threatened: CAHUCOPANA rural association
In northeastern Antioquia Department, amidst massacres, bombings, and economic blockades by illegally armed actors that caused a food and medicine crisis, campesinos organized CAHUCOPANA (Humanitarian Action Corporation for Coexistence and Peace in Northeast Antioquia) in 2004. In the context of systemic violence and a constant humanitarian crisis, its 150 members organize to benefit around 3,000 people in rural areas. Conflicts over land and waterways have been volatile because of the government’s support of large-scale extraction companies. Armed actors (both the government’s military and illegal armed groups) try to seize control. Starting in 2019, the National Victims Unit granted CAHUCOPANA with Comprehensive Collective Reparation Plan (PIRC) because of the many years its members have endured threats, assassinations, sexual violence, forced displacement, torture and more.
The leadership of CAHUCOPANA is suffering particular persecution at this time. The office in Barrancabermeja was broken into and materials stolen. Then its legal representative, Carlos Morales, was detained without warrant by police.