CPTnet
24 October 2007
COLOMBIA: No to recruitment for war, yes to recruitment for life
by Nathan Buchanan
[The author was a member of CPT's 26 September to 9 October 2007 delegation
to Colombia.]
In recent weeks, canvas-covered work trucks have frequented the streets of
Barrancabermeja, Colombia with a new kind of cargo--military recruits. The
Colombian army picks up men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-seven
who cannot immediately present documentation that proves they have already
served in the military or that they fit one of the legal
exemptions--displaced and Indigenous peoples, students, or primary family
providers. While Colombia requires all young men to serve in the military,
this specific recruitment practice of picking people up on the street and
taking them directly to the battalion is considered irregular under
Colombian law.
Aside from the Colombian National military, youth also face forced
recruitment from guerilla and paramilitary groups. Currently, no alternative
service option in Colombia exists, and conscientious objector status is not
a right guaranteed to those who seek it.
A recent international Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) delegation, of made
up of citizens from the U.S. and Canada, met with youth whom recruiters had
taken off the streets and who were pushing for respect of their
conscientious objector status. Upon learning of Colombian military
round-ups, the delegation decided to turn the trucks over on their heads,
figuratively, by creating their own recruitment truck that conscripted
people of all types to respect life and continue the work for peace.
The delegation built their truck with cardboard, paint, PVC, sweat, and love
with the help of an ingenious conscientious objector from Barrancabermeja
and the CPT full-time team. The truck and the recruits for life and peace
met in downtown Barrancabermeja and marched to the military battalion.
Along the way, participants distributed pamphlets declaring the group's
stance against the use of violence and war of all kinds, as well as the
Colombian legal specifics about the rights of youth and exemptions to
military conscription.
The drumming-chanting-bubble-blowing march culminated with a theatric
representation of life-peace recruitment. A "military recruiter" with a
chain of "recruits" tied together marched toward the battalion gate, only to
be interrupted at the last minute by the truck recruiting for life and
peace. The "recruits" were released; the "military recruiter" had a
conversion experience of sorts, and the life-recruiting truck made its way
across the street for a celebration.
At the end of the commotion, a sergeant was annoyed, the press had a new
story, peace was proclaimed, and a bouquet of flowers lay at the base of a
cannon. Shouts and drumming encouraged listeners to say no to all
recruitment for war, and yes to the recruitment for life and peace.
Members of CPT's 26 September-9 October Colombia delegation were Carolyn
Berry (Town and Country, Missouri), Nathan Buchanan (Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania), Dan Dale (Chicago, Illinois), Aine Donovan (Akron, Ohio),
Christine Downing (Breton, Alberta), Monica Haas (Monroe, New Jersey), Beth
Harris (Ithaca, New York), Amanda Jokerst (St. Louis, Missouri), and Morris
Trimmer (Lexington, Virginia).
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Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) seeks to enlist the whole church in
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