September 2005 Peace Presence Update

Partnering for Peace Conference —
Colombian and North American Communities in Solidarity
Chicago, October 21-23

Please mark your calendars and register now for a one-of-a-kind international conference on Colombia, Partnering for Peace, to be held in at the International Conference Center (Chicago) from October 21-23. With the participation of over a dozen leaders and members of Colombian communities and grassroots groups, churches and advocacy groups engaged in non-violent resistance, the conference will provide an unique opportunity for North Americans and Colombians to get together and develop or deepen relationships of solidarity and mutual learning.

Represented at the conference will be the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartadó, the Afro-Colombian communities of Cacarica (CAVIDA), Association of Displaced Afro-Colombias (AFRODES) and the Process of Black Communities (PCN); the U'wa indigenous community; the womens' group of Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres, and the religious groups of Justapaz and Peace Sanctuary Church Movement.

The conference will also feature six workshops aimed at providing the tools required to build and strengthen sister relationships: (i) Dos and don'ts of establishing a new partnership between North American and Colombian communities; (ii) Advocacy & Accompaniment: Uniting Our Voices for Policy Change; (iii) Lessons from U.S.-Central American Community Partnerships; (iv) Economic dimensions of partnership: sharing resources, maintaining healthy limits, avoiding paternalism /dependency, prospects for fair-trade marketing of community products; (v) Gifts of Faith: Interfaith & Ecumenical Bridges. How diverse communities of faith can bless each other with gifts of healing, memory, forgiveness and hope, and (vi) Putting Down Roots: Nurturing Your Partnership for the Long Haul. Ways to keep the partnership going, stay in touch, deepen our connections to each other.

Join us in this sharing and learning experience of building lasting partnerships across our borders and constructing truly democratic paths to peace and justice. See the conference program, peruse the list of organizing sponsors and cosponsors, and download a flyer to help spread the word here.

And register now for the conference here,
or request a paper registration form at forcolombia@igc.org or (415) 495-6334.

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Semana por la Paz, a Week for Peace — September 11-18

Every year in September, Colombians voice their opposition to the four decades long civil war and to demand a negotiated resolution to the armed conflict in what is called Semana por la Paz, a Week for Peace. In a series of events throughout the country, Colombians engaged in nonviolence come together with their dreams and building efforts to construct a common agenda toward peace and social justice.

Also, every year, communities in the United States join Colombians in celebration with a week of events to show solidarity and support through refection and actions that promotes peace in Colombia. Among the activities programmed for this year's Semana por la Paz (September 11-18), is a National Call-In Day, on September 15. People in the United States are encouraged to call their senators and representatives and ask them to support the more favorable Senate version of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee on aid to Colombia. Click here for more information as well as numbers to call.

NATIONAL DAY OF REFLECTION AND ACTION
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15

REFLECT — Offer your prayers and action for peace in Colombia.

ADVOCATE - Call your senators and representatives: numbers at www.senate.gov and www.house.gov or through the Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121.

This important piece of annual legislation determines the amount of aid to be sent to Colombia in 2006, how it will be spent, and conditions assistance. The Senate language on Colombia is much better than the House version because it:

Limits military aid and increases development assistance;
Puts restrictions on funds used for harmful drug crop fumigation;
Contains strict conditions on aid to demobilized paramilitaries in order to encourage a full dismantling of illegal paramilitary groups.

Tell your senators and members of Congress to support the Senate language on Colombia in the foreign operations appropriations conference committee.

Suggested script: Introduce yourself, state where you are from, and ask to speak with the foreign policy advisor. Share with the person on the phone or over voicemail:

"My call today is in recognition of the people of Colombia who are striving together for peace in their homes and in our world. This week churches and communities throughout Colombia are participating in a celebration of peace that is held in the present and the peace that Colombia aspires to attain. I ask that your office do all in your power to support peace in Colombia by promoting human rights of all, protecting the victims of war, and promoting social and economic development in Colombia."

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San José Peace Community Speaking Tour — October 17-28

We are pleased to announce the upcoming speaking tour of Renato Areiza, a prominent leader from the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó. Born in San José de Apartadó, Renato has been involved in the peace community since its foundation. He is the current coordinator of the Community Council, a position he was promoted to after serving as the Peace Community's coordinator of education. Renato's sister, Deyanira Areiza, was among those killed in the February 2005 massacre.

