Guillermo Gaviria Correa
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Guillermo Gaviria Correa (November 27, 1962,
Medellín Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...
– May 5, 2003) was the state governor of Antioquia, a province of over 6 million people in northwestern Colombia. Kidnapped by FARC guerrillas during a march against violence on
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,
2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
, he was held captive for over a year deep in the northwestern colombian
jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅ ...
, bordering between Antioquia and Chocó, until he was killed there by the FARC along with other nine fellow hostages, including the politician and former
Minister of defense A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
, Gilberto Echeverri Mejía, in response to an attempted military rescue back on
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,
2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
. Gaviria Correa's letters survived his execution, and were published as ''Diary of a Kidnapped Colombian Governor''. His gubernatorial agenda also survived, carried on by his younger brother Anibal. Gaviria Correa was nominated posthumously for the 2004
Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...
, but did not receive the prize that year.


Education and career

Gaviria Correa was the eldest of eight children of a prominent family in Antioquia. Having completed his undergraduate studies in 1988 at the
Colorado School of Mines The Colorado School of Mines, informally called Mines, is a public research university in Golden, Colorado, founded in 1874. The school offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, science, and mathematics, with a focus on ener ...
in the U.S., he then began work at a Colombian ferronickel mine, Cerro Matoso S.A. In 1994, Gaviria Correa accepted the invitation of Colombian President
Ernesto Samper Ernesto Samper Pizano (born 3 August 1950) is a Colombian politician. Samper is a member of the influential Samper family. He served as the President of Colombia from 1994 to 1998, representing the Liberal Party. From 2014 to 2017 he served as ...
to lead the newly created Institute of National Roads. In this capacity, he oversaw the improvement and repair of Colombian roads and bridges until 1999. In 2000, Gaviria Correa was elected Governor of Antioquia. His administration focused on improvement in six areas: housing, education, peace, reforestation, food security and nutrition, and administrative transparency. Gaviria Correa was also chosen by his fellow Governors to preside over the Colombian Federation of Governors.


Nonviolence and Sacrifice

As part of his "Congruent Peace Plan," Guillermo Gaviria Correa took inspiration from
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
and
Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
, and began deploying non-violent actions in the department. In 2001, he created the position of Peace Commissioner, naming Gilberto Echeverri Mejía to this post. From April 17 to 21, 2002, accompanied by Commissioner Echeverri, Gaviria Correa led a 120-kilometer (85 mile) non-violent march for reconciliation and solidarity with the municipality of Caicedo, a town in western Antioquia that had been besieged by guerrillas and paramilitaries since 1995. The march began in Medellin with over a thousand civilians, and was attended by several mayors of Antioquia as well as internationally known nonviolence leaders such
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. As the march neared Caicedo on April 21,
FARC The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army ( es, link=no, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de ColombiaEjército del Pueblo, FARC–EP or FARC) is a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflic ...
guerrillas confronted the march, kidnapping the governor and his peace commissioner. For over a year, the two men were held hostage deep in the jungle. On May 5, 2003, after a year in captivity, Gaviria Correa was killed by the FARC, along with Echeverri and eight other captives, during an attempted rescue by Colombian armed forces.


Writings

During his year in captivity, Gaviria Correa kept journals and wrote frequent letters to his two children and his wife Yolanda Pinto de Gaviria, centered on his love for them and his hopes for reconciliation among Colombians. These writings became a book, and were later translated to English as ''Diary of a Kidnapped Colombian Governor''. Weeks before his death, Gaviria Correa wrote these lines in his final letter to his father: Wikiversity:Nonkilling Leadership Lessons from Guillermo Gaviria In an open letter to the people of Antioquia, written before setting out on the fateful march to Caicedo, Gaviria Correa explained his motives as well as his understanding of the risks involved:


Legacy

In the first election after Gaviria Correa's death, his brother Aníbal Gaviria did in fact run and was in fact elected as Governor of Antioquia. After pursuing the same programs begun by his older brother in 2000, Aníbal was selected 2007's best Governor in Colombia by Colombia Líder, a national nonpartisan institute. Specific accomplishments cited included extending health coverage to 1.6 million inhabitants, providing new or improved housing for 110,000 low-income families, building schools for 90,000 additional elementary and intermediate students, increasing access to potable water from 24 to 96 municipalities, and a reduction of over 60% in the murder rate during his term. Varying opinions exist on the legacy of Gaviria Correa's movement of nonviolence. In the years following his death, violence decreased markedly. However, most Colombians attributed this improvement not to nonviolence, but to the opposite: namely, strong military offensives by President
Álvaro Uribe Álvaro Uribe Vélez (born 4 July 1952) is a Colombian politician who served as the 31st President of Colombia from 7 August 2002 to 7 August 2010. Uribe started his political career in his home department of Antioquia. He held offices in t ...
against the FARC, paramilitary, and other narco-terrorist groups. On the other hand, Gaviria Correa's writing, and his story of personal sacrifice, continue to inspire those involved in the cause of nonviolence. In nominating Gaviria Correa for the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, for instance, nonviolence scholar Glenn D. Paige described him as "a nonviolent political leader whose legacy is no less significant than those of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr." According to Nobel Peace Prize winner
Mairead Maguire Mairead MaguireFairmichael, p. 28: "Mairead Corrigan, now Mairead Maguire, married her former brother-in-law, Jackie Maguire, and they have two children of their own as well as three by Jackie's previous marriage to Ann Maguire." (born 27 Januar ...
, "Governor Gaviria’s writings reveal a brave and deeply spiritual man, whose compassionate heart and fine mind were not corrupted by suffering, but deepened to an all-encompassing unconditional love of everyone, including his captors."


See also

*
List of kidnappings The following is a list of kidnappings summarizing the events of each individual case, including instances of celebrity abductions, claimed hoaxes, suspected kidnappings, extradition abductions, and mass kidnappings. Before 1900 1900–1949 ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaviria Correa, Guillermo 1962 births 2003 deaths Colombian governors Colombian Liberal Party politicians Colombian murder victims Colombian people of Basque descent Kidnapped politicians Male murder victims People from Medellín People murdered in Colombia