November 2006 Colombia Peace Update

In this Update:

Get your own copy of Peace Community documentary, Until the Last Stone

Holiday Greetings, FOR Colombia supporters! We choose this time to offer a very exciting opportunity. When you donate $100 or more to FOR’s Colombia Program, you will receive a copy of Hasta La Última Piedra (Until the Last Stone), a stirring and well-made 58-minute documentary about the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, with beautiful footage of daily life, testimony and the community’s determination. We are grateful to Juan José Lozano, who produced the film, for allowing us to make this offer to you.

Checks can be made payable to FOR, with “Colombia Program” in the subject line, and sent to FOR, 2017 Mission St. #305, San Francisco, CA 94110. You can also donate online at www.forusa.org/getinvolved/donationform.html (Important: please write “Colombia Program” in the comments section of the form.) And if you have given recently, thank you for your support!

Santo Domingo Declares Itself a Humanitarian Zone
By http://www.prensarural.com

For ten months in 2005, the campesino residents of Santo Domingo, in Cantagallo municipality, Bolívar, were confronted with arbitrary detentions, harassment and torture by the Colombian Army’s Fifth Brigade. Specifically, on November 12, 2005, while the military was present, two community members were shot and killed in the town center.

Because of these killings, campesinos fled from the town center. The Army soon left the area as well, since the campesinos could not provide them a shield against a guerilla attack. In May 2006, community members decided to return to their homes, opting to become a humanitarian zone, similar to humanitarian zones in the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó. Here is an excerpt from the “Declaration of the Community of Santo Domingo” published September 17:

“After internal discussions, we have decided to defend our territory by becoming a Humanitarian Zone. Only civilians may reside in the Zone; no armed group, legal or illegal, is permitted within the Zone.

To make this possible, we make the following requests:

To the legal and illegal armed groups: Respect our civilian status and don't use our village or surrounding area for any kind of settlement. To the Colombian government: Have only an unarmed presence in our territory. As of two years ago we have no teacher and no health promoter. We demand that the government guarantee our right to health and education. We also demand that the government stop illicit crop fumigation and instead offer economic alternatives that permit the integral development of the region. To national and international human rights defenders: Accompany our civilian process in defense of our lives and dignity.

So that the Humanitarian Zone is viable, we commit to:
1. Communicate to any armed group our territory’s status as a Humanitarian Zone and rejection of their presence here.
2. Participate in our settlement’s community action committee to strengthen our Humanitarian Zone.
3. Educate others about our choice to become a Humanitarian Zone.

Translated by Gilberto Villaseñor III

Take Action to Protect Colombian Human Rights Defenders

This year we have seen a surge in death threats, assassinations and disappearances against defenders of human rights in Colombia, including, union representatives, religious leaders, journalists, Afro-Colombian and indigenous community leaders, and members of national and local human rights. In response to this disturbing trend, members of the House of Representatives are circulating a letter to help protect Colombian human rights defenders. Encourage your member of Congress to sign this letter before December 15!

The congressional letter, sponsored by Reps. Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Joseph Pitts (R-PA), asks Secretary Rice and the U.S. embassy to pressure the Colombian government to investigate and prosecute threats and attacks against defenders, make public statements regarding the legitimacy of human rights work, and improve protection measures for human rights defenders and other leaders at risk.

Take Action! Call your representative in the House to ask him/her to help renew the sign the bipartisan letter to protect human rights defenders in Colombia that is being circulated by Reps. McGovern and Pitts.

Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 to be connected. Ask to speak with the foreign policy aide. It’s okay leave a message if the aide is not available. Here’s a sample script for your call:

“I am calling from [your town or city] as a constituent of Rep. ‘s district. I would like him/her to sign the bipartisan letter being circulated by Reps. McGovern and Pitts that encourages the U.S. State Department to address the protection of human rights defenders with the Colombian government. Threats have dramatically increased this year, yet investigation into the origins of the death threats has thus far been inadequate. Some threats have resulted in assassinations and disappearances.

