The Maratón por la Paz is one of the founding milestones of Liberté: two editions, separated by three and a half years, in which something happened that is difficult to explain without having witnessed it. Incarcerated people, crime victims, people who had been released, family members, professional marathon runners, and judicial officials stood together on the same starting line and crossed the same finish line together. As far as we know, it was the first marathon in the world held inside a prison with this composition.
How the idea was born
After a series of "Open Doors" days at Unidad Penal N°15 in Batán, Pampa came up with the idea of holding a "Maratón por la Paz inside a prison." He was inspired by another marathon also called Maratón por la Paz, held in the province of Corrientes and organized by Víctimas por la Paz. But he didn't just want to copy the idea: at Liberté, the marathon had to serve a purpose beyond running — so that victims, incarcerated people, family members, and judicial officials could share the same asphalt.
But first, there was waiting to do. When Pampa presented the idea to Dr. Mario Juliano — already formally the godfather of Liberté — the judge was initially hesitant. He listened, and made him wait: "let's see how things go," he said, in that measured tone of his. The idea remained in suspension while another project Pampa had also proposed moved forward: painting an enormous mural on the wall of the overhead walkway visible from the workshop, which would eventually become El Mural Más Lindo Del Mundo. And it was there, when that mural was finished, that Mario approached and, almost under his breath, said to Pampa: "if you like, let's start organizing the marathon."
March 22, 2019: the first starting gun
The first Maratón por la Paz was run on March 22, 2019, inside Unidad Penal N°15 in Batán. The course was laid out using the internal perimeter roads of the facility, going and returning. The start took place at Liberté and the finish line and closing ceremony were held at the Comunidad Pastoral Universitaria. There was live music, an awards ceremony, and a series of speakers who all shared a remarkably visible emotional state — especially when it was the turn of the president of the Federación de Maratonistas, whose board members had traveled to oversee the competition.
That same day, as part of the cultural program accompanying the marathon, the painting exhibition "Enamorate si podés" by artist Betina Ferrara was inaugurated.
The marathon was not run only by members of Liberté, their families, and other incarcerated people from UP15. Judicial officials, prison staff, and the professional marathon runners who had come to oversee the event also took part. Many competed wearing donated shirts from the inspiring marathon — shirts that participants still keep to this day as true treasures.
True to Liberté's principles, the marathon was inclusive by design: each participant, grouped by category, measured their own performance against others in a similar physical condition. Some people even had the opportunity to participate by walking.
The day Diana came to Batán
Dra. Diana Márquez came to that first marathon — for the very first time in her life. It was her first visit to the prison in Batán. There she encountered Liberté, and what she saw changed her agenda. Three years later, she would be co-creator of Restaurante Punto de Paz — the first restaurant in the world managed by incarcerated people — and today she is secretary of Cooperativa Liberté. The marathon was the door: the alliance with Víctimas por la Paz had already begun with the mural, but it was on that day — March 2019 — that Diana crossed the walls of Batán for the first time, and the bond that would later give rise to several shared chapters — among them Restaurante Punto de Paz — began to be woven.
2019, a year of many voices
The marathon was not the only important undertaking Liberté threw its shoulder behind during that period. In 2019, the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Committees were getting off the ground, with all the controversies that naturally entailed: the Cabinet, the Committee, and the Assembly known as Batán rinde cuentas. In those spaces, Liberté representatives participated alongside prison staff from administrative areas, the head of the SPB, and even the Provincial Minister of Security. And in December of that same year, another milestone in the same series was inaugurated: El Mural Más Lindo Del Mundo, painted on December 19, 2018 on the wall of the overhead walkway that Liberté's workers looked at every day throughout their entire shift.
November 19, 2022: the second edition
The second Maratón por la Paz was run on November 19, 2022, once again organized by Víctimas por la Paz and Liberté, with the same characteristics as the first: professional marathon runners, incarcerated people, family members, and judicial officials all running together. By this time Liberté had moved to its current Territorio, and the marathon was also used as an occasion to honor Restaurante Punto de Paz — which had by then been operating inside the Unidad for several months. The start and finish were events that took place entirely within the cooperative's premises.
Running to repair
If the restaurant taught us that a table can do what no cell can, the marathon taught us something parallel: the street repairs too. Twenty-one kilometers run side by side by a victim and an incarcerated person changes the distance between them. Afterward, it is no longer the same distance. That is why — together with Víctimas por la Paz and the Federación de Maratonistas — we are considering holding a third edition.