The tour will take place from October 17 — 28 and among its stops will be New York City, Providence, Louisville (KY) and Washington (DC)

Dates:

• Oct. 17, New York (NY), Contact: Mario Murillo, (917) 589-7915, Mario@wbai.org
• Oct. 18, Providence (RI), Contact Larry Carney, (401) 277-4866, carneyls@yahoo.com
• Oct. 19, Lehigh Valley (PA), Contact: Nancy Tate, (610) 691-8730, lepoco@postmark.net
• Oct. 20 — Oct. 23, Partnering for Peace Conference in Chicago (see above)
• Oct. 24, Louisville (KY), Contact: Jean Edwards, (502) 458-8056
• Oct. 25-28, Washington (DC), Contact: Gimena Sanchez, (202) 489-1702, gimenapbicolombusa@earthlink.net

FOR Witness
The current issue of FOR Witness features information on diverse FOR initiatives and how you can be involved. It features a special look at FOR's new work from our office in Bogotá.

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"Resistance Unarmed"
Colombian Communities Building Alternatives to War

A photographic exhibit of the long struggle for peace in Colombia will be at SUNY Orange, Middletown, New York, from Friday, September 30 until the end of October.

SEPTEMBER 30 ~ OCTOBER 31, 2005

Latino American — Romanticism
Oil Paintings by Gustavo Kaxtano

Location: Orange Hall Gallery [universally accessible corner of Wawayanda and Grandview Avenues, Middletown, NY
Opening Reception for both shows: Friday, September 30, 6:30 — 9:30 p.m.
Lecture & Discussion w/Q&A by Renata Rendon, 7 — 8:15 p.m. on "The Hidden Alternative to Colombia's War: Peace Communities. . ."
(Renata is a returned FOR volunteer who lived with one of the communities for a year.)
Music: Alexandra Castano, mezzo-soprano & Danny Arias, classical guitarist 8:30 — 9:30 p.m.

Gallery Hours: Mon. — Wed. 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. & Thurs. — Fri. 9 a.m. — 5 p.m., and during events in Orange Hall Theater

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Certification: U.S. State Department Rolls Over Victims' Rights in Colombia

After a half a year of delay, the State Department on August 1 certified that Colombia meets human rights conditions. The decision released not only 12.5 percent of military aid that was being held up from 2004, but also another 12.5 percent of this year's aid — conveniently just a day before President Uribe's visit with President Bush. It was positive — and a result of grassroots pressure — that the State Department held up aid for half a year, the longest period since Plan Colombia began. The State Department, with this pressure, had to raise human rights cases with the Colombian government. It appears that President Bush raised specific cases of human rights violations with Uribe during their meeting, possibly even the massacre in San José; "we talked about specific cases," Bush said. But it is deeply disturbing that the State Department decided to certify on two rounds of aid with very little progress on human rights cases. It was a political decision, to wipe the slate clean before Uribe visited the Crawford ranch.

The document certifying the Colombian military's human rights includes material related to San José de Apartadó, and offers new information on the official investigation into the February 21 massacre. The document singles out the Army's 17th Brigade, whose troops community representatives said committed the massacre, for its poor human rights record. But it makes clear that no Colombian government investigators have interviewed foot soldiers who were present in the area of the massacre in February. The document notes that the community is not cooperating with the investigation, but does not mention the more than 100 declarations its members have given in past investigations with no results, or the killings of some of those who have given such declarations.

Please take a few minutes to write and submit a letter to the editor. Click here for a sample letter.

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Letter from the Field: The Extreme Delegation
August 8, 2005

We send this e-mail to you from the most unlikely of places, on top of the Andean mountains in northwest Colombia- at the FOR house in La Union, one of the peace settlements that make up the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado. Our journey began over a week ago and it has been packed full of meetings, visits to barrios and outlying mountain communities in addition to internal reflections and lots of arepas (wonderful corn tortilla/pancake/disc of delight). We met in Bogota and began with a day of preparation. The first day in the field consisted of a meeting with AFRODES (Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians) and visiting the barrio to which many Afro-Colombians have been displaced. It didn't take us long to realize that displacement would be the unifying theme of the trip. Depending on who you talk to, there are between three and five million internally displaced Colombians, many of whom are of African and Indigenous descent. Displacement is a consistent threat and reality for Colombians living in resource-rich land. Oftentimes, people are displaced more than once. This, in addition to the ever-present internal conflict between three major groups of armed actors (the guerilla groups, the national military and the paramilitary who are protected by the state), puts the rural population in the middle of a seemingly endless civil war.

We were also privileged to visit with the National Organization of Indigenous Colombians. While Colombia has a relatively small population of Indigenous peoples (around 1 million) they have been severely affected by the on-going armed conflict and race to develop lands for oil extraction and energy production. Both groups, fighting for basic human rights, are committed to non-violent resistance, are highly organized, and run on mostly volunteer efforts as well as occasional aid from international NGOs.

