The "Cristinas of Conflict" Keep the Memory of Disappeared Women Alive in Colombia
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A Garden of Disappeared Women
Paulina Mahecha is a 65-year-old woman who lives in Villavicencio, Meta, in the eastern plains of Colombia. Her daughter, María Cristina Cobo Mahecha, disappeared between the municipalities of San José and Calamar, in the department of Guaviare, on her way to her job as a nurse. Paulina used to lead a simple life as a housewife, but the sudden disappearance of her daughter turned her into a human rights activist. About a year ago, she made a doll of her daughter as a way to keep her memory alive. Soon after, other mothers, whose daughters were also disappeared, reached out to her and asked her to craft dolls of their children as well. Paulina named all the dolls after flowers, saying, "Rural Colombian women are so beautiful, I could only name them like something else that was beautiful even when what happened to them was so awful."
Fifteen years ago, a young nurse named Cristina Cobo was forcibly disappeared by members of the paramilitary group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. Paulina Mahecha, her mother, preserves her memory and that of over 20 other disappeared women from the departments of Meta and Guaviare by creating rag dolls. The "Cristinas of the Conflict," as Paulina calls them, are now part of a traveling exhibition that aims to raise awareness in Colombia about what happened in the south of the country.
