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Delegation 2004 to Colombia - First-Hand
Reports
Cacarica: July 18-August 7, 2004
San José de Apartadó: July 18-31, 2004
Organized by
Chicagoans for a Peaceful Colombia
and Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR)
Sixth Report:
July 28, 2004
It rained all night our last night in La Union. Our soggy clothes from
the previous tormenta were moving toward mildew. Christopher [from
a food coop in Minnesota] had an early morning meeting with community
leaders
to discuss the possibility of setting up fair trade between the peace
community and food coops in the Twin Cities. He left the meeting smiling
ear to ear after hearing of the 30,000 avocados per week and the 15
tons of cacao beans per week produced in the region, as well as the
year round
banana crop.
The community generously loaned us just about every horse and mule they
own so we could travel the path down to San Jose without having to negotiate
the mud and streams by foot. We were quite a crew on board our bestias.
What a beautiful morning ride after being sent off by songs from the children.
I suspect we all wished we could have stayed longer in this brave and beautiful
place.
We said very hurried goodbyes to the folks in San Jose as we rushed to
a meeting with Colonel Duque of the 17th Brigade, the unit assigned to
San Jose de Apartado. Despite his courtesy and well rehearsed charm, his
responses to our concerns and questions were defensive, duplicitous and
disturbing. Nevertheless, it is likely that continued meetings with the
Brigade are an important aspect of the accompaniment of the peace community,
helping to make it clear that everything possible will be done to hold
the Colonel accountable for human rights violations and incursions into
the community, and for protecting the space of civilian populations.
July 29
Lots of intensive work today preparing for two long meetings, especially
for an afternoon meeting with the U.S. Embassy.
Our morning meeting was with Juan Carlos Monge
of the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights, an earnest approachable
man with many years
of experience monitoring human rights in Guatemala before coming to Colombia.
The UN High Commission was invited to come 7 years ago and Uribe has asked
them to stay until 2006. Sr. Monge seemed to be open with us about his
concerns about the State´s compliance with the UN recommendations
which are compiled each year. He emphasized the importance of the UN doing
more than human rights observation - the need to dig deep, analyze and
educate.
He says there is evidence that the "improvement" in the human
rights situation here is not as good as is being presented by the government,
and believes that in some areas, for example freedom of expression and
self censorship, things are getting worse. He wonders if a possible explanation
for the recent decrease in displacements is that people are feeling trapped
in their communities by the complex interactions of the paramilitary, the
guerilla, and forces of the state. He is seriously concerned about the
lack of attention to the basic human rights concepts of truth, justice
and reparations in the paramilitary demobilization process. Sr. Monge is
also concerned about the increase in mass detentions, especially about
informants being coerced and/or paid to provide false information. He was
willing to share his personal frustration about lack of progress despite
so much hard work on the part of NGOs and the UN. He doesn´t see
a strong political will here. Yet, his great appreciation for the Colombian
people and for the beauty of the country keep him going.
Our experience meeting with Craig Conway and Kiersten
Stianson, both human rights officers with the US Embassy, was much less
satisfying. As many
of you know, US Embassys tend to be formidable, unwelcoming places. This
is one of the largest in the world. We had prepared a whole list of questions
which they addressed revealing their strong belief in Uribe´s current
approach to the conflict, though they insisted that his real desire is
to force the guerilla to come to the bargaining table. They insisted that
one third of Plan Colombia money goes to humanitarian aid, and seemed particularly
impressed with a USAID program to improve the Colombian justice system.
However, as Sr. Monge from the UN pointed out, "real truth isn´t
just judicial truth". With respect to the peace community of San Jose
de Apartado, our embassy hosts emphasized the lack of trust between the
forces of the state and the community. Their analysis appeared to lack
any understanding of the vast power differences between the parties, or
of the class based differences in access to participation in the national
dialogue.
The current US Ambassador to Colombia is an improvement
over the former one. In response to Uribe´s recent threats to international
human rights NGOs, he has publically supported the essential role that
human
rights NGOs play in the country.
July 30
Our last day as a delegation. We have not only been preparing for our meetings,
but also planning for how we will continue our solidarity work when we
return home, and sharing some ideas for possible long term projects together.
Our final meeting was with Carlos Franco, head
of the Office of Human Rights under the Colombian Vice President. We
brought many questions, and
despite being distracted by other concerns, Franco was insistent on addressing
every one. He was concerned that we might not understand the complexity
of the human rights situation and that we might not be giving credit for
progess that has been made. He insisted that a lack of adequate police
and military presence in most of Colombia is a fundamental problem because
it limits the State´s capacity to guarantee human rights. He wants
more resources for military and police forces especially in isolated regions.
He stated that the current policies of "democratic security" were
instituted only after the guerilla refused to engage in a negotiation and
demobilization process, and that the government would prefer to engage
in such a process with all the armed groups. Franco did acknowledge some
of the shortcomings of the paramilitary demobilization process especially
when all the armed groups aren´t demobilizing at the same time. Though
he admits there is a long way to go, he strongly believes progress in human
rights is being made. He denied the problem of paramilitary control of
poor communities in Medellin. Finally, Sr. Franco assured us that a meeting
between President Uribe and Colombian NGOs will take place August 5th,
and one between Uribe and international NGOs will take place August 17th.
He invited FOR to attend.
Carlos Franco, like all the officials we met with, was very generous with
his time.
Our time together as a delegation ended with dinner
in an extremely sophisticated and wealthy part of Bogota where there
are almost no signs that a war is
going on. The streets and malls were packed with people shopping, dining
and just hanging out. Some of us were wishing that we had learned more
about the Colombian economy so that we could better understand the existence
of such a large wealthy area in Bogota given what we have heard about the
extent of unemployment and of the "street economy". It is easier
to understand the "lack of will" to guarantee human rights and
end the armed conflict after seeing this part of Bogota.
We have been blessed with the opportunity to listen to those most effected
by this war - we have witnessed their suffering, their courage and their
amazing commitment to find a path toward peace. We are extremely grateful
to our fabulous delegation leaders and to the Fellowship of Reconciliation
for offering this opportunity.
Que la paz prevalezca en la tierra!
____________________________
Fellowship of Reconciliation
Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean
2017 Mission St. #305
San Francisco, CA 94110
phone: (415) 495-6334, fax: (415) 495-5628
www.forusa.org
©2004
Fellowship of Reconciliation | 
