Maribel Ferreira Romero, 43, a former FARC member, holds a mold of a cross outside the Central Cemetery of Palmira, Valle del Cauca department, Colombia, on 25 June 2025. “I joined the guerrilla at 13, after my mother abandoned me. I don’t want the same to happen to my daughter,” Ferreira says.

Jhon Freddy Pachichaná, 41, poses for a portrait at the Central Cemetery of Palmira, Valle del Cauca department, Colombia, alongside his prosthetic leg on 4 July 2025. A former soldier, he lost his left leg to a landmine during an army operation in 2007. “I was a killing machine. I never left any guerrillero alive, not even if we captured them. The justice system sent me to prison for that, but today I appear before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP). I’ve changed a lot; before, I never thought about the stories behind each person, the reasons that led them to join the guerrilla or any illegal group,” Pachichaná says.

A dead Southern Lapwing chick (Vanellus chilensis) lies in the hands of a worker at the Central Cemetery of Palmira, Valle del Cauca department, Colombia, on 7 July 2025.

Marisela Borrero (center) holds a photo of her son, Wilson Lozada, during the first burial carried out as part of the “memory ossuaries” project at the Central Cemetery of Palmira, Valle del Cauca department, Colombia, on 27 August 2025. Lozada disappeared at age 19 in Chaparral, Tolima. “Even if these are the only remains I receive, I finally know where my son rests,” Borrero says.

Dulce María Patiño, 6, daughter of former FARC combatant Maribel Ferreira Romero, holds her doll ‘Luna’ next to crosses at the Central Cemetery in Palmira on July 4, 2025.

María Nelly Valencia holds a banner with the face of her son, Cristian Camilo Valencia, during a reconciliation event at the Central Cemetery of Palmira, Valle del Cauca department, Colombia, on 27 August 2025. Valencia disappeared on 11 April 2022 in Puerto Valdivia, Caquetá, amid the social unrest that followed the national strike.

Jhon Freddy Pachichaná, a former soldier who appeared before the JEP, shows his hands during a day's work at the Central Cemetery in Palmira on July 21, 2025.

A security guard’s shotgun rests on a pile of bricks used to build the 500 ossuaries at the Central Cemetery of Palmira, Valle del Cauca department, Colombia, on 18 July 2025.

Doney Bolívar, a second sergeant appearing in court for a case of extrajudicial killings, during a workday at the Central Cemetery in Palmira (VALLE), on July 14, 2025.

Former Army members and ex-FARC combatants build ossuaries for victims of enforced disappearances at the Central Cemetery of Palmira, Valle del Cauca department, Colombia, on 14 July 2025. This marks the first time in Colombia's history that former enemies of the conflict have come together for a project addressing enforced disappearances.

Fayber Amaya, Second Sergeant, poses for a portrait in front of the ossuaries built in collaboration with ex-FARC combatants at the Central Cemetery of Palmira, Valle del Cauca department, Colombia, on 31 July 2025. Amaya served eight years and six months in prison for his involvement in a case of extrajudicial execution.

Relatives of Andrés Felipe Peña, who disappeared four years ago in Buenaventura, hung a textile work to honor his memory at the Central Cemetery in Palmira (VALLE) on August 27, 2025.

Gloria Patricia Ramírez, 49, a former member of the FARC, poses for a photo with a machete in the cemetery of Palmira, Colombia, on July 4, 2025. “I never imagined I would be working with those we used to call the enemy. We came together with the same goal: to provide reparations to the victims.”

A former Army member appearing before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) for extrajudicial executions walks through the Central Cemetery of Palmira, Valle del Cauca department, Colombia, on 18 July 2025. During the Colombian armed conflict, at least 6,402 extrajudicial executions—known as “false positives,” in which civilians or detained guerrilla members were unlawfully killed and presented as combat casualties—were carried out, highlighting the scale of human rights violations and the challenges of transitional justice.