CPTnet
19 October 2006

CAZUCÁ, COLOMBIA/TORONTO, CANADA: The price of bread; massacre survivor
speaks in Canada

by Robin Buyers

José Diaz* sports baggy jeans with an oversized shirt from his favourite
soccer team, and a streak of blond through his dark, spiky hair. It is easy
to imagine him hanging around with friends in any urban center in North
America, sharing a laugh. But this seventeen-year-old has a different story
to tell.

José's story involves paramilitary repression of young people in the
displaced community of Cazucá in Ciudad Bolívar, just outside of
Bogotá. Last June, a CPTers Erin Kindy and Duane Ediger investigated the
situation there and reported on dress codes and a 6:00 p.m. curfew imposed
by paramilitaries in neighbourhoods, and on the fatal consequences for those
found on the streets after curfew. José testifies to this disturbing
reality: he is the only survivor of a massacre that left four of his friends
dead.

That night in 2004, José and six friends were working in a bakery and
found themselves short of lard. Hoping for safety in numbers, they set out
together, bought what they needed, then headed back.

But they were followed. As they crossed the local soccer field, the four
men behind them showed their weapons, accused the boys of being armed, and
demanded to see their guns.

"But we had no guns," says José. "We had only what we needed to make
bread."

José ran for his life. "I decided that, if I was going to die, I would
rather die running," he says. He had not gone very far when he heard shots.
He turned, and saw his friends fall. He did not stop running again until he
reached home.

An army battalion was stationed only two blocks away, but did not respond to
the gunfire. And, even though José named two of the killers in a
statement to the police, they conducted no investigation. José and his
family are now in hiding. The only other survivor of the massacre has since
been killed.

José told his story on 10 October 2006 in the Ottawa offices of some
members of Canada's Foreign Affairs Committee. Accompanying him were the
President of the National Movement of Victims of State-Sponsored Crimes,
Lilia Solano; CPTer Robin Buyers; and representatives from Kairos Ecumenical
Justice Initiatives and the Americas Policy Group (APG). Sponsored by
Kairos, with support from other APG members such as CPT, José and Lilia
are currently touring Canada to build international support for victims'
proposals for peace with justice in Colombia. A Tribunal Against Impunity
in Ciudad Bolívar and Cazucá, to which Canadian Members of Parliament
have been invited, will take place in Bogotá 24-25 November 2006.

CPT's Colombia Team regularly accompanies five of the organizations that
belong to the National Movement of Victims, including the Popular Women's
Organization (OFP) to events sponsored Barrancabermeja Coalition of Human
Rights Workers (ETTDH.)

*Name has been changed