CPTnet
August 24, 2002
COLOMBIA: Cement Saga

by Lisa Martens

On July 17, 2002, CPT members learned that the previous day, right-wing
paramilitaries had confiscated a truckload of cement bound for a housing
project in the Cimitarra River valley. Paramilitaries, technically an
illegal entity according to Colombian law, held the truck within sight of a
Colombian Army base in a town called Yondo, waiting for someone to claim the
cement and to
pay an illegal tax.

Cement is an ingredient in the production of cocaine, and some Cimitarra
River valley farmers grow coca, the plant used in the production of cocaine,
to supplement their incomes. Farmers receive low prices for legal crops and
paramilitaries force them to pay for the right to transport legal crops to
market.

Cement is also an ingredient in brick houses being built in the Cimitarra
River Valley. CPT members have seen the half-built houses that require
cement for their completion and have met some of the displaced families who
will live in the houses upon their completion. The Colombian government has
funded the houses, and funders wrote official letters attesting to the
purpose of the cement before its confiscation.

On Saturday, July 20, CPT members Lisa Martens and William Payne accompanied
representative organizers and funders of the housing project to Yondo to
talk with paramilitaries. Paramilitaries knew of CPT members' proximity but
met with the housing project representatives out of Martens' and Payne's
sight. In past encounters with them in the valley, CPT members have taken
photos of paramilitaries.

On Monday, July 21, 200, 000 pesos (about 80 U.S.A. dollars) were paid to
the paramilitaries, and the armed group allowed the cement to continue. Six
days after setting out, the cement completed a journey that should have
taken three hours to the Cimitarra River Valley.