CPTnet
October 18, 2001
COLOMBIA: Pieces of a body--a letter home from Pierre Shantz

[Note: The following is part of an e-mail message that Pierre Shantz wrote
to his supporters from Barrancabermeja, Colombia. It has been shortened
considerably and edited for clarity.]

Subject: Hello Folks!

Well some of you might be wondering "What in the world happened to Pierre?"
. . .If I haven't been writing much lately it's because I don't really know
how to write what I am feeling.

Colombia is the first project where I have felt that if we are not
physically present accompanying the people then they will be killed. . . The
people we accompany are not all personally threatened. They just happen to
live in an area that was dominated by the ELN guerilla group and then the
AUC paramilitary group came and took it over and killed three people to put
fear into the rest of them. Many people fled--some because they had motor
canoes and [had been] asked (by people with big guns so you don't have much
of a choice) to carry them around or carry things for them. Others
willingly supported the ELN. For what ever reason everyone living in that
area is somewhat under threat. . . because the guerillas now have control
of the area again. . .

Well, last week was particularly hard for me because we (Jon and I ) found
a pieces of a body floating down the river. The first part we found was
half of a man's torso with half his arm. Further down river we were told
that there was another piece and we found the pelvis: no legs and cut off
at the belly button. This is typical of paramilitary killing. . .

We called the Colombian navy to come and get the body parts and they sent
someone out but they did not come with every thing to collect them. So the
parts were secured to the shore and we were asked to return the next day to
show them where we had found them.

The next day when the authorities finally arrived ( we waited 4 hours for
them), one of the agents asked me to put on some gloves and give them a
hand. Well, after watching the agent attempt to put the body part into the
bag with a canoe paddle, I simply grabbed it out of frustration and threw
it in the bag. We then went to get the second piece. . . .

People whom the paramilitaries declare as
collaborators are killed and often find themselves floating down river in
pieces like the ones we found.

This is about all I can write
right now so good night and love you all. Chow

Pierre

P.S. I am doing fine but please pray for the team and people here. Thanks.