Gustavo Moncayo
Gustavo Moncayo (* 1952 in Colombia) is a teacher in a small village in the remote province of Narino in southwestern Colombia. He gained notoriety as a peace activist.
Gustavo Moncayo left on 17 June 2007 on foot his hometown Sandonà to migrate into the over 1000 km distant Bogotá.
Background of his journey to the Colombian capital is the kidnapping of his son Pablo Emilio in 1997 by the guerrilla group FARC. His son was working in a communication station of the military in Nariño. In the raid ten soldiers died, four were injured and 18 young men kidnapped.
The " caminante de la paz " ( peace runners ) became the national symbol for a humane solution to the conflict. His goal is to government and FARC to move through public pressure to the earliest possible prisoner exchange. On his long walk collected Moncayo, who had symbolically chained hands and feet, over 2 million signatures for a non-violent solution to the conflict. On 1 August 2007 Moncayo handed over tens of thousands on the central Plaza de Bolívar in Bogotá President Álvaro Uribe 's signature collection. After that, the folk hero camped in a tent on the central Plaza de Bolívar with the intention of as long endure there until his son is free.
On a trip through several European countries Moncayo met on 11 October 2007, Pope Benedict XVI. at a private audience in Rome to talk about the problems in Colombia. On 22 October 2007 Moncayo received in Berlin, endowed with 5.000 € Peace Prize 2007 " Charitable Dr. Heinz Umpfenbach and Wolfgang Hübner Peace Foundation ". On 19 November 2007 Moncayo began in Bogotá a new march to Caracas (Venezuela ) to support the Venezuelan mediation in Colombia conflict. After placement of Senator Piedad Córdoba, the FARC had his son on 30 March 2010 free after more than twelve years held hostage in the border area of the provinces of Meta and Caquetá. A delegation with the Sematorin and representatives of the Red Cross took him by helicopter of the Brazilian Army to Florencia, where he symbolically took off his father's chains.
After the release of his son Pablo Emilio voiced this criticism of the military policy of the government. Then got Pablo Emilio, he and other family members a series of death threats. After the government did not respond to requests for assistance to the family, the son went into exile in Italy and wants to work from there for a humanitarian agreement for the exchange of political prisoners by the government and guerrillas.