CPTnet
April 18, 2002
COLOMBIA UPDATE: March 1-15, 2002

Friday, March 1
Authorities cancelled a community meeting in the Opon
to address security concerns with the
Municipal government and military because of the
presence of the AUC (the major paramilitary group) in
the
area. William Payne, Chris Schweitzer, Bob Holmes and
Jim Fitz met with
various community members to debrief the AUC incursion
through the communities of Nieques and
Florida.

Saturday, March 2
On the way into Barranca, Schweitzer and Payne saw a
boat full of men
heading upriver dressed in civilian clothing, one of
whom was identified
as
an AUC member. When they arrived in the port, they
noticed there was a
heavy AUC presence.

Sunday, March 3
Six CPTers joined the four already in the Opon at the
school in Nieques
for
a three month community evaluation of CPT's presence.
A community member
facilitated the meeting, which was well attended. The
community strongly
affirmed CPT's work, and asked for a more permanent
presence. The community requested that CPT organize
more peace action, field a bigger team, conduct more
individual visits with families and change places
where CPTers
stay, so armed groups will not know their locations.

After the evaluation of CPT's accompaniment of the
community, community
members discussed, with much emotion, the possibility
of having a dialogue with armed groups
(e.g., the paramilitaries and the guerrillas). Both
communities present (Florida, Nieques) wanted
to
move ahead with the dialogue.

Monday, March 4
Scott Kerr and Stewart Vriesinga encountered eight
members of the AUC
paramilitary group in the Opon River who were were
stopping local fishermen and searching their boats.
Vriesinga informed
the
AUC that if they continued, he would take pictures to
document this illegal
activity (i.e., an illegal armed group impeding the
freedom of movement of
the civilian population). The commander of this local
AUC group
responded,
"If you take a picture, we will throw the camera in
the river."

When the AUC stopped and searched the next fishermen's
boat, Vriesinga
took
a photo. Although the AUC commander was visibly
upset, he threw neither
the camera nor Vriesinga into the river.

In the evening, Lisa Martens spent the night with the
displaced community
from the Cienaga del Opon, who is living in an old
"Normal" school. The
community has been displaced from the Opon region
since November of
2000. Despite seeking refuge in the city, the
community still lives in
fear due to continued threats of violence issued by
the AUC.

Tuesday, March 5
Two members of the Cienaga del Opon displaced
community reported that the
AUC threatened violence against them if they continued
to travel on the
Opon
river with CPTers. Due to these threats, these two
community members are
no longer able to attend meetings in the Opon with the
larger community.

Wednesday, March 6
Sara Reschly accompanied about 200 women from the
Northeast branch of the
OFP (Popular Feminist Organization) who were traveling
to the main OFP
center located downtown. Members of the OFP
continually receive death threats from the AUC. The
accompaniment went
smoothly, without any problems.

Reschly, with over 2000 women, participated in OFP's
International Womens
Day celebration. The celebration was joyful and the
theme was feminist
resistance to violence. Throughout the fiesta, the
women beat cooking
pans
together and chanted, "We will not raise our boys or
girls for war...We say
no to death and injustice... We will continue to
resist until we attain a
more just world."

Friday, March 8
Each week during Lent, CPT burned a symbolic death
list in a place where
armed groups carry out violence. On this fourth week
of Lent, CPTers went
to La Rompida, an island located about seven minutes
from a Navy
checkpoint
on the Magdalena River, where AUC paramilitaries often
have a. This site was chosen for the Lenten witness
because it plays a key
role in the AUC economic blockade of the Valle
Cimitarra, a
guerrilla-controlled region Northeast of Barranca
where CPT has a
part-time
presence. At the checkpoint, the AUC often forbids
food and medicine from
entering the Valle Cimitarra. Although no AUC
paramilitaries were present
to participate in the witness, six CPTers prayed,
burned the death-list
and
then planted a tree that symbolically represents the
life that will grow
once all death-lists are destroyed.

Sunday, March 10
CPTers accompanied 23 people from the port to a
vehicle that would take
them to the voting booth, so they could participate in
local
elections. The people from the Opon need
accompaniment in the port area,
because the AUC often harass and assault people as
they disembark from their
canoes.

Friday, March 15
The CPT team finalized a three-month work plan which
included: 1)
continued presence in the Opon, focusing on supporting
the community as it
organizes to nonviolently confront the armed groups
present in the area;
2)
continue the part-time presence in the Valle Cimitarra
and begin a
campaign
to end the AUC economic blockade of the area; 3)
increase CPT presence in
Barranca's port where the AUC harasses, assaults, and
murders people.