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| Colombia Peace Presence Update, April 2004 In this Update: … Take Action - Petition to John
Kerry
From LAWG: It's April, that time when many of us pull out our checkbooks to pay our taxes. This year, over a half a billion dollars of our tax money will be sent to Colombia, where about 80% of it will be used to train and equip the Colombian military and police. US military aid has fanned the flames of Colombia's brutal war. It has discouraged reform by the Colombian military, which has a long history of abuses, particularly against union members, religious leaders, and human rights and peace workers. And it has caught Colombian civilians in the crossfire, tearing apart communities and families. It is up to us to tell our government that we don't want our tax dollars funding the Colombian military. Please take one minute today to sign the National Petition on Colombia. You can read and sign the petition at http://www.lawg.org/tools/petition.htm. If you've already signed, take a minute to send the link to friends or colleagues (see below). The petition is addressed to presidential hopeful John Kerry, who is on the fence when it comes to Colombia and needs our pressure to support a change in policy. It calls on Kerry to rethink US aid to Colombia's military and to prioritize social assistance for small farmers in Colombia and drug treatment and prevention programs at home. Help us reach our goal of 50,000 signatures on the petition. The petition will be delivered to members of Congress at the end of May, as they begin debate over Colombia's aid package for next year. We will continue to collect signatures through the summer, and will deliver the petition to Kerry at the end of August. We need your help now to send a strong message to Kerry and the US Congress. Together, we can make this happen. Please begin by signing the petition at http://www.lawg.org/tools/petition.htm. Then, help spread the word by circulating the petition to your friends and colleagues. After signing, click on the button to send the link to others. Publicize the petition with your community group. Post it to virtual bulletin boards. Include the link and an explanation of the petition in your church's newsletter. Or send it to other members of your union. Every signature strengthens our call for a new US-Colombia policy.
FOR invites you to participate in an exciting exposition that explores communities in nonviolent resistance in the context of a country torn by political and social violence and war. As part of the our ongoing commitment to supporting nonviolent solutions to Colombia's civil war, we are developing a photography exhibit that lifts up and makes visible the struggles of communities in nonviolent resistance. While the exhibit will convey the great obstacles these communities face, it will also highlight these communities as a sign of hope. They resist the violence that surrounds them by choosing to embrace peace. The exhibit will frame the communities' nonviolent resistance within the context of the conflict and will raise questions about viewers' experience of community and nonviolence in the U.S. It will also challenge people to reexamine their understanding of the situation in Colombia and inspire them to be in solidarity with Colombians working for peace. The communities profiled in "Resistance Unarmed" are located in Colombia¹s northern Urabá region. San José de Apartadó formally declared itself a peace community in 1997. After being threatened with forced displacement they decided not to support directly or indirectly any armed actor in the civil war. Cacarica community of self-determination, life and dignity is an Afro-Colombian community that was initially displaced to the coastal city of Turbo and has since returned to their home territory in the lower Atrato river region. They have established two "humanitarian zones" where no weapons are allowed. The Peace Communities San Francisco de Asis, Nuestra Señora del Carmen, and Natividad de Maria are Afro-Colombian communities that have chosen an "option of life" by deciding to not participate in the armed conflict, though they live in areas contested by armed groups. The Balsita Community of Life and Work, near the municipality of Dabeiba in the department of Antioquia, is another community that has chosen a strategy of survival based on principles of nonviolence. We invite you to book dates for the exhibit (two weeks to a month), which we project will be available by July 1st. For more information contact Gilberto at 415 495 6334, Fax: 415 495 5628 or <gilberto@igc.org>.
Hugo Tovar Marroquín, one of the campesinos' lawyers and himself from Algeciras, said during the demonstration, "We want justice to be administered with good judgement and according to the principles of law. Not an administration of justice that blindly obeys the cowardly accusations of masked people and mercenaries of legal evidence. We want justice to be a factor for peace, not another factor for social unrest. We don't want hundreds of campesinos and workers' lives to be ruined because they are between the sword of the guerrilla and the wall of the government. It is impossible to have justice if we don't understand that beyond legalities, there is a reality of violence and poverty that gives thousands of families no alternative but to let themselves be massacred by the violent ones or to expose themselves to a moral massacre of justice... We ask for understanding of our dramatic situation, no more acts of retaliation and vengeance. We don't want the children of today's injustices to become the terrorists of tomorrow."
Colombian President Álvaro Uribe visited Washington D.C. March 22-25, during which time he met with President George Bush, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Zoellick, Trade Secretary Don Evans, Office of National Drug Control Policy Director John Walters, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Senate leaders Bill Frist (R-TN) and Tom Daschle (D-SD). Bush and Uribe discussed the renewal of Plan Colombia, the program that has delivered roughly $2.8 billion in military training and financial aid to Colombia, which expires in 2005 and Uribe hopes will be extended through 2009. According to White House spokesman Scott McClellan, Bush applauded Uribe “for efforts in standing firmly against terrorism and combating drug trafficking." Uribe garnered further support for an “escalation" of Plan Colombia from lawmakers, announcing that Senators Daschle and Frist endorse increasing the legal cap on the number of U.S. military personnel and contractors allowed in Colombia to 800 and 600, respectively. Other Congresspersons and non-governmental groups continue to express concerns about Plan Colombia and the personnel cap, however, fearing the implications of the expanding U.S. role in Colombia. On other fronts, Bush, Uribe and USTR Zoellick declared that free trade negotiations will begin between the two countries on May 19. Before departing, Uribe also received a $13.3 million check from the U.S. Department of Justice, representing assets forfeited from deceased Colombian drug lord Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha.
