On January 13 at 3:40 PM in front of the offices of Convivir, Silvio Salazar was assassinated, for unknown reasons. Once again, one of Colombia's most dedicated and beloved grassroots leaders was eliminated by the insane violence that plagues the country.
I met Silivio initially when he came to Madison inthe Spring of 1992. He immediately struck me by the generosity of his spirit and a kindness that reflected the beauty of his soul. He spoke to me at length about his peasant roots, his inner desire for peace and the absolute need to fight for it continuously. Silvio told me how he started to care about his community when as a child he was prepared for his First Communion by a liberation theology priest. Then as an adult he drove a taxi in Medellin and was shocked one day, when starting his daily rounds around 4 AM, he found 30 bodies of young teenagers, who had just been killed. The bodies were still warm. One of them apparently was carried to his execution place with his fingers smashed by the car's door. Silvio's horror found no limits and he started to cry. His crying reflected desperation, sadness, horror, anguish and pain. Starting at that moment, Silvio dedicated all of the beautiful qualities that he possessed to the struggle for peace, love and reconciliation.
Along with other communal leaders of the popular neighborhoods of Medellin he founded Convivir, trying to generate processes of integration and development in the community, always looking for practical and civil solutions to the problems. His killing was received with indignation and profound sadness.
Silvio was a friend of the Colombia Support Network, and he welcomed several of us at the Medellin airport when we went to Apartadó. He was interviewed by George Vukelich for his Isthmus column'Listening In' in June 1992. George entitled the story "Bang Bang Bang", expressing the violence that a few years later would kill Silvio also. Personally I feel very sad and enraged at the killing of such a beautiful human being. The Colombia Support Network invites everyone to a memorial service for Silvio on April 19 at Edgewood College. He leaves a wife and two little girls.