Sharing Community Life after a Civil War: In Memory of Santiago López Álvarez

It is with deep sadness that we mourn the passing, on October 7th, 2025, of our colleague Santiago López Álvarez, whose intellec­tual curiosity and unwavering commit­ment to peace research left a lasting imprint on our community. Santiago collaborated closely with us in the research project Collective Reincorpo­ration and Local Peace­building in Colombia, where he played a key role in shaping the quanti­tative design and analytical structure of the study. His sharp methodo­logical insights enriched every stage of our work. 

Santiago, therefore, features as the first author in a joint article with us, Laura Barrios Sabogal and Jonas Wolff, that has just been published open access with the journal Conflict Manage­ment and Peace Science, entitled “Sharing community life after a civil war: Inter­group contact and social distance”. Despite his deteriorating health, Santiago continued working tirelessly on this piece until its acceptance. The article examines how contact shapes less inter­group social distance between host communities and former FARC-EP ex-combatants after the 2016 peace agreement and throughout the reintegration process, high­lighting inclusive governance and collaborative develop­ment, productive projects, and the roles of education, sports, and culture as key forms of inter­group cooperation. We dedicate this article to Santiago’s memory.

Santiago also spent a short but meaning­ful period at PRIF as a visiting scholar, during which he became a valued member of our team. With PRIF, TraCe, and the Instituto CAPAZ, we were fortunate to publish several shorter policy briefs reflecting local community perspec­tives on the reintegration process in Colombia. 

Santiago will be remembered not only for his scholarly contributions, but for his humility, kindness, and the quiet strength with which he faced life’s challenges. His work continues to accompany us, and his absence leaves a profound void in our academic community and in the hearts of all who had the privilege to work with him.

We honor his legacy with gratitude and affection.
Laura Barrios Sabogal and Jonas Wolff