"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the
spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that
spectrum . That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on,
while all the time, the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by
the limits put on the range of the debate." Noam Chomsky
We are devoting the whole of this issue of our Green Letter to the San Jose Peace community in Apartado, Uraba, Antioquia, Northern Colombia, as there has been a terrible massacre of men, women and children of this community by agents of the Colombian Army. Our own group (Atlantis) has been involved for some time with the people of San Jose and similar communities which are forming in Colombia (see recent Green Letters). Both the San Jose peace community and the concept of the 'peasant universities' which they organize around the country are unique and very brave grass root initiatives springing up from depths of the most inauspicious civil war-torn areas of Colombia and deserve the attention and support of caring people everywhere, as they are an attempt to form some kind of practical alternative to being caught up with either side of the war - guerrilla or government.
Here is a translation from Spanish of the latest devastating news as we received it direct from San Jose:
February 24, 2005
We are paralyzed with grief and can only weep. The Colombian State has perpetrated yet another massacre that bathes our land in blood.
The Army has massacred LUIS EDUARDO GUERRA, 35 years old, leader of our community, his new partner (his former wife was recently killed by a stray Army hand grenade - ed.) 17 year old BELLANIRA AREIZA GUZMAN, his 11 year old son DEINER ANDRES GUERRA, who was severely wounded on 11th August by a grenade left by the Army; ALFONSO BOLIVAR TUBERQUIA GRACIANO, 30 years old and leader of the Mulatos community, his partner SANDRA MILENA MUNOZ POZO, 24 years old, and their two children, SANTIAGO TUBERQUIA MUNOZ and NATALIA ANDREA TUBERQUIA MUNOZ, just two and six years old.
Luis Eduardo Guerra left his house in San Jose on 19th February to travel to his farm in Mulatos (seven hours from San Jose) to harvest cocoa. His plan was to return on Monday 21st. But on that Monday around 11 a.m., they were stopped by members of the Eleventh Brigade of the Army by the River Mulatos. Luis Eduardo was leaving for San Jose with his partner Bellanira, his son Deiner and another youngster, a half-brother of Luis Eduardo. The army threatened them and said they were going to take them away and kill them.
Upon hearing this, Luis's half brother managed to escape. But Luis Eduardo, Bellanira and Deiner were taken to the next hamlet, La Resbalosa. There they took them to the house of ALFONSO BOLIVAR.
On Tuesday 22nd, Luis Eduardo's half brother, who had managed to flee, went to look for them at Alfonso Bolivar's house and found only blood. He followed the trail of blood which led to a ditch near the house which contained their bodies cut to pieces. This horrific find was made by the youngster with other people from the village present.
These are the facts as far as we know them.
LUIS EDUARDO, great friend and leader, defender of human rights, founder of our community, our delegate for 5 years in talks with the State, who travelled several times by invitation to Europe and the United States to share our experiences, your death fills us with unspeakable sadness and your murder, as well as the murders of the people massacred with you, fills us with rage and indignation.
300 people are going from our community to La Resbalosa, which is 9 hours from San Jose, to collect the bodies of our comrades. We ask for national and international solidarity to protest against this atrocity. We also ask that security be demanded from the Colombian state for the group of people travelling to recuperate the bodies left by this latest massacre.
LUIS EDUARDO, your memory, your dedication, your clarity, your friendship give us strength in the midst of our grief. As always agreed, we will not take one step backwards in our principles, even though the State, through its paramilitaries, kill every one of us.
****** If anyone reading these terrible facts feels moved to send a protest to the Colombian Embassy in their country, please do so. The Colombian Ministry of Defence has put out an official communiqué 'abhorring' the massacre, denying involvement - but at the same time accusing the San Jose Peace Community of 'harbouring guerrillas', which in Colombia amounts to a green light to the Army to continue its policy of harassment, intimidation and murder.
In view of this protestation of government 'innocence' let us take a look at some of the incidents leading up to this massacre.
First, regular Green Letter readers will recall an incident we previously reported where a stray Army hand grenade killed Luis Eduardo's wife and another woman, plus severely injuring his now-murdered son. Here is a brief anecdote sent by Anne Barr at the time from the hospital in Apartado where she visited the severely injured boy:
Wednesday, October 13th 2004.
"When Luis Eduardo arrived at the hospital in Apartado, just hours after the explosion, with the two women, one his wife, who died very soon afterwards, and his son, who was at that point at death's door, the Army told him that if he would turn in two other leaders of his community, then his family would be taken care of well. And if not, they would be left to die.
