Truth Demands - by Abby Reyes (Paperback)

About the Book

"Recounts the experiences of the author who, twenty years after her partner's murder, is called to confront the past when she finds herself a recognized victim-survivor in case 001 of Colombia's truth and recognition process"--

Book Synopsis

"Essential reading, filled with exactly the kind of truth that this precarious moment demands." --Kaira Jewel Lingo, author of We Were Made for These Times

In 1999, Abby Reyes lost her partner, Terence Unity Freitas, as he and two others were murdered after departing Kajka Ika--the heart of the world--of Indigenous U'wa territory in Colombia.

Imperiled by multinational oil interests, U'wa lifeways were under attack. Terence, Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa (Menominee), and Lahe'ena'e Gay (Hawaiian) arrived to listen to community needs and accompany the U'wa. But then they disappeared. Days later, their bodies were found, bound and bullet-riddled in a cow field across the border in Venezuela.

Twenty years later, Abby finds herself in Case 001 of Colombia's truth and recognition process. They want to know her stories. They want to know her questions. They want to know her truth demands the fragments she's held for decades about the last days of Terence's life. Why was he taken? Who pulled the trigger? Who was really behind the killings?

Plunged back into grief, ambiguity, and the unknown, Abby is called to navigate the past. Old wounds are reopened, old histories are redrawn, and fresh angers flare as she confronts the testimony of one of her lover's killers--and the burden that Terence unwittingly compelled her to bear.

Spanning three decades and three continents, Truth Demands charts Abby's parallel journeys as she navigates the waters of loss, purpose, and impermanence while fighting for truth and accountability from big oil. A profound and haunting memoir, Truth Demands is an invitation into the current. It shows us how to hold fast even as we let go--holding us as we bear witness and welcome with courage and skill what the truth demands of us all.

Review Quotes

"This book is the voice of the U'wa in the words of Abby, and these memories of the truth are a primary source of respect, help, and coordination for the defense of Mother Earth." --JUAN GABRIEL JEREZ TEGRIA-KUANAKUVO (U'WA NATION), legal advisor for international affairs at AsoU'wa, the Association of the U'wa Traditional Authorities and Cabildos U'wa

"[This book] couldn't have come at a better time as we humans navigate so many upheavals and make necessary decisions about our climate future." --DONNA CHAVIS (LUMBEE NATION), founder of the RedTailed Hawk Collective and program manager of Climate and Energy Justice, Friends of the Earth US

"A single searing thread connecting one story of murder and grief to the story of climate change." --MIYA YOSHITANI, codirector of Movement Innovation Collaborative

"Essential reading, filled with exactly the kind of truth that this precarious moment demands." --KAIRA JEWEL LINGO, author of We Were Made for These Times

"[This book] pulls the reader all the way through to what we need to continue life on Earth." --JOANNA MACY, PhD, author of World as Lover, World as Self

"Astonishing and brilliantly told.... A story you should read to understand the healing powers of the deepest pain." --NICHOLAS THOMPSON, CEO of The Atlantic

"Written with the delicacy of a novel and the pace of a thriller, this book will find a place among memoirs of spiritual enlightenment as well as among classic stories of political education." --ANGELA P. HARRIS, JD, codirector of the Critical Justice Institute

"As a Colombian, as a Latin American, as a lawyer, but mostly as a mom, friend, and daughter ... reading Truth Demands created space for me to face my own fear and pain. To step toward my own healing, and in so doing, my country's healing." --ASTRID PUENTES RIAÑO, UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment

"A raw rendering, artfully crafted in a way that kept me spellbound from beginning to end." --JACQUI PATTERSON, executive director of the Chisholm Legacy Project Resource Hub for Black Frontline Climate Justice Leadership

"Anyone who considers themselves a climate activist or wants to become one must experience this painful and beautiful story." --KATIE REDFORD, JD, cofounder of EarthRights International

"A gift to all of us who long for the sovereignty of our bodies, our water ways, and our ancestral ways of being in relationship to the land." --ROSA ESPERANZA GONZÁLEZ, founder of Facilitating Power

"Moving and gorgeous ... required reading for students of social transformation and those yearning to find their place." --TERRY LYNN KARL, PhD, author of The Paradox of Plenty

"The key narrative of this century is about humanity's fight to overcome fossil fuel interests, and this book tells the story more completely than any I've read.... Harrowingly beautiful." --DANNY KENNEDY, author of Rooftop Revolution

"A gripping feat of storytelling." --SEEMA JILANI, MD, global health advocate

"A raw, honest, and wise memoir of healing--charts a course for all of us across waters roiled by personal and systemic trauma." --MARTIN WAGNER, JD, former managing attorney of the International Program, Earthjustice

"This graceful work of politics and art is a testimony to resistance and strength." --ANNIE LEONARD, former executive director of Greenpeace USA

"An incredibly timely reading for anyone who wishes a wise political overview of standing in alliance with Indigenous peoples." --NINA SIMONS, author of Nature, Culture, and the Sacred

About the Author

ABBY REYES cut her teeth doing rural environmental legal assistance in the Philippines, her father's homeland, and walking alongside the Colombian U'wa Indigenous pueblo for dignity against big oil. She directs community resilience at University of California, Irvine, supporting community-academic partnerships to accelerate community-owned just transition solutions.