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News :: Civil & Human Rights |
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Chilling First Hand Account Of Continued Paramilitary Violence Against Afro-Colombians In Choc贸 |
Current rating: 0 |
by Meridith Kruse
Email: bmmk (nospam) soltec.net (unverified!) |
09 Mar 2003
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Many of you attended the Fall Dinner at the Illinois Disciples Foundation last November. At this event Marino Cordoba, an Afro-Colombian who survived several assassination attempts on his life by paramilitaries working with the US-backed Colombian military, spoke about the Afro-Colombian struggle for survival and land rights. Ruth Goring, a friend of Marino, accompanied him at the dinner. Shortly after the dinner Ruth Goring left for Colombia to accompany Afro-Colombian communities under threat from paramilitary attacks. Ruth agreed to send me updates from Choc贸. Last night I received this letter from Ruth, it speaks of paramilitary incursions into Puerto Lleras. Saturday February 11th Amnesty International also issued a report stating concern for the safety of five members of the displaced community of Puerto Lleras after they were reportedly abducted by army-backed paramilitaries following an incursion at the Jiguamiando River. Ruth鈥(TM)s letter personally brings this terror to us, citizens of the United States, who with our tax dollars pay for the suffering and bloodshed described below. Numbers to call to protest this violation of human rights follow Ruth鈥(TM)s letter. Please join me in speaking out against these atrocities.
Meridith |
March 8, 2003
Dear friends & family,
This update will be short because I'm using the laptop of our family friend Jack Voelkel in Medellin & need to attend to my laundry because EVERYTHING came back damp & smelly from the last river trip.
My Justicia y Paz friend & I arrived at last in the Jigua region last Saturday--delays far beyond our control--in the midst of a crisis. A Puerto Lleras man named Anibal had "been disappeared" while out cutting plantain for his family on the previous Wednesday. The people were later told that he confessed ("after we used our methods on him," undoubtedly torture) & tried to escape & was shot dead.
As we made the last lap upriver on the Jiguamiando River we heard an explosion of gunfire in the direction we were headed. Upon arrival, we were told that a group of paramilitaries had been in that settlement (Puerto Lleras) for over an hour & had just left with that burst of shooting. Thank God they weren't aiming at any person--it was a show of force. The next morning some of us visited the site of shooting, & right next to the last house in the village we found 45 or so bullet casings in the ground. The house had been ransacked.
Monday there was another incursion in the morning, while I was downriver with my JyP partner conferring with a community leader. We went back upriver & traded places with the other JyP person & a young French Canadian woman who is accompanying the community. Late that afternoon another group of paras arrived & simulated a firefight. I'll explain later how we knew it wasn't an actual conflict with guerrillas. I spoke with the commander & asked him to take his troops away . . . again, more details will come later, when I have more time. The men stayed till 6:15 or so, again over an hour.
That night the people of the settlement finally decided that they needed to vacate the area. The JyP person got up very early to take a canoe in the dark, with several boatmen, downriver to seek more boats & the presence of our fellow acompanantes. While she was gone the people & I endured two more incursions.
The paras had threatened that if the people tried to leave they would be stopped, so they were nearly paralyzed with fear. But the boats & acompanantes arrived, & an exodus of about 135 people--the whole settlement--began around 1:00. We mostly stayed on or in the river, walking or swimming (it's very shallow because of dry season). Because I'm not in shape to travel a long distance dragging shoes full of water & sand, & for the sake of visibility, I rode in a canoe with some elderly people. Again, more details later--the important thing is that all of us arrived safely at the next settlement, Pueblo Nuevo, by 4:30 that afternoon. Some pigs & chickens & lots of bedding & food & clothes came along too, but most had to be left behind, of course.
It was one of the most intense days of my life. My JyP friend says it's by far the most intense & frightening series of confrontations the JyP team has ever faced.
Prayers, please:
路 God's protection for the displaced Puerto Lleras people & their sister communities along the Jiguamiando--the paras would not find it hard to enter them if they wanted to
路 Healing for the traumatized--people fainted & had convulsive seizures during & after some of the incursions, & now they are bereft of their homes & beautiful land
路 Ermenson, 13-year-old brother of the boy who was killed early in February; Ermenson was present but escaped without physical harm, while their father's right lower leg was shattered (he's in Medellin getting medical help). Ermenson is a lovely, sensitive boy who is suffering survivor guilt & PTSD--you can imagine how he felt with all the para incursions in the past week! I'll tell more about him next time . . .
路 Humanitarian aid & increased international attention & presence as the people of the region care for their Puerto Lleras sisters & brothers
路 My own processing of the experience--I was very aware of God's presence throughout, & I'll tell you a lot more later about the inspirations I had while facing the paras . . . but I'm having some physical reactions, not surprisingly, in the aftermath, & need lots of rest & prayer as I spend the next three weeks reflecting, interviewing & writing in Bogota
I will ask Martha to forward to you a message about political action you can take if you'd like, to support the people of the Jigua communities. This too is a way to love them.
Thank you for helping me come to Colombia. Your love has been with me, & with the Puerto Lleras people, in these terrifying days. I write with tears.
Ruth
Justicia y Paz is requesting that we make phone calls to protest this paramilitary action and ask what is being done to protect the people of the region. The paramilitaries entered the Humanitarian Zone (apparently these areas have been zoned for non-violence by previous agreement), shot their weapons into the air and terrorized the people a number of times - the report says this was the 7th incursion in 64 days. The people of the community were forced to fleeto another settlement, Pueblo Nuevo, as Ruth described.
These are the numbers to call to protest this violation of human rights.
Vicepresidency, Human Rights office, Carlos Franco or Asdrubal
011-571-296-8390
011-571-243-3311
011-571-336-0331
Office of Defense of the People, Jorge Calero
cell 011 57 310 773 8670
cell 011 57 310 315 372 2777
Minister of the Interior, German Sanchez
cell 011 57 310 238 9076
Solidarity Net, Luis Hoyos or Patricia Luna
011 571 596 0800
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