:00:00. > :00:14.Is world-famous ballet start is returning to live in his home
:00:15. > :00:21.country of Colombia for the first time in 16 years. What we need is
:00:22. > :00:29.people like Fernando to show the Colombians were Colombians can do.
:00:30. > :00:33.-- what Colombians can do. After more than half a century of Luddy
:00:34. > :00:40.internal conflict, the nation stands on the brink of peace. But will that
:00:41. > :00:51.piece last in such a troubled land, with millions of victims? -- peace.
:00:52. > :00:57.I will be joining Fernando Montano as he comes back to his homeland.
:00:58. > :01:09.Will he be dancing for peace, or will the bloodshed continue?
:01:10. > :01:18.Fernando Montano, a soloist at the Royal Ballet in the UK, has come
:01:19. > :01:23.back to his home country. He believes that artists have a vital
:01:24. > :01:29.role to play in promoting and cementing that piece, and he wants
:01:30. > :01:33.to play his part. Here, he is rehearsing for a peace ballet that
:01:34. > :01:37.he has choreographed himself. It is a moving story about two families
:01:38. > :01:44.torn apart and misunderstandings and greed in the civil war. They are
:01:45. > :01:50.brought back together by a delve of peace, played by Fernando. He plans
:01:51. > :01:57.to perform some of it within days. All these years of war, we have lost
:01:58. > :02:01.this happiness and hope and joy of living, of life. Many people have
:02:02. > :02:11.suffered so much that it is hard to maybe forget all those things. But I
:02:12. > :02:17.feel that people need, like, to recuperate their hole in their
:02:18. > :02:23.spirit, to make it filled again with life. And I think that is where I am
:02:24. > :02:26.trying probably to put this ballet together or put this performance
:02:27. > :02:33.together, because I think they deserve to have at least a moment of
:02:34. > :02:34.joy and happiness after all this suffering, after all those years of
:02:35. > :02:56.being suffering. Downtown Bogota, Colombia's capital.
:02:57. > :02:59.It is a bustling, lively place where tourists rub shoulders with locals.
:03:00. > :03:06.Peace talks between the government and the main rebel group, the
:03:07. > :03:10.Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, have been going
:03:11. > :03:15.on for years and Havana, Cuba. Now we have reached the end game where a
:03:16. > :03:22.proposed signing of a peace treaty due soon. On the surface, Bogota is
:03:23. > :03:27.a modern, thriving city which is embracing first world trappings. But
:03:28. > :03:32.behind this modern exterior, the still recent history of a rouble
:03:33. > :03:41.wall which has touched everyone in this country. Almost 250,000 people
:03:42. > :03:46.have been killed, and more than 6 million are forced from their homes.
:03:47. > :03:51.Do Bogota's people think this will come? I truly hope. This is really
:03:52. > :03:55.huge for us, and I really think we are doing a great thing, it is the
:03:56. > :03:57.best for us. We need to stop a war and I think it is going to be
:03:58. > :04:21.really, really good for our country. On one side, I don't like it very
:04:22. > :04:28.much because I see that there are too many people that they have
:04:29. > :04:32.committed serious crimes. I think they should be imprisoned, right?
:04:33. > :04:42.Because the things that they did here in the country were, like,
:04:43. > :04:46.really, really bad. Colombia is a very complex and diverse country.
