January 5, 2022
Threats against Team Member
The year 2021 got off to a difficult start. In January, one of our team members received several death threats due to our work in favor of human rights. Unfortunately, Colombia is one of the deadliest countries in the word for human rights defenders. During the past year, 171 social leaders were killed.
A Journey through Painful Memories
In April, we accompanied the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó on the Good Friday commemorative walk. As every year, commemorations take place at actual crime scenes where members of the community were killed. Crosses are nailed as a reminder, but at the same time as a sign of resistance, a sign against silence in the midst of ongoing oppression by armed groups. The hammering sounds through the hills, the forest. Finally, with Doña Brigida, one of the founders of the Peace Community, we arrive at the station where her daughter Elisenia was killed. There is nothing left of the house, a tree and wild growth have swallowed up the remains. In 2005, 15-year-old Elisenia spent Christmas dancing with friends in a house in the village of La Cristalina. At dawn on December 26, when she and her friends were already asleep, the Colombian army invaded the house and killed all six people. They were then all presented as guerrilla fighters by the Colombian army, which was particularly painful for Doña Brigida.
Later we reach the place where Wever Andrés was killed in 2019. Wever Andrés was also lying in his bed when paramilitaries who control the area came and killed him on November 18, 2019. With a note they left, they made it clear and left no doubt. The young peasant was killed because he and his family had not followed the rules of the paramilitaries, including not paying fines for growing corn for self consumption. This day is the first time for the family of Wever Andrés to return to the place of his murder. They look around anxiously, but on this day they are with a large group with international accompaniment and the day passes quietly. Together we return slowly and make some more stops at places where members of the peace Peace Community were killed.
National Strike Protests
On April 28, the largest protests in decades began in Colombia and lasted for several months. The protests were originally triggered by a tax reform that would have taxed Colombia's middle and lower classes more heavily. However, the reform that was withdrawn later on, was only the tip of the iceberg. The protests were directed against the government's policies with far-reaching demands. They were demanding effective measures against corruption, the implementation of the 2016 peace agreement between the former guerrilla FARC-EP and the government, LGBTIQ+ rights, a healthcare reform and a shift away from militarization policies.
Police repression of the demonstrations was frightening. During the general strike, 87 people died, at least 28 due to actions of the police, who also used firearms. Nearly 2000 demonstrators were injured and over 3000 were arrested. Various international organizations have denounced the human rights situation and police repression. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights also expressed its deep concern about the situation and called on the Colombian government to respect the right to protest and to investigate police abuses.
During the protests, our field team accompanied the protests and witnessed various human rights abuses.
Demanding Education
In June, we accompanied the Inter-ethnic Commission of La Blanquita-Murrí on a visit by state education officials. At this meeting, almost 10,000 small farmers, indigenous people and Afro-Colombians demanded minimum conditions to counteract, among other things, the recruitment of young people by armed groups with a multi-ethnic educational program and specific peace education.
Developing the Future of San José de León together
During a visit to San José de León in July, together with the community we conducted a workshop of social cartography identifying the most important needs of the community members for their further projection. This self-development projection will contain concrete demands in order to be able to protect its territory and to cover the basic needs of the community.
In a meeting with the coordinator of the comunity of former FARC-EP combatants who have signed the peace agreement in 2016 and settled in San Jose de León, we discussed the progress and challenges of the implementation of sustainable productive projects and the importance of the presence of observers and international NGOs to support the full implementation of the agreement.
Act of Recognition
In August we accompanied the historic moment of the public act of recognition of responsibility of former FARC-EP combatants in Palestina, department of Huila, where they reiterated the commitment to search for the disappeared and to non-repetition. The day before the public act of recognition we accompanied the march in memory of the killed social leaders during the conflict, together with perpetrators and victims.
Educating for Peace
With the support of the Canadian Embassy, together with the organization CONPAZCOL, we initiated the training and organizational strengthening activities planned within the project "Educating for Peace", to strengthen civil resistance of the Afro-Colombian, Indigenous and LGBTIQ+ population and promote peace with social and environmental justice in regions where the armed conflict is worsening.
This first space of workshops which took place in September in Buenaventura was held despite the context of violence in Buenaventura characterized by the control exercised by illegal armed groups, militarization of territories and a clear increase of cases of forced recruitment, confinement, displacement, disappearances, murders and extortion.
Humanitarian Mission to Blanquita-Murrí
In September, we joined a humanitarian mission to some of our accompanied communities in Frontino and Dabeiba, Antioquia. This mission was requested by the indigenous, Afro-Colombians and peasant communities, who have faced ongoing violence and threats as outside economic interests covet their land and various armed actors fight for control of their region. We witnessed the graffiti of the dominant armed group, the AGC (Gaitanist Self-Defence Forces), throughout the different towns and villages we visited. The AGC, a neo-paramilitary group, has tried to pressure and intimidate people into supporting their interests and growing coca. We also saw the pollution of land and water supplies, caused by mining activities in the region.
Defending the Environment
In Mapiripán, Meta, we conducted a Workshop about protection and self-protection, context analysis and sexual diversity with the Association in Defense of the Environment (Asodeamapi). Mapiripán. Asodeamapi is a community group that works to protect their lands and sustainable farming practices from the large palm oil plantations. The collective includes indigenous and small-scale farmers. They began to organize against the palm oil company Poligrow when it was planning to install a plant to extract the native palm oil from the Las Toninas lake region, trees that are endemic to the Amazon. Since their founding, Asodeamapi has succeeded in declaring 3 ecological reserves to protect the native forests.
Advocacy Week
In October, the communities accompanied by FOR Peace Presence traveled to the cities of Medellín and Bogotá. We organized an intensive week of advocacy that aimed to highlight two contradicting realities: while many communities are actively carrying out acts of reconciliation and remain committed to creating peace, the country is simultanously experiencing continued human rights violations, a growing humanitarian crisis, and the destruction of biodiversity.
During the week, various meetings were held with representatives of the European Union, the embassies of Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Canada, Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Switzerland and the United States. In addition, delegates from several state institutions such as the Attorney General's Office, the Ministry of the Interior and the National Protection Unit, among others, also participated, including the UN Verification Mission, UNHCR and OHCHR.
Public Hearing
In November we accompanied the Casimiro Meza Mendoza Community Council and leaders of CONPAZCOL at the Public Hearing in La Jagua de Ibirico, Cesar, to follow up on the negative impacts of the coal mining activity. The ethnic and peasant communities, in addition to being victims of the armed conflict, are now victims of territorial dispossession and rupture of the environmental, social and collective fabric caused by the mining activity.
Visit of the Embassy of Canada to Buenaventura
In December we invited the Embassy of Canada to join us on our trip to Buenaventura to witness the situation and hear directly from the voices of displaced communities. Upon seeing the situation in person, the Canadian Embassy expressed concern for the displaced communities and highlighted that this trip reinforces the need to continue advocating for respect for human rights, protection and guarantees for indigenous and Afro-Colombian peoples.
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