July 2007 Peace Presence Update
Monthly Update — July 26, 2007
In this Update:
Paramilitaries Kill Leader of San José de Apartadó Peace Community: TAKE ACTION
Paramilitary gunmen killed Dairo Torres, a leader of the San José de Apartadó Peace Community, on Friday, July 13, shortly after 12 noon, according to the community. Torres was a passenger on one of the jeeps that serve as the only public transport between the city of Apartadó and San José, when it was intercepted by two paramilitaries — the same men who detained the jeep the previous day and made threats against the Peace Community. The community said that gunmen told Torres to get off the jeep, which he did; they told the driver to continue, and then they killed Torres on the spot.
The killing occurred only two minutes from a police checkpoint, where earlier in the day witnesses saw the gunmen sitting and conversing with police.
Torres was a leader of the humanitarian zone of Alto Bonito, a hamlet of San José de Apartadó. He is the fourth San José humanitarian zone leader to be killed in the last 20 months. Humanitarian zones are sites established by the Peace Community where civilians can go in case of combat between the armed groups that are active in the area, and be respected under the norms of international humanitarian law.
The killing occurred just four days after an attack by FARC guerrillas on the police post in the town center of San José de Apartadó, which killed a policeman, Hernán López Cardona, and wounded another policeman. In April 2005, the Peace Community displaced to land a mile from the town center when the police post was installed, precisely because it would make the civilian population a military target for the FARC.
Extensive Colombian media reports of the FARC attack conflated the Peace Community — which has no presence near the police post — with the San José town center where the police are located. La Patria, in a July 12 tribute to the fallen policeman, wrote "San José de Apartadó, [is] a population denominated as a Peace Community. Nevertheless, the guerrillas patrol there and this was demonstrated by the attack." El Tiempo also stated that the attack took place "in the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó." None of the media reports mentioned that the Peace Community had displaced away from the town center when the police post was established, so as not to live with any armed group.
The day after the attack, according to the community, police told several people in San José that the attack had originated from the Peace Community's settlement and that it would pay for it. On July 12, according to a community statement, paramilitary gunmen on the Apartadó-San José road identified themselves to public transport passengers as "Aguilas Negras" (Black Eagles), and said "that SOB peace community would begin to pay very dearly." "Aguilas Negras" is the name used by a paramilitary group newly active in several parts of Colombia. In the days following Torres' murder, peace community members report that the same two men who killed Dairo Torres, along with other paramilitary members, stationed themselves just 100 meters from where he was shot. There were also continuing reports of paramilitary groups based between Playa Larga and Nueva Antioquia issuing threats that they plan to "finish off" the peace community and collecting taxes on local timber cutters.
The Peace Community first announced the establishment of humanitarian zones in Alto Bonito and seven other hamlets in February 2005. (See map) Ten days later, two families, including Community leader Luis Eduardo Guerra, were massacred by men whom witnesses said were army soldiers. Army soldiers killed Arlen Salas, coordinator of the Arenas Altas humanitarian zone, in November 2005, in what it said was an accident; soldiers killed his successor, Edilberto Vásquez in January 2006, claiming he was a guerrilla killed in combat. Seven soldiers subsequently have been charged with his murder. Francisco Puertas, another humanitarian zone leader, was killed by a paramilitary gunman on May 13 of this year.
The shameless challenge to Washington's purported values of human rights could not be more direct. The hundreds of violations, including more than 180 killings, against the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, have been the subject of mandatory protective rulings by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and six collective letters from dozens of Members of Congress to Colombian officials and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. More than $70 million of U.S. military aid was suspended in 2005, in large part as a result of outrage over the massacre in San José in February 2005. Members of Congress have visited the Peace Community. FOR and many other NGOs have focused the attention of thousands of people to urge the Colombian government to put an end to the violence and impunity against this community.
If this is what happens to a community that Colombian and US officials say they are acting to protect, what is the fate of the many communities in Colombian conflict zones that are not the subject of so much human rights concern? After all this, why should the United States continue to support Colombia's military and police forces when clear collaboration between state and paramilitary forces routinely results in the murder of members of this small and neutral peasant community?
Please take action!
Write an email or fax to the US Department of State, expressing sorrow for the killings of Hernán López Cardona and Dairo Torres, and urging:
* That State Department officials make a public declaration expressing concern about reports of police collaboration in the assassination of Dairo Torres,
* That State Department officials publicly support the establishment and honoring of humanitarian zones in areas of conflict as instruments for upholding the principle in international humanitarian law of protection of civilians from adversaries in armed conflict.
- The State Department should demonstrate its political will to enforce the human rights provisions in foreign assistance legislation by withholding at least a portion of assistance to the Colombian National Police.