We then traveled to Medellin, one of Colombia's largest cities in the northern region of Antioquia. There we met with the Red Juvenil (Youth Network of Medellin), a group of young people working to present peaceful alternatives to their peers in the midst of armed conflict. The Network took us to barrios that seemed to rise up endlessly into the surrounding hills of the city. In Santo Domingo we participated in a "cooperative game" with the youth of the neighborhood school. These games are aimed at teaching and empowering children to choose peaceful and collaborative solutions as an alternative to the cyclical violence of the barrios. Further up the mountainside in the barrio of Bella Oriente, we were introduced to organic community gardening and our first taste of agua panela (a traditional drink of water and sugar cane). That was followed by meeting with another youth group in the Network that worked with young people in various barrios.

The next morning we woke up with the sun (another theme of the trip) and traveled up the winding highway to the town of Cocorna, our first stop in eastern Antioquia. We met up with a human rights lawyer from the CJL (Judicial Liberty Cooperation) who served as our guide for the next two days. This is also the point in our adventures where we naively agreed to board a chivero (a 1960s-era truck with a covered bed and benches lining the sides) only to bounce around the dirt and rock highways of the Paisa mountains. The bruises that still linger lead us to declare ourselves not just delegation, but an EXTREME DELEGATION. The pueblo of El Molino was our first stop, where community members welcomed us, some having walked for 2 hours in order to meet with us. The community members of El Molino spoke about the almost 50 percent displacement over the last two years in their region. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the once commercial hub of Santa Ana, our second stop. The story of Santa Ana is too complex to coherently explain here, suffice to say the once guerilla-controlled area was five years ago declared a target by the military. The inevitable clash of guerilla and paramilitary forces displaced or killed almost the entire population. It now serves as a ghostly reminder of the civilian causalities in this armed conflict.

As night fell we finally arrived in Los Medios, a town fighting to live in peace amidst violence and situated in breathtaking mountains. We were received, as always, with generous hospitality and spent the night in the elementary/high school that is run with the help of the Fransiscan accompaniers. The community store of Los Medios, was just opened again in this past year. The communities we have visited have all spoken at length about these community stores. As they refuse to sell to any armed actors, they are put at risk by all armed actors and often find their stores destroyed and their merchandise taken. Usually, it is only with external or international accompaniment that these stores can be reopened and remain neutral.

The next day we hopped back into the chivero and headed down the mountain, where we eventually arrived in the tourist town of Guatape. There we met with an amazing group of women who made up the board of directors of AMOR (Eastern Regional Association of Women). These women astounded us with their devotion to healing the psychological effects of this conflict. Our meeting with them reminded us that people from every class are affected by this conflict. The mostly middle-class women of AMOR have organized themselves into groups that deal with everything ranging from female citizenship training to political mobilization of women to sexual violence and grief circles.

From Guatape it was back to Medellin and a meeting with ACA (Association of Campesinos of Antioquia). Representatives of ACA explained the dynamics of the displacement community of La Honda, our next stop. This Medellin barrio was constructed as high up as one can get on the mountainside of the city. We toured community gardens and a school that serves almost 1500 children and then descended down the careening path toward the city.

The next morning we boarded a flight to Apartado, the city closest to the peace Community of San Jose de Apartado. We hopped into two chivas and headed to the recently established displacement camp of La Holandita, or San Josecita. We met with the leaders of the community and toured the camp that has literally been constructed in the last 4 months, after a police post moved into the town center of San Jose. Members of the peace community refuse to live with any armed actors, including those of the state. For this reason, they left all they had built behind and moved 20 minutes down the road to La Holandita. This decision is a powerful and profound example of peaceful resistance. The next day, we returned to La Holandita, loaded up horses and mules with bags and delegates and began the two-hour saunter up to La Unión. A slow and winding ride through the mountains of Urabá was almost too amazing for words. The community of La Unión greeted us warmly and gave us a wonderfully detailed history of the area and the formation of the peace community. And this is from where we write, laughing at how it took a long and winding horse ride to find time with the Internet.

We are grateful for our wonderful leaders, Trish and Sarah as well as Denise and Danny who round out the FOR team on the ground here in Colombia.

We've been laughing a lot, too. It has been wonderful to be a part of such a well-balanced team of people — it makes for a supportive and loving environment while struggling to absorb and make sense of this complex situation. Take care and we'll see you soon!

con esperanza y amor,
the extreme delegates

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