August 2001

Winner of 'Best Feature Picture Story–Independent' from the National Press Photographers Association.

As the killings mount and the peace talks founder, it is reasonable to wonder: Will peace never come to Colombia? Can individuals who once were guerrillas, contract killers, child soldiers, and narco-traffickers find a way to live together?

Donna Decesare has sought to answer these questions in the most dangerous corners of the country where—against all odds and under constant threat, especially from the paramilitaries—small groups of citizens have formed violence prevention programs. In the absence of any functional government presence, they also struggle to provide courts, health care, and schooling, to create farms, bakeries, and small businesses.

"They tried to close us down, but they can’t do it," declared one woman activist. "We must not become prisoners of fear."