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By Lina María Martínez Mejía, Journalist at UdeA Communications Office 

Researchers from the Inter-American School of Library Science created the booklet “How Do Those Who Seek Search?” as part of the project “Individual Searches for Truth, Justice, and Reparation in Transitional Justice Settings in Colombia.” This guide equips direct and indirect victims of the armed conflict with essential tools to assert their rights before state institutions. It also emphasizes the role of personal archives in the search process, framing them as both practical resources and powerful expressions of resilience. 

This content comes from Alma Mater newspaper. » View PDF editions

In December 2024, the Inter-American School of Library Science presented the booklet How Do Those Who Seek Search? A Guide to Institutions and Archive Management in the Pursuit of Truth, Justice, and Reparation, featuring illustrations by Cardboard Atom. 

Inside a drawer in her home, Ana María Ramírez Bedoya safeguards what she values most: a family album filled with wedding photos of her parents and baby pictures from her early years. Among these deeply personal items rests a worn wallet, aged by time, that holds the citizenship card of her father, Guillermo León Ramírez Zapata. The black-and-white document shows he was born on November 15, 1960, in the municipality of Bello. His death certificate states he was murdered in Medellín on September 20, 1990, just days before turning 30. 

Ana María remembers very little about her father; she was only two years old when he died. Her mother, Martha Elena Bedoya Palacio, still grieving the man she had married less than four years earlier and now solely responsible for raising their daughter, accepted a job in Cañas Gordas, a town in western Antioquia. 

Over the years, Ana María developed a deep longing to understand her father. Yet, at home, no one spoke about the day someone killed him. All she knew was that Guillermo died from a gunshot while on duty as a security guard, accused—without clear proof—of stealing his service weapon. 

Every anecdote Ana María heard formed only a small fragment of a much larger puzzle, with many pieces still missing. Her mother recalled meeting Guillermo in 1983 at a store in the Santa Cruz neighborhood. Their friendship quickly blossomed into a brief courtship, culminating in a marriage proposal on December 27, 1986. Two years after that, Ana María was born. 

Through the letters and cards Guillermo wrote to Martha Elena—safely kept with his wallet, photos, and other keepsakes—Ana María uncovered a side of her father she hadn’t known: a thoughtful, romantic man with a writing talent. She also discovered that he dreamed of studying medicine at the Universidad de Antioquia. In his handwriting, she found the blueprints for the house he lovingly built for his wife and daughter in the Moravia neighborhood. 

As the years passed, Ana María felt an increasing urge to uncover more about her father. In 2010, she returned to Medellín to study Audiovisual Communication at the Universidad de Antioquia (UdeA). Sitting in those classrooms, she felt she was honoring one of Guillermo’s unfulfilled dreams. Before completing her degree, she discovered a passion for searching and organizing information within audiovisual archives. After graduating in 2015, she pursued Archival Studies at the same university, never imagining that this journey would lead her to piece together her father’s story, seek the truth, and deepen her sense of identity. 

When it came time to choose her thesis topic, Ana María didn’t hesitate. She had already made up her mind. “That moment marked the start of my research. Twenty-seven years had passed since my father’s death, and I needed to uncover what truly happened to him and who he was. I faced two major challenges: first, asking my mother to join me in this journey, even though she avoided the subject. While I had the right to seek the truth, she had the right to silence and to move on. The second challenge was navigating the bureaucracy, requesting documents from various state institutions. Securing my father’s case file from the Prosecutor’s Office was especially difficult,” Ana María recalled. 

Martha Elena entrusted Ana María with the cherished belongings she had held onto—Guillermo’s wallet, photographs, and letters. These precious documents formed the core of the archive Ana María built to guide her search. In that moment, her life’s transformative journey began. 

How to Search Amid Conflict 

In December 2024, the Inter-American School of Library Science released the booklet “How Do Those Who Seek Search? A Guide to Institutions and Archive Management for the Search for Truth, Justice, and Reparation.” This publication stems from the research project Individual Searches for Truth, Justice, and Reparation in Transitional Justice Scenarios in Colombia. The study began in 2017, when professors at the school started supporting students seeking answers about the fate of family members who had been murdered or disappeared during the armed conflict. 

Ana María Ramírez Bedoya was one of the students who reached out for support. Like many victims in Colombia, she faced the challenge of searching without knowing which offices to approach, what information to gather, or which forms to fill out. “The concerns raised by these students—all women—prompted us to explore how individual searches for truth, justice, and reparation unfold in transitional justice contexts, particularly when social organizations offer no assistance,” said Sandra Patricia Arenas Grisales, professor at the Inter-American School of Library Science and lead investigator of the project. 