Luckily at that point, people from the Peace Brigades International and from the Defensoria (a Colombian institution - a special office set up to protect ordinary people from official mistreatment! - ed.) turned up and had the victims flown to Medellin where the boy was saved, but the two women died."
Then on October 19th 2004, the San Jose Peace Community sent out the following notice:
In the face of an economic blockade and death threats from the paramilitaries with the complicity of the Colombian Armed Forces, the San Jose Peace Community has resolved not to retreat. We believe that our principles of life, solidarity, and the construction of a peaceful society cannot be erased by the policies of death and destruction which are the guiding principles of the paramilitaries.
The fear which their actions cause us will not immobilize us. On the contrary, we have decided to give even our lives in support of the principles of openness which we have built up. We believe in the truth of the people, in the memory which history provides and in the justice of humanity and therefore we will not retreat a single step in the face of the armed participants in this conflict and their attacks.
Therefore we have decided to form a Caravan for Life, to take place on 22nd October. In this caravan of vehicles, the peasant members of this community will all go down together to Apartado to do our shopping communally and afterwards return to San Jose together. We have requested the accompaniment of international agencies, the Peace Brigades International, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and others, and also of the Government Office for the Defence of the People (Defensoria). They will be witnesses of this process, of our defence of life, and will join us in solidarity against the blockade and campaign of murder which the paramilitaries are using to attack our community.
We will leave at 8 a.m. and return at 2.0 p.m. We know that the paramilitaries' programme of death and destruction, supported by the Armed Forces, is intended to besiege and destroy us, but we trust in the strength of solidarity with life. Therefore we ask for national and international solidarity to ensure the safety of this caravan, to lift the blockade and stop the assassinations of people involved with our community.
We have asked the Government to take action to put a stop to the blockade, the death threats and spreading of terror by the paramilitaries, but we have not seen any real response to change this state of affairs. Therefore we will continue to carry out this kind of civil action, as not to do so would be to give up on the demand for respect for life, and that the civilian population not be involved in the war, it would be to renounce our right to a peaceful life.
Once again, we send our thanks for the solidarity and support shown to our
project and for actions against the blockade such as this Caravan for Life. We
ask again for help to demand of our government respect for the Caravan and that
action be taken to stop the blockade, the threats and the assassinations.
On 27th November 2004, the Community sent out the following public announcement (translated from Spanish):
The San Jose Peace Community wish to report further acts of aggression against our activities which are evidence of official intent to exterminate our community. The facts we wish to record for history so that one day they may be judged are the following:
On 24th November at 4.30 p.m., the Army passed by the football pitch in San Jose. They took with them a man and his 9 year old son, then freed them 10 minutes from San Jose. Before letting them go, they told the man to tell our community that sooner or later, they were going to exterminate us, as we were a 'guerrilla community', that they were going to assassinate our leaders and only leave the children..
On 25th November around 5.0 p.m. in a place called Mangolo, at the exit of Apartado on the way to San Jose, three paramilitaries stopped the public bus and searched it, saying they were in charge of controlling the area.
On 26th November at 9.20 a.m., a young woman called Luz Arledy Tuberquia was travelling in the San Jose public bus towards Apartado when a soldier at the Army checkpoint in the village of La Balsa approached her, identifying himself as Captain of the group. He asked her where she was taking her sack of cocoa to. She said she was going to sell it in Apartado. He then said that he had seen her going to the town several times and that if she continued to do so, they would make sure that the same happened to her as to Yorbeli Restrepo - who was assassinated on 2nd October by paramilitaries (see report further below). Then they let her go but told her not to forget the warning.
The same day, 26th November, 10 minutes from San Jose, there was an armed confrontation between the guerrilla force and the Colombian Army between 6.0 p.m. and 6.40 p.m. At 7.05 p.m., the Army entered into San Jose. Noting this, and in accordance with our policy of neutrality in the conflict, the people of the community asked them to leave as they were putting everyone in danger, especially in view of the shooting which had just been heard. But when the people said to the Army that by being there, they were using the civilian population as human shields, the soldiers replied that that was precisely why they were there, so that the community would be shot at. Then they went to the shops, and when the shopkeepers refused to serve them, they beat one up and forced them to sell their products. Several soldiers said that the community was in support of the guerrilla and that they were going to destroy it.
Accompanying the troops was Mr. Wilmar Durango, a well-known paramilitary who has carried out robberies and death threats (like to Yorbeli Restrepo). Mr. Durango began laughing at the people saying that he could do what he liked and that nothing would happen to him, and that they could be assured that they had no idea of all the damage that he was going to do to the 'bastard guerrilla community.'