Contact:
Jonathan D. Farrar
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
Email: FarrarJD2@state.gov Fax: 202-647-5283
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"I Will Never Be Silenced": Voices from Colombian Women
This week, FOR and the American Friends Service Committee released a report documenting the first-person experiences of women peace activists in Colombia. "I Will Never Be Silenced: Testimonies of Hope by Colombian Women" highlights the words and work of 13 women from throughout Colombia — rural and urban, old and young, Afro-Colombian, indigenous and mestizo, artists, religious, political, feminists. These women have tirelessly and fearlessly worked to create peace and justice.
Elizabeth Lozano explains in the report's introduction:
"The violence faced by women is not only inflicted by the machetes, guns, and landmines of the "enemy." It is also carried out by "friendly" fire, so to speak, in the woman's daily life. This is the normalized violence exercised without the weapons of war, and manifested in abusive marital relations, implicit or explicit threats of rape, absence of education opportunities, lack of sexual education, and in the general expectation that her right place is the kitchen and the bedroom."
"I Will Never Be Silenced" brings to readers women who endure these various forms of violence to speak about their experiences and their work to end the violence and impunity in their country.
The 40-page report is available for $6 postpaid for individual copies, or $30 for 10 copies, postpaid. Get your copy from the FOR bookstore today!
Congress Demands Colombian President Investigate Robberies
In response to recent burglaries of computers from human rights organizations in Bogotá, Members of Congress have sent two letters to Colombian President Álvaro Uribe. The most recent letter from 36 Members of Congress on July 17 addressed the four attacks on human rights organizations in which computers containing highly sensitive information were stolen, including the break in at FOR.
"These attacks...appear to be part of a pattern targeting information that could be used to harm individuals, organizations and churches working for peace, defending human rights and helping victims of the armed conflict," the letter stated.
The signers then called on Uribe's government to carry out a swift and thorough investigation, as well as to issue statements supporting the work of human rights organizations in Colombia.
The first letter, signed by Congressman Eliot Engel, chair of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and six other members of Congress, on June 22, highlighted the robbery of the offices of the FOR Bogotá office and called for a prompt and thorough investigation of the break-in.
"As strong supporters of Colombia's vibrant civil society," said the signers, "we are concerned about maintaining a safe environment for non-governmental organizations to flourish and strengthen Colombian democracy. We are gravely concerned by this recent attack on FOR and for the security of the Colombian groups that FOR accompanies."
Complete Government Failure on the FTA
By RECALCA, the Colombian Network Against the Free Trade Agreement
July 4, 2007
This year will not bring a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States. This represents an immense failure on the part of the Colombian government, which has tried for three years to implement the agreement. This failure is clearly evident from the declarations of the most important Democrats of the U.S. Congress, who have decided not to put the FTA to a vote.
Uribe traveled eleven times to Washington, announcing his "special" friendship with Bush and instructed his negotiating team to agree to each one of the Bush administration's demands. With Plan Colombia following word for word the script laid out by Washington and in all of the Americas winning the un-enviable reputation as Bush's closest ally, the most unpopular U.S. administration in the last 100 years, Uribe has not only conceded everything but has handed over things that haven't even been requested.
The Democratic leaders had demonstrated their concern about "the levels of violence in Colombia, the impunity, the lack of investigation and prosecution, as well as the role of the paramilitaries," and then said that "first it is important to see concrete steps taken with sustainable results."
The denunciations about the behavior and nature of the Colombian government made by various sectors of Colombian civil society have played an important role in this failure of the government [to pass the FTA].
News of the failure of the FTA brought forth a statement from Uribe, who said that the Democrats "are attempting to convert the relationship of allies into one of domination" and that "here they are not in the presence of Somoza." The comparison used by Uribe is not preposterous, since the Nicaraguan dictator was characterized by his unconditional support for the desires of the United States.
An important sector of the Democratic party believes that not approving the FTA is a "punishment" of the [Colombian] government and that with this they are depriving Colombia of many benefits because of the faults of a bad government. The reality is that while it punishes Uribe to make him see the uselessness of his obsequiousness, in fact the country benefits if the FTA is not implemented.
Dozens of studies have demonstrated the perverse affects that this FTA would have on the country. What is needed now is to continue explaining the harm that it will cause, so that if at some future moment the Democratic Party decides to no longer "punish" Uribe, there is a broad consensus in the country, ready to mobilize, to prevent implementation of the absurdity [that is the FTA].
Translated by FOR staff
A New U.S. Military Base for Colombia?
Colombia has offered to host U.S. military operations currently run out of Ecuador, once the lease for the base there expires in two years, according to a senior Pentagon official who spoke to reporters in July. Such a change would consolidate Colombia's position as the Latin American country most militarized by the United States.