President Alvaro Uribe Vélez's administration on April 6 discarded legislation that would have granted amnesty to illegal armed actors found guilty of crimes against humanity. A replacement bill drafted by the administration omits some controversial points of the earlier legislation. The new measure grants the combatants reduced jail terms of 5-10 years but does not specify whether offenders would go to ordinary prisons, mentioning only unspecified "detention centers." The administration plans to introduce the bill in Congress later this month. The earlier legislation, introduced last August, would have rewarded combatants who negotiate with the government by replacing their prison terms with fines, paroles and house arrests. It would have covered crimes against humanity, including massacres, torture and civilian kidnapping. The United Nations and human rights groups said the bill violated international law and guaranteed impunity. Under the new bill, a truth commission would investigate alleged crimes against humanity and recommend punishment to the president, who would decide whether the defendant receives the 5-10 year sentence or a civilian trial that could result in a longer jail term. Uribe says lightened sentences are necessary to lure combatants to the negotiating table. Last July, he opened formal talks with the 13,000-strong United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), the nation's main paramilitary federation. The AUC consists of private militias that formed in the 1980s and 1990s in the name of combating guerrilla extortion and kidnapping. Often aided by units of the nation's U.S.-backed security forces, the paramilitaries carry out most of the killings in Colombia's war. The violence usually targets peasants and has continued under a ceasefire the AUC declared in December 2002. AUC leaders Carlos Castaño Gil and Salvatore Mancuso are wanted in the United States on drug trafficking charges. In the government talks, they are demanding protection from extradition.
It's raining--HARD. Harder than I ever thought possible. An endless cascade hammers the tin roof above my room in the community "bodega" (storehouse) and the sound is deafening. It's been raining off and on for a week now, which I guess means that winter has arrived, a concept that confuses my preconceived notion that "April showers bring May flowers." Most of my previous Aprils were drenched with rain too, but only as a reminder that the hot, lazy days of summer are just around the corner. In Colombia, water determines the season: verano means unbearable mid-day sun, dusty roads, browning fields (a relative term in the semi-tropical foothills of the cordillera) and lots of bugs that bite. Invierno not only means a season where rubber boots are the most popular accessory, but can also be literally translated as rain. The rainy season arrived exactly as promised by those here in La Union‹the week after Semana Santa. I remember how a few weeks ago several community members worried aloud that the earth was still too dry to plant maiz, yuca, and frijoles. Invierno will be here soon, they boldly declared with furrowed brows and a concerned glance at the sky. It relieves my restless mind to know that even for those who don¹t need to consult a calendar to know when the seeds must be sown, patience doesn¹t come naturally. The rain has also reminded me that often it is hard for us to imagine an alternate reality to the one in which we are living. A few minutes ago I thought the torrential downpour outside would never let up. Now, as I sit stroking these keys the rain has softened to a light whisper and is slowly being replaced by the shouted conversations of people who had taken refuge behind closed doors when the downpour began. The respite, like the heavy rain, was brief and the irrepressible vitality of La Union has re-emerged from its shelter. Yesterday, I had a conversation over a bucket of half-shelled beans with our neighbor, Don Jorge, about the massacre here in 2000. Six community leaders were killed by a group of paramilitaries who arrived hooded, rounded up the martyrs and shot them at point-blank range in order to send a message that resistance will not be tolerated. I asked Jorge what the rest of the community members did and he answered, "They told us to run away so of course we did." Of course. Who in their right mind would stay out in the open, vulnerable to the elements of evil that appeared among them that day? Jorge then told me that after the paras left, the people returned to find their loved ones lying dead. Terrified, the survivors began to gather their things in order to flee down the mountain and take refuge in San José as they had done many times before. He said that one of the Catholic nuns who lived in the community at the time declared that she would stay behind to mourn and watch over the bodies. Not wanting her to be alone, Jorge told her that he would stay with her. Another man refused to abandon them, too, and pretty soon the entire village decided that no one should leave until their leaders had been laid to rest. So, despite the presence of armed and vicious killers nearby, the people of La Union stayed put. The authorities came, autopsied the bodies, and began the process of investigation that would never lead to the arrest or prosecution of any of the perpetrators. In Colombia, impunity is a foregone conclusion to virtually all acts of terror levied upon the civilian population. Decades of war have taught the people of La Union that revenge only begets revenge, and the Peace Community's declaration of non-violence is an attempt to break the cycle of horror. But sometimes the price of their refusal to take sides can be dear. Faced with the loss of their brothers, fathers and children, the survivors of the massacre were left with few options: stay in their homes and risk further attacks and threats to their safety, or flee down the mountain. Although for many in Colombia the refusal to leave their land has proven to be the equivalent of signing of one¹s own death order, the people of La Union know first-hand how displacement destroys communities. Summoning every once of courage, this time they fought the instinct to run. They stayed in their village and resumed the daily business of survival‹working the land, tending their animals, educating their children. This time the shelter they sought was in reaffirming their commitment to a peaceful future. Four years later, the La Union that I know is a picture of tranquility and vivacity. Everyone works hard and laughs harder while the presence of armed actors, for the moment, feels like a bad dream. Perhaps this calm is temporary and danger lurks just over a nearby mountaintop, and perhaps my neighbors are more nervous than they let on as they go about their daily routines. But as I listen to the reawakening of life after the storm, I marvel at the resilience of spirit that seems effortless. This community has survived unimaginable terror and still, it is laid-back laughter and neighborly banter that fills the aural void left by the retreating storm.
If you have any further questions about the FOR Colombia program, please contact us. Thank you very much for your ongoing support. In Peace
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©2004 Fellowship of Reconciliation |