This steamy week in Barranca: Political Persecution and Fumigations

Andrés Gil

It's been a long steamy week here in the Oil Capital of Colombia, as Barranca is also known. This week, we have been accompanying local Barranca social organizations who are demanding the release of two leaders of the Farmers' Association of the Cimitarra River Valley (ACVC). The authorities arrested the leaders, Andrés Gil and Miguel Gonzaléz Huepa, in August of 2008, and had held them without charge since then. Only yesterday did they finally bring charges and give them a hearing. As far as I can tell, the charges against them are very vague, something like "associating with the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) guerrilla organization." The leaders of the social organizations regard such accusations as extremely suspicious, in part because the majority of them have received similar accusations as well, and in part because they had held them so long without charge. They believe that there is a concerted effort among government forces to silence such groups by detaining them or bogging them down in legal proceedings. Many leaders have also been threatened by paramilitary groups. Before a year a go or so, I would guess that these leaders would have been killed by paramilitaries instead. I surmise that there has been pressure recently from the Colombian government to keep the number of political assassinations down in order to look good as Colombia negotiates a free trade agreement with the US. So this is their alternative form of repression.

We've also been hearing and seeing helicopters above our house recently, which generally means one thing...fumigations. Yes, planes made in the USA with support from helicopters have been spraying herbicides all over the area. They supposedly are trying to kill coca plants, but they're definitely killing a lot of other things too. ACVC actually has a water buffalo project that is financed in part by the European Union. The farm was heavily fumigated on Tuesday and they're afraid the buffalo will get sick or even die.

Do you think President Obama would reconsider Plan Colombia (the US-funded fumigations program)? It's lots of money, doesn't really work, and has been devastating for Colombian small farmers. What do you say? Who's with me? Let's get organized!

Here in Barranca

Oil Christ - Barrancabermeja

I guess it has already been a week since I arrived here. I thought I would let everyone know that I am well. The trip here on the bus from Bogota was long but pretty comfortable. The violent films on the bus made me about as nauseous as the constant turns, but the condition was helped by a little sleep.

For a little background, the CPT team base is in Barrancabermeja, Santander, a city in a very low-lying valley between two mountain ranges along the Magdalena river. It is constantly pretty hot and humid with little breeze to speak of. Around 200,000 people live here in town. The area has attracted large numbers of people to work in the oil industry. As the bus approached Barranca (as it's known for short), I saw many pipelines, oil wells, and refineries scattered about. Barranca itself has a large oil refinery by the river belching smoke and ash out over the city. Parts of the city and many of the surrounding communities were under leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) control until the early 2000s when the right wing paramilitary groups entered the area, assassinating anyone who they suspected of having guerrilla or other leftist ties. The paramilitaries since then gained a high level of control over the oil and coca of the region. Since the Colombian government started the so-called paramilitary demobilizations, the paramilitaries have splintered into gangs and factions, but they are still capable of brutal violence.

Yesterday, we accompanied a funeral procession for Luis "Lucho" Arango Crespo, a fishing union leader who was killed in Barranca. We don't know who killed him or why, but, as the Vanguardia newspaper quoted a fellow fisherman as saying, "Being a good leader brought him to his tomb." He was a brave leader who spoke out against illegal fishing and other practices that destroy the river and the fish population, on which the people depend. I am praying for his mother, wife and children, as well as his whole community in this dark hour.

14 February 2009
COLOMBIA PRAYER REQUEST: Pray for the Awá People

On February 13, CPT Colombia received news of yet another massacre perpetrated against the indigenous community of the Awá of Nariño. The National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) affirmed that on February 11 an unknown armed group massacred 10 members of the Awá community while they were trying to flee their ancestral land. This follows the events of February 4, when it appears that members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) murdered 17 members of the indigenous Awá people. In addition to these victims, three more people disappeared and remain missing after they tried to rescue the bodies of their relatives.

These are not isolated cases of aggression against the indigenous peoples of Colombia. In October and November of 2008, the Colombian army attacked the Indigenous Minga, killing three and leaving 130 injured (see http://www.cpt.org/cptnet/2008/12/30/colombia-indigenous-continue-walk). In December 2008, the Colombian army also assassinated the husband of Aida Quilcue, a recognized leader of the indigenous movement.

During recent years CPT Colombia has occasionally accompanied members of the Awá community. In May 2008 a CPT international delegation met with two representative organizations, the Organization of Indigenous Unity for the Awá People (UNIPA) and the Council of Awá Elders of Ricaurte (CAMAWARI).

We ask your continuous prayers and thoughts for this community, upon which different legal and illegal armed actors have harshly trampled. May they continue their struggle and resistance for the right to remain on their ancestral lands.

Welcome

I am about to embark on a trip to Colombia with Christian Peacemaker Teams to accompany communities threatened by violence. I will be posting blogs about my travels when I am able. Please join me.