The Army left around 7.35 p.m. They took with them a youngster, Fernando Cardona Higuita, who had been detained by them around 2 p.m. in the hamlet of Cristalina when he was collecting cocoa.
All these facts are proof of the deliberate terrorizing and death threats against our community on the part of the Army. We know without doubt that they are officially protected with total impunity to continue in this mode without sanction. The paramilitaries continue to operate freely and the farce of the 'peace talks' between them and the government which is presented to the world as demobilization and truce does not fool their victims, such as us.
But in spite of all these acts of terror, we will not give up on our principles and we know that the impunity which reigns over the more than 144 murders of members of our community perpetrated by paramilitaries with the support of the Armed Forces cannot continue for ever when viewed by the international community and historical record. We are living through a siege of destruction and death - and this is what the Government call 'peace' with the paramilitaries and 'protection' from the Army. But we will not give up. No threats of terror will be sufficient to cloud our resolve to separate ourselves from both sides in this war, and to act with openness and solidarity, always maintaining our search for truth, justice and an end to impunity.
We give thanks for national and international solidarity because it is this which gives us hope to carry on.
Then on December 17th, we received the following from the Peace Brigades International, who have been constantly accompanying the people of San Jose in an attempt to ward off the aggression they are faced with by keeping an international spotlight on the atrocities occurring in this region. (This document is translated from the original Spanish):
Greetings from the Peace Brigades International (PBI) in Colombia.
With this communication we wish to inform everyone of our concern, based on first hand reports collected during our daily accompaniment of people, organizations and displaced communities who work in defence of human rights and who because of this are threatened physically and in the conduct of their work.
Assassination of a resident of San Jose de Apartado and death threats in the renewed economic blockade of the Peace Community.
On 2nd October, members of the PBI received news that a group of armed civilians (paramilitaries) had taken from a public bus a woman called Yorbeli Amparo Restrepo Florez, a resident of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado. The paramilitaries got into the public service vehicle at the exit of Apartado on the road to San Jose, and a few minutes later, ordered it to stop, and that all the passengers except Yorbeli Restrepo should get out. At some 200 metres from this spot, on a highly militarized road, the armed civilians forced the driver to get out and then continued on their way alone with Yorbeli Restrepo.
At 6.0 p.m. that day, the corpse of a woman was found in the district of Chinita de Apartado; later it was confirmed that the body was that of Yorbeli Restrepo.
The same day, a few hours after Yorbeli's kidnap, a young girl called Uberlina Del Socorro Delgado was detained at the military checkpoint of La Balsa, on the same Apartado-San Jose road. According to information received, members of the Army pressured her to confess to being a guerrilla girl and to join the government plan for 'reinsertion' of demobilized guerrilla fighters. When she refused to do this, the commander of the troop threatened her, telling her that if she did not collaborate with them, the same would happen to her as to Yorbeli Restrepo. This shows that members of the Army knew of what had happened to Yorbeli hours before her body was found.
We are profoundly disturbed by these events, especially given the context in which they occurred. We have seen an increase in open threats, the object of which is to bring about an economic blockade of the Peace Community, and in the final analysis, to terrify the population into terminating their project of finding a way to live peacefully in the middle of the Colombian conflict. During July and August, paramilitaries threatened and killed several tradesmen in San Jose and the events of the present month must be seen as a sharpening of this strategy. Yorbeli Restrepo had a little shop in San Jose and during the weeks following her murder, threats have continued against other trades people and members of the community who take merchandise up to San Jose. The Freedom Legal Corporation (Corporacion Juridica Libertad), legal advisers to the community, have repeatedly denounced the death threats delivered by Mr. Wilmar Durango, a presumed paramilitary, who had threatened Yorbeli Restrepo with death before her assassination.
Once again, let us recall that the Peace Community of San Jose has provisional measures granted by the International Court of Human Rights (ICHR) in November 2000. Moreover, ICHR Resolution of 18th June 2002 asks the Colombian State to fulfill its obligations regarding these measures; and lastly, we would mention Decree No. T-327 pronounced by the Constitutional Court of Colombia last April which orders the Seventeenth Brigade, in whose jurisdiction the Peace Community lies, to respect these measures.
In the face of these facts, the State's obligation to ensure the safety of people using the main Apartado-San Jose highway, and in investigating and sanctioning those responsible for human rights violations appears more relevant than ever.