To grasp the nature of these searches—not only in cases of enforced disappearance but also in other forms of victimization—the research team focused on several crucial questions: How have the establishment of transitional justice institutions and the public discourse on armed conflict memories influenced victims’ reflections on their experiences of violence? How do those searching identify which institutions hold the information they seek? Which institutions form the framework of transitional justice, and how do they connect? How effectively do they respond to victims’ demands? And what strategies do searchers employ to collect documents, evidence, and clues? 

The research started with a detailed characterization and mapping of the institutions involved in transitional justice in Colombia from 2005 to 2017. Researchers conducted interviews with officials from several key agencies: the Unit for Comprehensive Victim Care and Reparation, the Land Restitution Unit, the Attorney General’s Office, the Institute of Forensic Medicine, the Unit for Missing Persons, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, the Medellín Secretariat for Nonviolence, and the Ombudsman’s Office. They examined each institution’s roles, responsibilities, target groups, and the methods by which they communicate with the public. 

Through these conversations, the team identified key insights that guided the creation of the booklet. “Victims approach state institutions with many hopes, yet they often encounter frustration when their calls for truth, justice, and reparation receive unclear or no answers. As we developed the guide, we examined each institution’s mission, the challenges faced by victims and officials alike, the strain caused by heavy demand, the progress achieved, and the gaps in how these institutions engage with people. Based on this, we mapped the institutional network into three main pathways—reparation, judicial, and humanitarian—aligned with their specific mandates,” explained Yuliana Lopera Espinosa, researcher on the project. 

Search Routes 

The Colombian State has created several institutions dedicated to protecting the rights of victims of the armed conflict. The booklet How Do Those Who Search, Search? Categorizes these institutions into three distinct pathways that victims can follow based on their goals: truth, justice, and reparation. • Recognition and Reparation Route: Includes the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Victims Unit, and the Land Restitution Unit. • Humanitarian Route: Led by the Search Unit for Missing Persons. • Judicial Route: Comprises the Attorney General’s Office, the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, and the Special Jurisdiction for Peace. 

This research, focused primarily on qualitative methods, placed great emphasis on the voices of victims who have persistently sought help from these institutions, often navigating the process alone and without support. Researchers interviewed twenty individuals from various regions across the country. Through their life stories, they revealed the courage to confront injustice and the determination to pursue truth, justice, and reparation. 

“We didn’t focus on the victimizing event itself,” said Karen Sánchez Palacio, a researcher on the project. “Instead, we centered the conversations on the search—how each person navigated it, their relationship with the institutions, and the motivations that pushed them to begin this path. Along the way, we came to understand that victims don’t all experience truth, justice, or reparation in the same way.” Karen speaks from personal experience. In her journalism thesis at the Universidad de Antioquia, she retraced her steps in the search for answers about her brother, Leirman Yonairon Palacio Trujillo, a former FARC combatant who was forcibly disappeared. 

The importance of the archive 

This booklet offers guidance to both direct and indirect victims of the armed conflict, drawing deeply from the experiences and insights of those seeking truth, justice, and reparation. Photo: Courtesy of the Inter-American School of Library Science. 

Ana María Ramírez Bedoya was one of the voices behind this investigation. She recounted her father’s story and the hurdles she faced when seeking information from institutions like the Prosecutor’s Office. She also shared the findings from her thesis. Then, she opened the drawer holding the archives of her search: baptismal and civil registry certificates, her graduation and marriage documents, the autopsy and exhumation reports, petitions she sent to the Prosecutor’s Office and the security company where Guillermo worked, along with other papers that bear witness to her relentless pursuit of the truth. 

“Among all the workshops and spaces created by the researchers for this project, what I cherished most was sharing time with the other women involved. Their bravery is remarkable. Many have spent years searching for their loved ones. I deeply admire their courage and resilience, especially as they have educated themselves on legislation and other essential matters to demand truth, justice, and reparation from state institutions,” Ana María said. 

A powerful example of the resilience Ana María highlights is the archive itself. “Gathering documents and personal items offers victims a way to interact with institutions and prove to the State the path they have followed. These archives stand as a clear testament to their agency. That’s why we devoted a special section in the booklet to archives—offering guidance to those starting this journey on how to build and care for their collections,” explained Yuliana Lopera. 

In Ana María’s case, the archive remains the sole link to her father. Through the search process and the collection of documents and artifacts, she came to understand him deeply. It allowed her to tell her daughter, Manuela Quesada Ramírez, that her grandfather, Guillermo León Ramírez Zapata, was “a great man.” 

How to Care for Personal Files 

The booklet underscores the vital role that personal files play in the pursuit of truth, justice, and reparation. It provides clear recommendations for preserving the documents and belongings that victims collect throughout their search. For instance, it advises keeping files in a secure, dry place, protected from sunlight and with good ventilation. Additionally, the guide encourages maintaining a search log to document and monitor the progress of each case.