The United States should insist that the Colombian government recognize the legitimacy of human rights defenders, fully investigate threats against them, and provide protection for them when necessary. For these reasons I would like my representative to sign the McGovern-Pitts congressional letter.”

Go to http://www.house.gov to find out who your representative is, or to learn more about the person that is representing you in Congress. You can read the congressional letter at: www.lawg.org/docs/defenders06.pdf

You also may want to check out Amnesty International’s comprehensive report on human rights defenders, which was released in August 2006:
Colombia: Fear and Intimidation: The dangers of human rights work http://www.amnestyusa.org/escr/document.do?id=ENGAMR230332006

Tour of Peace Community Leader a Success

Renato Areiza, leader of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, visited the United States this month. He traveled across the country, visiting Texas, California, North Carolina, Washington DC, Georgia and Florida and telling the inspiring story of the Peace Community to hundreds of supporters. His trip included participation in the School of the Americas Watch vigil at Fort Benning, Georgia, where he addressed the over 20,000 attendees seeking to end U.S. training of Latin American militaries. For more information on the SOA Vigil, visit www.soaw.org

Delegations to Colombia

In late March 2007,, FOR partner Acompaz is organizing a delegation to the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, to commemorate the community’s tenth anniversary. The delegation is for Spanish speakers, and will include a visit to the community as well as meetings with local and national officials. For information, contact the FOR Colombia Program office.

April Delegation: Lotus in Muddy Water
A Buddhist Delegation to Colombia’s Peace Movement with Linda Ruth Cutts and Sarah Weintraub
April 25 — May 12, 2007
Co-sponsored by FOR and Buddhist Peace Fellowship

Join us on a journey to Colombia to meet face-to-face with people creating peace in the midst of civil war. Through our presence we will learn from them, stand with them, and support their work.

We will visit women’s and youth groups, travel to rural peace initiatives, meet with faith-based human rights advocates, Buddhist practitioners, and government officials, and immerse ourselves in the beauty and warmth of Colombia and its culture. During our time together we will practice meditation (zazen), chant, observe periods of silence, share vegetarian meals, and practice deep listening, exploring this experience in Colombia in light of our Buddhist practice. The delegation will end with a 3-day meditation intensive. Cost: $1800 — Includes all in-country travel, lodging, food, group leadership, translation, and orientation materials. Does not include airfare to Bogotá. Need-based scholarships may be available for committed practitioners. Please apply by March 14.

Please visit www.forcolombia.org/delegation/buddhist for more information.

August 4-18, 2007
Look ahead! FOR will sponsor a delegation to Colombian peace initiatives from August 4 to 18. Plan your summer travel now, and let us know of your interest.

Letter from the Field:
People’s Permanent Tribunal on Mining Industry
By Gilberto Villaseñor III

In the second week of November I went to Medellí to accompany members of the Antioquia Peasant Association who helped organize the People’s Permanent Tribunal, Colombia Chapter: Mining Section. These tribunals are nongovernmental tribunals originating in the Russell Tribunal that judged the United States for crimes against humanity committed during the Vietnam War.

The first day of the Tribunal included a full day of testimonies and background on the mining industry in Colombia. Several honorary judges were invited to preside, including a magistrate from Italy’s Supreme Court, Colombian and Spanish professors, and the former president of the Colombian National Indigenous Organization.

The day began with an overview of the Colombian mining industry, including a presentation about how multinational mining companies had virtually written Colombia’s mining laws for members of congress. Multinationals have obviously been given extremely preferential terms, including a reduction from 15% to .4% in taxes on their earnings from their operations in the country. Municipalities, departments, and the national government have also been prohibited from imposing taxes that would fund environmental protection.

The atmosphere was generally relaxed, although there were clearly concerns about security. The schedule that was printed out for the two days did not include the names of any of the speakers. Many of the witnesses that addressed the Tribunal had clearly witnessed serious crimes or had been the object of persecution themselves.