The U.S. military base in Manta, Ecuador, set up to run counter-drug flights when Panama threw out military bases in 1999, has become a controversial presence that a majority of Ecuadoreans want closed. President Rafael Correa, who was inaugurated in January, pledged that his government would do so.
When Ecuador in early May withdrew from annual naval exercises led by the United States that were scheduled to be held off its coastline, the Southern Command said that the exercises would be held instead in Malaga Bay on Colombia's Pacific coast, near Buenaventura. Those events occurred in the wake of tensions between Ecuador and Colombia over Colombian military operations on the two countries' border.
The United States maintains five radar sites in Colombia (Riohacha, San Andrés, Marandua, San José del Guaviare and Tres Esquinas), all operated by the ITT corporation, as well as a "Forward Operating Site" in Apiay, according to a report on U.S. contractors in Colombia recently released by the State Department. Apiay is one of a handful of sites in Colombia where the U.S. Army 7th Special Forces Group trains thousands of Colombian soldiers every year.
According to the U.S. official, who requested anonymity, keeping the air base in Manta is still on the table, in spite of President Correa's public statements. One arrangement that he said is being explored is allowing U.S. military or surveillance aircraft to land in Ecuador, but not at a fixed U.S. base.
"Any stories [about moving the base to Colombia] are just rumors," Jorge Ruiz of the U.S. Southern Command told FOR. He and U.S. Embasssy spokesman Aaron Sherinian in Quito said that the United States is still focused on base operations in Manta. Embassy handouts describe the base as "consist[ing] of parking spaces for up to 8 unarmed aircraft" and "a handful of small buildings" which house up to 500 U.S. soldiers. Flights run from Manta have also been implicated in operations to detain immigrants attempt to emigrate from Ecuador by sea.
- John Lindsay-Poland
Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg, and El Tiempo 7/12/07; "Report to Congress on Certain Counternarcotics Activities in Colombia"; FOR interviews; El Comercio 5/2-3/07; US Embassy Quito handout on FOL; Naufragio, unpublished MS by Juan Carlos Calderón.
Job Opportunity:
Organizer for Campaign on Military Aid to Colombia
FOR is seeking an energetic, creative person to organize efforts in FOR's campaign to end U.S. military aid to Colombia. The person will work under the supervision of the Co-directors of the FOR Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean (TFLAC). This position is intended to function as a two-year contract, possibly renewed for one year. For information, click here.
Save the Date: Grassroots Civilian Diplomacy Training
November 4-5, 2007 — Washington DC
FOR will host a Grassroots Civilian Diplomacy training in November in Washington D.C. This intergenerational, multicultural and multi-faith effort engages people and communities to work for the demilitarization of U.S. policy, especially in Colombia and Iran, for youth in the United States. Save the date and stay tuned for more details! Email us if you are interested.
Letter from the Field
Constructing a Peasant Movement:
How to grow worms to make healthy soil
By Janice Gallagher
How can small, rural farmers respond to the forces of global trade and climate change?
How is a campesino (peasant) movement built amidst war and threats of displacement?
What does economic solidarity look like in rural Colombia?
These were some of the many questions that led the Antioquia Peasant Association (ACA) to organize a week-long combination conference/tour/exchange in June with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe de Antioquia, a neighboring municipality. The ACA has worked for two years with farmers from seven different communities in Eastern Antioquia, an area that has been especially hard-hit by guerrilla and paramilitary violence, to figure out how to provide for themselves and their families in the midst of war. Part of the ACA's strategy for assisting these farmers is to bring them face to face with other farmers who have faced similar circumstances to discuss how they have moved forward. The Archdiocese of Santa Fe de Antioquia has worked with farmers for 11 years in 26 communities and during this trip the two groups explored their answers to these big questions:
How do small, rural farmers respond to the forces of global trade and climate change?
"With the FTA [Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Colombia] everything will be harder, which makes our struggle for self-sufficiency all the more important."
In an environment where it is already incredibly difficult for small farmers to make ends meet, the ACA and Archdiocese believe that the approval of the FTA currently before Congress would make the situation of these small farmers infinitely harder. Resisting the passage of the FTA has been central political work for both the ACA and the Archdiocese. Yet, as one of the 22 campesinos on this trip said, "We can spend millions of pesos and hours protesting the policies of the state, but we also need to focus on how to feed ourselves."
