Love, Learning, and Libre: A Decade of Free Software Advocacy in Colombia

It all started out of my curiosity, as I began to research operating systems. So, I took the liberty of contacting the people who were talking about free software in Bogotá, Colombia. One of the few that wanted to talk about this was Professor Luis Eduardo Cano. That day, he arrived at the cafeteria with a friend and Professor Luis Alejandro Bernal. We had a great afternoon, drank coffee and ate cake, and talked for hours. At the end they invited me to visit the free software community, which at that time did not even have a physical location, as we met in downtown Bogotá at a café-bar.

In 2009, I participated at the Flisol Latin American Free Software Installation Festival in Bogotá. Initially, I was a guest. Speakers and experts working or developing topics in free software in Latin America came, and the event was very academic with amazing talks that blew my mind and really made me think outside the box.

I didn't even have the financial resources to buy my own PC, as I was still studying systems engineering... it almost felt like a joke... 😀 I used the university's computers, and to have access to a computer, I became a volunteer in the systems room and used a USB stick to access Ubuntu. Additionally, I installed VirtualBox on all the machines to use free software on Windows.

In 2011, I proposed to the Dean of Systems, to hold a free software event at the university to introduce students of basic sciences and engineering to other GNU/Linux-based operating system distributions. That year was very interesting because I met the person who is now my husband and venture partner. I called it the "Love Flisol" in 2011, and GIO (my husband), very enthusiastic and passionate, told me about the GNU project, the principles of free software, and the foundation he supported in terms of technological sovereignty and other academic topics that enchanted me. But you know, I don't know if it was destiny because we parted ways then and reconnected at the university event I organized. I think it was more love at second sight. Of course, Professor Luis Cano was a speaker at the university event that year and invited me to support him in organizing the Bogotá version of Software Freedom Day.

In terms of organizing Software Freedom Day, Professor Luis Cano was a very nice person, pleasant, and I don't know how to describe how charismatic he was. He was passionate about technology and a significant promoter of free software in Colombia. In 2021, we received the news of his passing due to COVID-19. It was a terribly painful moment.

Therefore, in 2023, during SFD, we paid tribute to his commendable work of promoting SFD in universities, the country's first (and only) free software community, and his invaluable contribution to the community in previous years at Flisol and SFD. Thanks to Luis Cano and Alejandro Bernal attending that meeting in 2009, my curiosity to promoting and making available the use and adoption of free software in every place I worked grew. Among these wonderful opportunities, I was a free software promoter in the Bogotá District government secretariat.

We worked with an amazing professor, Luis Eduardo Vazquez, who introduced me to LibreOffice and Italo Vignoli. I immediately volunteered for official translations for LibreOffice marketing campaigns. In this SFD, we brought Professor Luis Vázquez to speak about LibreOffice and interoperability between office suites. One of his strengths is that he started with free software in the '70s, so he is practically a walking encyclopedia on free software history in the country.

Over the years, I have met many developers passionate for free software who believe in the four freedoms and have the potential to create open-source software solutions. I am convinced that we, as people, have the right to privacy, non-tracking without prior consent, and technological sovereignty. Celebrating Free Software Day is more than celebrating open-source code.

It is about celebrating all collaborators and developers worldwide. It is creating growth opportunities. It is thinking outside the box. It is building a collaborative community that is not afraid to share the recipe for success. The most interesting thing is that each person who touches the recipe adds ingredients, flavors, and part of their DNA.SFD celebrates the mix of different cultures, and in the end, the result is this great community.