Peace Brigades International wishes to draw attention to the visit paid by five embassies and the United Nations to the peace community last June as a clear sign of international interest in the welfare of this community. We also emphasize the promises made by the Vice Presidency of Colombia in a meeting with national and international NGOs in Apartado on August 13th last. At that meeting, the Vice President of Colombia maintained that the government is going to continue with its work of integration with NGOs in the region as well as with the community to ensure the protection of the civilian population. Just a few weeks after these promises, the peace community has once again suffered an increase in the attacks against it.
We beg the international community to continue to give special attention to this
peace initiative so that these terrible events cease.
Then on 22nd December 2004, the San Jose community sent the following notice (translation):
The San Jose Peace Community reports renewed attacks against the process of civil resistance which we have been engaged in for more than seven years.
The facts we wish to reveal for your consideration and to leave for history to judge are the following:
On December 12th, 2004, LUIS EDUARDO GUERRA, leader of our community, was detained at the military checkpoint stationed by the Seventeenth Brigade in a hamlet called La Balsa, situated on the road between Apartado and San Jose. He was interrogated by several soldiers who treated him badly and said he was under suspicion because they see him travel down to Apartado frequently. They also interrogated him regarding what he does in the community. Upon finding himself questioned in this manner, Luis Eduardo asked the soldiers to identify themselves, but they refused to do so. Finally, they allowed him to continue on his way.
On December 18th, around 3.0 p.m., Diana Valderrama, another leader of the Peace Community, was detained at the same Army checkpoint, along with the rest of the passengers who were travelling in a public service vehicle on the San Jose-Apartado road. The soldiers also asked her what she does in the community, and asked her the names of the leaders of the peace community. They also said to her that it was very suspicious that she went down so often to Apartado. (This repeated accusation is an insinuation that provisions are being purchased to supply the guerrilla - ed.)
On December 19th, at the same checkpoint, during a search of the public bus, the soldiers interrogated Blanca Torres, a member of the peace community. Blanca was intimidated by the questions and accusations of the soldiers who said that if she keeps on going down so often to Apartado, they will arrest her. Blanca was taking cocoa seed to San Jose; this they threw on the ground.
December 20th, around 10. 0 a.m., members of the SIJIN (State Intelligence Agency) detained Mrs. Maria Eugenia Jaragua Correa in the bus terminal of Apartado. Mrs. Jaragua was accompanied by her small son and was about to get on a bus for San Jose. With no explanation, the detectives took the two of them away and kept them for two hours, after which they let them go. During that time, they told her they had detained her as they had received a telephone call saying she was suspicious and that was why they were investigating her. They also told her they were going to investigate her husband, Alirio Tuberquia.
This series of events causes our community alarm as they show clearly a policy of intimidation towards members and leaders of our process. The interrogations which take place at the military checkpoints, far from offering security or protection for the civilian population, serve only as opportunities to accuse, threaten and intimidate people using this highway. It is also very relevant that all these facts have been made known to the Vice-President of Colombia, without there being any change in the attitude of the Army.
We are also very worried about the obvious persecution of the Correa family as Mrs. Maria Eugenia is a relative of Sister Lisana Correa Ruiz, who was threatened and beaten up by paramilitaries in Apartado on 8th December last.
Once again, we beg for national and international solidarity to terminate these
acts of terror and that the decision of the population not to participate in any
way in the conflict be respected. Likewise, we reiterate our determination to
continue working for the construction of a different society, a struggle which
we are waging in the midst of many difficulties, crimes, threats and
intimidations such as those suffered at the military checkpoints of the 17th
Brigade on the Apartado-San Jose highway.
Two months later, seven more people of this brave community are dead. Please do
anything you can to protest this state of affairs. These are relevant Colombian
Government email addresses to which to address your concerns:
reygon@procuraduria.gov.co
anticorrupcion@presidencia.gov.co
cefranco@presidencia.gov.co
The Vice President: fsantos@presidencia.gov.co
The President: auribe@presidencia.gov.co
The State Attorney's office: denuncie@fiscalia.gov.co
or
contacto@fiscalia.gov.co
Ministry of Justice: ministro@minjusticia.gov.co
Ministry of Defence: siden@mindefensa.gov.co
Colombian Embassy in London: mail@colombianembassy.co
Minister responsible for relations with Colombia:
Bill Rammell MP: rammell@parliament.uk
A further Green Letter to follow up on these events will be sent out soon, as
well to report on other events involving our community in Colombia.
With best wishes to all our readers. As always, we welcome your letters of
comment, enquiry and support.
Jenny James, atlantiscol@hotmail.com