One of the presentations that stood out focused on the Drummond Company, based in Birmingham, Alabama, which reportedly has close ties to Colombian President Uribe. Drummond operates the Loma coalmine in northern Cesar department. A union worker gave a chilling account of how the president and vice-president of his union, Sintraminergetica, were brazenly abducted and killed in front of him and other coworkers on March 12, 2001. He described how the president was shot twice in the head and the vice-president was abducted over the protests of coworkers and found dead the following day, with signs of being tortured. Drummond was accused of hiring Colombian military officers as security guards, many of whom in turn worked as paramilitaries. The company was also accused of aiding and instigating the murders of union workers.

Further compelling testimony came from a union president who had been the object of a murder attempt. Before beginning his testimony he asked that all cameras be turned off and that he not be filmed. He was the president of the union Sintraminercol, which was trying to organize workers at Cemex, a Mexican company, Ladrillera Santafé, and Holcim, a Swiss company. He described in detail how on October 10, 2004, as he was taking his two children to lunch, he spotted two killers coming at him. They were riding on an unmarked motorcycle, with the person in the back carrying a pistol. Fortunately, the union leader was able to hide behind telephone and electricity boxes on the sidewalk and denied his assassins a clear shot of him. They were forced to continue down the block because of traffic behind them. The union leader also showed the tribunal pictures of another murder attempt on May 2, 2004, when two bombs were placed inside Sintraminercol’s headquarters in Bogota, blowing out all of the windows on the floor where the union was located and causing serious damage to the building.

The Tribunal lasted two days and adjourned at midday on the second day in order to have a verdict delivered by 5:30pm. In the end, the Tribunal ruled against the multinationals, the Colombian government, and government security forces. Judge Frances Ippolito (a magistrate from Italy’s Supreme Court) read the ruling, stating that, “The accusers demonstrated that the modus operandi of the accused companies could be divided in four categories: benefiting from repression as a tool that allowed them to guarantee their exploitative mining practices; utilizing public security forces as their own security department; changing domestic legislation to fit the interests of the multinationals; and seizing control of other people’s land as a way eliminating opposition.”

Despite the fact that the tribunal has no official legal standing, those who were present considered the verdict a small moral victory and part of the next step in their search for justice.

Pedalers for Peace Report on Their 500-Mile Ride
By Janice Gallagher

15,000 members. Over 90 years old. Interfaith, Pacifist. These were some of the factual nuggets we — Janice and future Peace Presence volunteer Fedelma McKenna — knew about FOR before we started our pedal for peace from Boston to Washington, DC to support FOR’s human rights work in Colombia. On the road, these nuggets materialized in the form of an incredibly diverse group of supporters who, to a person, inspired us to keep going by their deep commitment to peace, their warm hearts, houses and food, and their enthusiastic reception of wet and smelly bicyclists.

On a long, cold, rainy, hilly day in Connecticut, we were scooped into a warm van and taken to the house of FOR board member Martha DiGiovanni, who floored me with her tireless work in support of peace, in addition to raising a family and teaching full-time. In what seemed like the middle of nowhere on a long ride down the Delaware River, the peace activists of LEPOCO materialized at a lovely café in Easton, PA, and brought the local press, got our lunches paid for by sympathetic store-owners, and even let us throw our bikes on the back of their car for a ways so that we could rest our aching knees a bit. And, importantly, FOR supporters reached deep into their pockets to support this ride. To date, we have raised $11,600 in support of this work — more than two thirds of the way towards our goal of $15,000.

If you ever have doubts about the generosity of humanity, or feel isolated in your commitment to peace work, I strongly suggest riding your bike 500 miles and staying with FOR members. Perhaps not practical for everyone—but I can think of no more effective way to renew your spirit and restore your faith in the goodness of people. Thanks to all the FOR members (and many non-members, too!) who made our journey not only possible but also enjoyable. For more information about the bike ride and to read my blog, go to www.pedalingforpeace.org.

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November 2006 Colombia Peace Update

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