FOR Colombia's blog
Today: A decade of protection in Colombia
On February 7, 2002, the first FOR human rights accompaniment team arrived to accompany the people of La Union in Colombia. Today as we celebrate FOR’s tenth anniversary of presence in the peace community, we are members of a community full of life: there is music playing, seeds being planted, corn and yucca and sugar cane being harvested, and babies being born.
Armed Work Stoppage, La Unión
Northwestern Colombia: The news arrives slowly — paro armado, an armed strike — a faint rumor that trickles, passing from person to person, word of mouth: que no baje al pueblo, don’t go into town today. The radio crackles; static that breaks the hazy, afternoon heat:
Will you help people protecting people in Colombia?
“The meaning of words like perseverance, humility, and accompaniment sunk in deeply during my months wit
Peace in Colombia: Between Expectations and Uncertainties
By Alejo Vargas Velásquez, Professor, National University
From Caja de Herramientas Virtuales
The goal of a negotiated solution to Colombia’s long-running war has always been key. In recent weeks it has become more prominent in national debate. FOR presents one Colombian’s view on where it is going.
Paramilitary Pressure in La Esperanza
By Emily Schmitz, Charlotte Melly, Elisabeth Rohrmoser and Gina Spigarelli
Celebrating ten years of protection in Colombia
In 2002, the first two FOR volunteers made the muddy trek up a mountainside to accompany the San José de Apartadó peace community — a project of campesinos in northwestern Colombia who had declared themselves neutral five years earlier, committing to nonviolent resistance in the midst of war.
Help us celebrate 10 years of presence with a financial contribution today.
In the 10 years since, more than 30 volunteers have been international observers as part of the Colombia Peace Presence, and spent a portion of their lives there — amidst the heat, rain and intense green, with the sounds of helicopters above, waking to gun shots fired in the night, five river crossings away from the nearest city, without a refrigerator and with the incredible life stories of these campesinos who have much to teach us about war, nonviolence and the story of their resistance.
We are there because we believe in the peace community’s struggle.
U.S. Aid to Colombia Contravenes Human Rights Intentions
New Report Shows Dramatic Ties to Extrajudicial Killings
A detailed report released today by the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) describes how U.S. funding to the Colombian military has been supporting army units whose members have killed hundreds of civilians.
Read a summary and download the full report.
Drawing on extensive data from the Colombian Attorney General’s and Inspector General’s offices, 20 human rights organizations, the U.S. State Department, and the Colombian military, the report shows that massive military training, equipment and intelligence provided under the rubric of Plan Colombia have abrogated U.S. human rights law and contributed to the killing of thousands of civilians by the Colombian Army.