So what does this mean for them? Rather than changing which crops are planted based on the whims of the international market, the organizations believe that campesinos should produce the food they need to feed their families. Basing what to produce on the price of the crop is dangerous because prices might be high one year for, say, coffee, and by the time the crop yields fruit, the price might be half of what it was — not even enough to cover the cost that it took to produce it. Instead, the campesinos from both organizations focus on how to produce the staple crops they need to feed their families from very small plots of land. With the space left over, they produce things to sell locally. One farm we saw had every other terrace filled with onions to sell at a local market, and the other terraces held rice, beans, cilantro, tomatoes, and a cabbage-like green.
This idea that farming should benefit the farmers may seem simple, but it is a revolution in the way most agriculture has been carried out in this country and others. An integral part of this idea is that farming needs to be done sustainably. In this part of Colombia, this means growing worms in vitamin-rich food scraps to aerate the soil, using pig feces inside of a giant long and skinny plastic bag with a pipe attached to produce energy for the stove in the house, and making organic fertilizer from things already on the farm, rather than using harsh, expensive imported chemicals.
How do you build a campesino (peasant) movement?
"We are abandoned by the state, so the archdiocese is here teaching people how to be conscious of what they need."
The ACA and Archdiocese value a model of education and organization that they call "campesino to campesino." The idea behind this model is that the best learning takes place when peasant farmers share their knowledge directly with other peasant farmers. Who better to tell you why they chose to plant a certain type of onion over another one, or that a certain type of green is only good for pregnant pigs (it makes other pigs' meat tough and hard) than people who have confronted almost identical circumstances, and learned through trial and error?
The classroom for answering these questions is unlike normal ones. Instead of being lectured at by "experts," the campesinos from the ACA did a walking tour of four small farms made by people from the Archdiocese. We hiked up the sides of highways, waded through muddy fields, and I fell off a skinny dirt trail on the side of a mountain on the way to one of the farms. These farms were as small as an acre, but brimming with local food staples. The way they used the space reminded me, fondly, of how everything in my 12 foot x 15 foot apartment in Boston had its place.
People spoke of the difficult conversion to organic agriculture, the problems of genetically modified seeds (the plants they produce don't reproduce their seed, making you dependent on whoever is producing the seed) and the many uses of banana plants (they provide good shade for surrounding plants, the enrich the soil, and they produce yummy bananas to boot).
In between these stories, people also talked about their shared histories. Almost everyone present had had to displace from their land at some point, and they talked about the when's, why's and how's of having to leave, often about the loss of loved ones, and almost always about hopes and plans to return to land that had provided for them well. Many planned to use the lessons of this trip to farm tiny plots of land in the urban areas onto which they had been forced. But the most hopeful conversations I had were with those making plans for the farms where they would return.
This sharing, identifying common struggles and strategies, is ground-breaking for many. Rural peasant farmers are often isolated, farming land in places not accessible by paved roads, rarely seeing their neighbors, much less campesinos from neighboring communities. Inherent in both the ACA's and Archdiocese's work is breaking this isolation. The Archdiocese, for example, has ten full-time "agricultural promoters," all of them campesinos who have come through the program and have model farms of their own. They spend their days visiting farms in the communities where the Archdiocese works and sharing what they learn with the participants. They also have organized 1,200 children into "Youth Seed-Sowers for Peace" groups, where rural children meet weekly, elect leaders, and share thoughts and learning about agriculture and living amidst conflict. This trip, an organizer from the Archdiocese explained, is another way to break rural isolation. He told me that it helps them reach the goals of "citizen participation for peace and development and organized community solidarity."
What does economic solidarity look like in rural Colombia?
"The creation and care of the earth has a lot to do with the creation of God."
At the end of our trip, we visited a group of women, mostly widows from the war, at a church where the Archdiocese had lent them land to grow herbs. From these herbs they made soaps, shampoos, herbal remedies, powders and even passion fruit-scented massage oil which they sell to passers-by, as well as at a bi-annual fair that the Archdiocese organizes for all local producers. As the women explained how they had made their products and other women bought from them and sat moisturizing and aroma-therapizing, they discussed a barter economy: how they could trade onions for cabbage, pigs for cows, and shampoos for mangoes — and how they could continue to share both products and learning with each other.
This is a far cry from what seemed to many to be the only option before the Archdiocese or the ACA came around: producing one crop which would inevitably exhaust the soil and selling it to the one or two exporters in the region, who would almost inevitably lower the price over time as they consolidated control over the local market.
During this trip, we all discussed God's vision of land and farming, or "the spirituality of creation." One of the Archdiocese foci is being pastors of the land, and this sustainable, organic method struck people as in line with God's teaching. People reflected on a biblical passage:
"God tells us that none of us are the sole owners of this land but that we all have a right to it...We take from God's teaching that we must not mistreat it with chemicals...and that the land is for us, not to produce for export...This is God's land, which we must not contaminate. We must love this land as we love God."