:04:47. > :04:55.Still, there is a certain truth when people picture it as the land of the
:04:56. > :05:02.three Cs. Copy, cocaine and civil war. This woman and her family
:05:03. > :05:06.suffered terribly in the conflict -- coffee. She was driven out of her
:05:07. > :05:12.home twice and came to Bogota with nothing five years ago. She has now
:05:13. > :05:17.set up a small workshop in a poor area on the outskirts of Bogota. Two
:05:18. > :05:20.of her brothers were recruited by the Farc. One was killed in
:05:21. > :05:22.punishment for leaving the rebels and she herself was raped by
:05:23. > :06:25.right-wing paramilitaries. It is a heartrending tale, and sadly
:06:26. > :06:36.Erminda is just one of millions trying to rebuild their lives. I
:06:37. > :06:41.wanted to find out more about the country's relationship with violence
:06:42. > :06:45.so I accepted Fernando's invitation to visit him in his home city, Ely
:06:46. > :06:55.500 kilometres south-west of the capital. Colombia is a vast, diverse
:06:56. > :07:01.country. With the major cities in the high Andes, with jungle and
:07:02. > :07:04.tropical coast below. This city was the base for one of the most
:07:05. > :07:11.notorious drug cartels back in the 1990s. 20 years ago, it is estimated
:07:12. > :07:21.that 80% of the world's cocaine came from this cartel. Despite the peace
:07:22. > :07:25.process and the overall reduction of violence in places like this one,
:07:26. > :07:31.drugs are still a very big problem in Colombia. Here, armed gangs
:07:32. > :07:35.control the distribution. And at the national level, coca and cocaine
:07:36. > :07:43.production have both increased in the past year. Fernando has
:07:44. > :07:47.frightening memories of growing up here, in an area where he heard
:07:48. > :07:56.gunfire on a daily basis, and people were kidnapped or shot. So you told
:07:57. > :08:04.me used to live here? Yes, my house was that one. Me. This is the area
:08:05. > :08:09.where he grew up. It remains a rough area, with shootings till a regular
:08:10. > :08:15.occurrence. I remember there were many, many days that were, you know,
:08:16. > :08:20.the police have this fight with the guys from the police, which probably
:08:21. > :08:28.they were doing their own things. So yes, you couldn't go out. Fernando
:08:29. > :08:31.is something of a local hero for this community. They treat him like
:08:32. > :08:43.a big football player or a music staff. Sadly, there is still much
:08:44. > :08:47.poverty in parts of Cali, as there is in much of the country, one of
:08:48. > :08:51.the most unequal in the world, and there is little hope for these
:08:52. > :08:57.children. I remember it was tough year, it was... And also their work
:08:58. > :09:00.periods that people would come and try and make the place safe here, so
:09:01. > :09:10.then there were fights. A lot of fights, and then people... Yes.
:09:11. > :09:17.Although the major drug cartels have been broken up, they have been
:09:18. > :09:25.replaced by a multitude of criminal gangs, funded mainly by drug money.
:09:26. > :09:30.In the police station that serves Fernando's neighbourhood, there is a
:09:31. > :09:36.map of the area with the word homicide scribbled around it. From
:09:37. > :09:43.last year, murders have gone up. The city's police commander was briefing
:09:44. > :09:48.journalists. This was just a day after police were shot at when
:09:49. > :09:54.trying to enter an area close to Fernando's home. The commander told
:09:55. > :10:29.me about the gangs and his fears for the future.
:10:30. > :10:43.Before we left Cali, Fernando wanted to visit one recent victim of gang
:10:44. > :10:48.violence. Alejandro was shot by mistake. A friend of his was the
:10:49. > :10:50.target. Now he cannot move his legs, and is fighting to be able to walk
:10:51. > :11:23.again. The country needs to help the peace
:11:24. > :11:33.process moves forward, but there are still big challenges ahead.
:11:34. > :11:43.One of the biggest challenges the peace process faces is the continued
:11:44. > :11:50.production of cocaine. I visited this remote jungle area, one of the
:11:51. > :11:59.main cocaine production areas in the country. The bushes are grown in
:12:00. > :12:06.plain sight. The wealth of the Coke trade has made this land a disputed
:12:07. > :12:09.one for armed groups. The right-wing paramilitaries and drug gangs have
:12:10. > :12:15.fought for its control for decades. The river behind me divides
:12:16. > :12:21.Venezuela from Colombia. Here, on the Colombian side, if this village,
:12:22. > :12:28.which is at the forefront of this decade old conflict. So how do
:12:29. > :12:36.people here, with their experience of war, feel about the peace
:12:37. > :12:37.process? Simone work as a nurse and has had front-line experience of the
:12:38. > :13:13.horrors of war. There has been a unilateral
:13:14. > :13:22.ceasefire declared by the Farc for more than eight months now. But the
:13:23. > :13:25.rebels have not handed over their weapons and the demilitarisation
:13:26. > :13:28.process has yet to begin in earnest and there is a danger that Farc
:13:29. > :13:36.fighters will join other insurgent groups or criminal gangs and
:13:37. > :13:42.continue a life of violence. The authorities have not been able to
:13:43. > :13:47.stop the cocaine and coke industry. Despite the large resources and
:13:48. > :13:51.manpower invested on the war on drugs and the record seizures of
:13:52. > :14:01.cocaine in 2015, production is still increasing.
