Fumigations

I went to Micoahumado last week and one of the leaders showed us around this small rural town. It is a community that suffered for a long time because of fighting between the National Liberation Army guerrilla group and the army. The guerrillas mined the road and effectively cut off the town from the rest of the world. Supplies couldn't get in and people couldn't get out. Eventually, community leaders decided to negotiate with all the armed groups. They enlisted the support of many organizations, including CPT, in negotiating with the guerrillas to demine their area and with all parties to stop fighting within the the town limits. Amazingly, they had a lot of success in the negotiations and the ELN became the first insurgency group to ever demine their own landmines. Since then, the people have been developing economic projects to help the community and are now growing and processing cacao and sugarcane.

While our host was showing us around the graveyard where fighting used to be quite common among the armed groups, we saw a number of helicopters and planes flying in. Farmers gathered to watch where they were fumigating. The planes started to douse the fields with herbicide poison. With Plan Colombia money from the US, Colombia has been fumigating the area for a few weeks. Most of the fields do not have coca in them, but instead grow beans, yuca, corn, rice, sugarcane, and cacao and yet they are being heavily fumigated too. Cacao takes 15 years to actually start producing cacao beans and all that work and waiting are destroyed with one dousing of herbicide. So I stood there and watched as a plane paid for with my tax dollars flew in and destroyed the livelihoods of the people standing there. It was disgusting and apalling.

The Crime of Rebellion

I learned recently about a certain Colombian law that is quite disturbing. I've met a few people who have been in prison or are being charged with what is called ''rebellion.'' Basically, as I understand it, it means speaking about or advocating a change in the current system of government. So, if you believe that Uribe is a chump and you say that we need to change to a socialist system, even if you advocate change by nonviolent means, you can be charged with rebellion. This law is being used more and more these days. The government used to (and still does to a lesser extent) use paramilitaries to threaten or kill people organizing for social justice. Today they are also prosecuting these people and putting them in prison for years and years or tying them up in legal battles.
This law seems to me to be highly undemocratic and to be against freedom of speech in the most basic way. What strikes me is that the US government often speaks of Colombia as a model democracy, yet it is the only country with this law in the americas.

Garzal: A New Chapter in the People's Struggle

Garzal and Nueva Espéranza are communities near the Magdalena river a couple hours to the north of Barranca. The area is a lush mix of swamps, savannahs, and farmlands with an abundance of birds and other wildflife. The rest of the the municipio is almost entirely taken up by large oil palm agroindustry projects.
The farmers have lived there for 40-50 years. They do not have titles but according to Colombian law are eligible for titles since they have worked the land for more than 5 years. The Bareto family is a wealthy family that resides in Bogota but claim lands in Garzal. They are heavily implicated in the drug trade and Pablo Escobar was known to fly into their private landing strip in Garzal. For a few years, they have been starting legal processes to try to take possession of the entire area and displace the communities. They claimed, falsely, that guerrillas invaded and the small farmers forcibly stole the lands.
Don Salvador is a pastor for the Foursquare Gospel Church (a Pentecostal denomination) in Garzal. He became very concerned that the entire community would be displaced and felt called by God to organize the people. He called the people together to discuss their strategy and hired a lawyer, Rafael, to represent the communities. Rafael and Don Salvador are a very unusual pair. Rafael has represented many small farmer community processes in the past and is very committed to the people. He also smokes like a chimney and, while very friendly, is known for his frequent cursing, his cynical sense of humor, and at times an amazing irreverence. Yet these two have worked together and accomplished much.
In addition to filing suit against the community, the Baretos got a judge to sign an arrest warrant for 7 community members because they accused them of destroying their property. The judge eventually ordered a mediation between the farmers and the Baretos. Last week, around 30 members of the community piled into the back of an old pickup truck that would take them along the dirt road to Simiti where they would attend the mediation. All had decided not to sell their lands. I, and other CPTers, accompanied them in this journey and arrived at the courthouse with them. We ended up waiting for hours for the Bareto representatives to arrive. When they arrived, the Bareto and Rafaelwent before the judge. Rafael said that they could not discuss anything unless the Baretos knew precisely what lands they were claiming. He also said that the land titles needed to be investigated. Because the Bareto family's titles are false, they weren't ready to have them investigated. Somewhat surprisingly, the judge agreed with Rafael and said that the titles must be investigated and the land claims of the small farmers must also be investigated. This is great news for the community. Rafael ended up being very surprised and pleased. The levels of corruption are so high here that he never thought they would get a fair hearing. The Bareto family may still use intimidation and other methods to take/buy the land, but for now the people are feeling celebratory.

Coming soon to Paul's blog...

What happens when a Pentecostal preacher and a chainsmoking foul-mouthed lawyer team up with a number of small farmers to protect their land from a rich druglord who once rubbed shoulders with the infamous Pablo Escobar?

Tune in later to find out...

On the lighter side...

List of new experiences in Colombia:

Animals I've seen:
-Huge iguanas (one that was probably more than 5 feet long)
-Collared peccaries
-lots of kinds of birds

Foods:
-Lulo
-Guama
-Tomate de Arbol
-Maracuya
-Quail eggs
-Roasted ants with big butts

Games:
-Minitejo (a game kind of like cornhole but with an exploding gunpowder packet in the middle)
-Marbles

Ash Wednesday CPT Action in Barranca

Photos of March for Prisoners held without charge