FOR- Programs - Colombia Update

International Volunteers in Colombia Threatened with Deportation and Arrest;
Peace Community Project at Risk from Occupation by Security Forces

On May 27 2004, the President of Colombia Alvaro Uribe Velez, made public statements threatening the leaders of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó (SJA) with arrest for allegedly "obstructing justice." He quoted a complaint by the District Attorney, which alleges that the community leaders do not permit its members to testify to District Attorney personnel. Uribe also said that San José de Apartadó "continues to present a corridor of the FARC." In the past, accusations such as these have made the Peace Community a target for paramilitary and military violence against them. Uribe Velez also made statements threatening internationals with arrest and deportation for supporting the Peace Community in its alleged "obstruction of justice." The FOR is one of the international organizations accompanying the Peace Community, and is concerned for the security of its civilian population and the international volunteers accompanying them.

On June 2, police and army agents entered San José de Apartadó, asked for the papers of members of Peace Brigades International (which PBI members presented in good order), and stated that a permanent police station would be established there, according to a statement by the Peace Community. The agents also reportedly asked for two community leaders by name, and about when the community meets and what it talks about. Although the principles of the Peace Community forbid selling goods to armed groups, soldiers forced local merchants to sell them goods, saying, “just like you sell to the guerrillas, you also have to sell to us,” the community’s statement said. They stated that, if the police or army wanted to occupy the community’s living areas, it would put their children in danger, and the community as a civilian population would have to displace.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Uribe's statements and the police action were made in the context of a "security council" meeting with local civilian and military authorities after the explosion of a bomb in a discotheque in the city of Apartadó that killed seven people and injured over 100 on May 22.

The Community of SJA declared itself Peace Community in 1997, stating that it does not support any armed actor involved in Colombia's decade long civil war. In a communiqué published on May 24, the Peace Community condemned the bombing calling it a "demented act against the civilian population, which demonstrates how destructive and unjust the war is." On the other hand, the Peace Community has repeatedly called for an evaluation of the Colombian inter-institutional commission in charge of investigating serious human rights violations committed against them, because after years of investigation "none of the perpetrators have been punished (…). Justice has not been served." Due to the repeated serious crimes against the Peace Community and its Colombian supporters, the Interamerican Court of Human Rights has issued measures for their protection, which the Colombian Constitutional Court reiterated in a decision in favor of the Peace Community on April 15, 2004. The community has also called for the presence in San José of civilian government agencies.

The Fellowship of Reconciliation started its protective presence by US volunteers in the Peace Community at the beginning of 2002 and Peace Brigades International has been accompanying SJA since 1999. It is an explicit part of the FOR Colombia Peace Presence mandate that its workers respect Colombian law, and FOR volunteers are working legally in Colombia with visas issued by the Colombian government. FOR is concerned that international workers are threatened for legally accompanying the Peace Community in its efforts to affirm the rights of its members as a civilian population.

President Uribe also announced that a new U.S.-trained “mobile brigade” of the Army will be deployed to the Urabá region (where San José de Apartadó is located). The deployment would represent the further militarization of an area that already faces a high level of presence by the Army, guerrillas, and paramilitary groups.

Representatives of FOR are meeting with Colombian and U.S. officials and coordinating their actions with other international and Colombian organizations. We expect to seek action in the coming days by people who support the Peace Community and the work of accompanying its brave experiment in nonviolence.