:14:02. > :14:12.APPLAUSE. Back in the capital, Fernando is a judge in Columbia's
:14:13. > :14:20.version of stripper condenser, not the most popular TV shows in the
:14:21. > :14:24.country. One of the contestants, whose performance he had to judge,
:14:25. > :14:29.was a woman who was in the Farc for two years. She shared the stage with
:14:30. > :14:38.a victim of the rebel group, a former policeman, who was hostage of
:14:39. > :14:40.the Farc for nine years. Anna says the show allowed them to know each
:14:41. > :15:24.other better and even become friends.
:15:25. > :15:31.The couple represent the people who want to change the world, change the
:15:32. > :15:40.country. They represent the hope for the future of Colombia.
:15:41. > :15:50.But not everyone shares this feeling. Back in the suburbs, this
:15:51. > :15:53.woman has been through so much and she cannot think about
:15:54. > :15:58.reconciliation. She wants those who want her and her family's lives to
:15:59. > :17:20.be punished and not reintegrated into society.
:17:21. > :17:28.Even having been through terrible experiences, Erminda managed to
:17:29. > :17:32.start rebuilding her life. She showed me the clothes she makes in
:17:33. > :17:36.her workshop, where she also employs other displaced women to help her.
:17:37. > :17:42.She even has a contract to supply a branch of the United Nations. But as
:17:43. > :17:49.they left her... I could not help inking that the depth of the
:17:50. > :17:50.bitterness towards the enemy is shared by hundreds and thousands of
:17:51. > :18:06.others. -- help thinking. It was time for Fernando and I
:18:07. > :18:12.commit the country's president. -- to meet. He has been single-minded
:18:13. > :18:19.in his ambition to bring the opposing sides together. Hello, Mr
:18:20. > :18:26.president. Begin the process of healing. Making peace is much more
:18:27. > :18:32.difficult than making war. Making peace you have to change the
:18:33. > :18:37.sentiments of the people, how they view their own lives, their future
:18:38. > :18:45.and since we have been a country accustomed to war, any change
:18:46. > :18:50.creates uncertainty. When you hear that people are worried, it's
:18:51. > :18:54.because they don't know what peace is going to bring them. And that's
:18:55. > :19:00.my challenge and the challenge of everybody who wants to end this
:19:01. > :19:09.war, to be able to convey to the population that peace, by far, is
:19:10. > :19:14.much better than war. This is the oldest armed conflict and the only
:19:15. > :19:21.one in the whole of the Western Hemisphere, I think we finished this
:19:22. > :19:26.-- finished this armed conflict nobody will be prone to take arms to
:19:27. > :19:36.try to achieve political objectives. I think this is the last conflict of
:19:37. > :19:40.the Cold War. Although President Santos is determined to make peace,
:19:41. > :19:44.his popularity is low in part because of the country's troubled
:19:45. > :19:50.economy and also because people are sceptical of the whole peace deal.
:19:51. > :20:00.It is clear there is a huge challenge facing this country as it
:20:01. > :20:05.starts slowly to move towards a peace deal. How will the growth of
:20:06. > :20:11.the criminal gangs stopped when drug-trafficking is still so
:20:12. > :20:14.profitable? How will the guerillas the reintegrated into society and
:20:15. > :20:21.how will we, the people be convinced to support its government in its
:20:22. > :20:27.peace efforts? -- how will the people. Back in a growth rate,
:20:28. > :20:33.preparations were under way for the first public performance of a
:20:34. > :20:36.section of Fernando's Ballet. The venue is his old ballet school and
:20:37. > :20:50.the place is packed with an excited local audience. In human history, I
:20:51. > :20:52.remember in Europe in the war there were artists who were trying to keep
:20:53. > :20:59.the spirit of the people alive during performances, probably that
:21:00. > :21:05.they put together a few hours before a bomb or something like this, and I
:21:06. > :21:09.think that's probably like my mission, or what I am trying to
:21:10. > :21:14.encourage people to do, because I know we cannot take those problems
:21:15. > :21:19.that the people have been living, losing families and kidnapping and
:21:20. > :21:25.all those things, we can't change it, but what we could do is just to
:21:26. > :21:35.those people who are still alive, and are still here, to give at least
:21:36. > :21:39.some moments of happiness. We can't stay always in this frustration of
:21:40. > :21:58.being sad or what has happened because you have to move forward.
:21:59. > :22:06.Perhaps more than anything the key to a peaceful transition is winning
:22:07. > :22:12.over the people of Colombia from all sides. If the various factions can
:22:13. > :22:17.be successfully brought together, after more than 50 years of being
:22:18. > :22:21.torn apart, then Fernando will be down Singh for peace and Colombia
:22:22. > :22:28.and look forward to an exciting future. -- will be dancing for.