombian Ministry of Defence and a foremost authority in security policy, he has conducted a number of studies on Colombia 's armed conflict, and has co-authored a number of policy papers for international organisations and think-tanks. [back]