CPTnet
March 28, 2002
COLOMBIA: Letter from Pierre Shantz

[NOTE: The following letter from Pierre Shantz has been edited for length
and clarity.]

February 28, 2002

Hello everybody!

Since my last letter was a little short I thought I would send of a longer
one giving more background. Colombia has been in a state of civil war for
about forty years now. Poor peasants rose up as guerrilla groups to defend
themselves from the state and from large land owners who were either
neglecting them or trying to take over their lands.

Today you have two main guerrilla groups: FARC-EP the largest and
oldest--about 30, 000 members--and the ELN (much smaller.) Until last week
the FARC was in dialogue with the government in peace talks that were held
in a area that the Colombian government agreed to give over to the FARC for
the duration of the talks. This area was about the size of Switzerland.
Other areas that the FARC controlled such as the Valle Cimitara, which is
an area that we accompany peasants leaders and communities under threat
from paramilitary groups, have often experienced combat between the army
and guerrillas.

The paramilitary groups are called AUC: United Self-defense Groups of
Colombia. They are mostly created out of rich land owners. Officially the
AUC is illegal but there are many links between the government and the AUC,
some of which we have been witness to.

Last week the talks between the FARC and the government broke down and the
military moved into the zone. I know the news has probably shown the
situation as a situation of war and chaos. Yes the situation is more tense
now. Yes we are a little more careful. But in reality things have not
changed dramatically in Colombia.

The Valle Cimitara which I mentioned before is an area that for the last
few weeks has experienced combat between the military-paramilitary and
guerilla.

  What often happens is that the people living in the area, because they
live in a guerilla area, are stigmatized by the military-paramilitaries as
being guerilla. Which is false. So when they come into an area such as this
they kill and displace a lot of people. So we go out and by showing our
international human rights faces out there they don't feel as comfortable
harassing the people as when there is no one watching.

Last year when the military did an operation and ten men went missing,
CPTers asked the military about these men and nine of them showed up within
days. One was killed and CPT helped the wife make a denunciation.

Also it was well known that the military was planning to stay in the area
under the cover of being paramilitaries, and when they asked how long CPT
was planning on being in the area. CPTers said " Permanently." Three days
later the military left. We don't know but people attributed that to CPT's
presence.

I just gave you a Reader's Digest run down of the conflict. I still don't
understand all of what is happening so don't expect to either. The
situation here always needs your prayers.

Peace, Pierre.