COLOMBIA UPDATE: August 2008
October 1st, 2008
in:
CPTnet
30 September 2008
COLOMBIA UPDATE: August 2008
The Colombia team continued work in the Middle Magdalena region in August. Due to improving security conditions, the team is spending less time in the Opón communities, and therefore has more time and resources to devote to work in other communities. CPT increased its level of accompaniment of several youth organizations in Barrancabermeja that received threats in August. The team also completed a week of strategic planning for its work in the coming year.
30 July-2 August
CPTers Julián Gutiérrez and William Payne, along with Danielle Wegman of the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America traveled to Tiquisio to accompany the Tiquisio Citizens' Process and the return of Father Rafael Gallego. Father Gallego, the parish priest of Tiquisio and a strong supporter of the Citizen's Process was forced to leave the area in April (see April Update) following threats from the North Block of the Black Eagles, a paramilitary group. The community expressed gratitude for CPT's continued accompaniment of the community, which was a factor in their priest’s decision to return.
3-7 August
Nine members of the CPT Colombia team spent four days in a retreat working on its strategic plan for 2008-2009.
8-13 August
CPTers traveled to Santa Rosa to accompany community members to the Festival of the Magdalena River and a Citizen Audience with the Colombian Senate's Human Rights Commission in Barrancabermeja. Team members also assisted with an opening prayer for the occasion; attended forums, workshops, cultural events, and the Citizen's Audience; and traveled with community members as they returned to their homes in Southern Bolivar province. The Citizen Audience, which was intended to gather information about human rights abuses committed in the Middle Magdalena region, was attended by community members and many members of the Colombian Congress, staff from several embassies, and local and national human rights organizations. At the end of the Audience, Colombian Senator Alexander Lopez announced that the group gathered information on 102 cases of Human Rights violations to investigate further.
15 August
CPTers William Payne and Laura Ciaghi attended a vigil in the Liga neighborhood of Barrancabermeja after a shooting there injured two demobilized paramilitaries, a psychologist working with them, and a passerby.
16-20 August
CPTers Jenny Dillon and Laura Ciaghi visited the community of Micoahumado as part of the team's ongoing accompaniment of that area. Their visit coincided with the community's Bean Festival. Beans are an important cash and food crop for the community. Festival events included horse races, a greased pole climb, folk dance presentations, and the election of Miss Micoahumado (the Bean Queen). Dillon and Ciaghi talked with a group of soldiers occupying a civilian house, asking them to respect the army's own guidelines and the wishes of the community by not occupying civilian spaces.
20 August
CPTers Gerald Paoli, John Volkening, and William Payne, along with staff from the Campesino Association of the Cimitarra Valley (ACVC) and the Program for Development and Peace in the Middle Magdalena (Programa), accompanied an international group of researchers who visited communities in the Cimitarra Valley to meet with campesino families. The researchers wished to learn about the community, the violence its members face, the coca production that exist in the region, and the consequences of the forceful eradication of coca crops.
24 August
CPTers Jenny Dillon, Gerald Paoli, William Payne and John Volkening accompanied a Moonlight Festival for Life (Lunada por la Vida) presented by the youth organization, Legion of Affection, in the Castillo neighborhood. Members of the Legion had requested CPT's accompaniment because they were worried about safety. They had recently received death threats from a paramilitary group, but had committed themselves to continuing their work with youth and setting up festivals in each of Barrancabermeja's economically poorest communities. CPTers Dillon, Paoli, Michele Braley and Nils Dybvig accompanied another Moonlight Festival put on by the Legion on 27 August.
27-29 August
CPTers William Payne and John Volkening accompanied an assembly of the Integral Development Zone of Southern Bolivar province in the community of El Paraiso. Staff from Programa and the ACVC met with family farmers who had joined the assembly from villages throughout the southernmost part of Bolivar province. At the assembly, the farmers evaluated their organizational efforts and the success of development projects intended to replace illegal coca crops.
30 September 2008
COLOMBIA UPDATE: August 2008
The Colombia team continued work in the Middle Magdalena region in August. Due to improving security conditions, the team is spending less time in the Opón communities, and therefore has more time and resources to devote to work in other communities. CPT increased its level of accompaniment of several youth organizations in Barrancabermeja that received threats in August. The team also completed a week of strategic planning for its work in the coming year.
30 July-2 August
CPTers Julián Gutiérrez and William Payne, along with Danielle Wegman of the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America traveled to Tiquisio to accompany the Tiquisio Citizens' Process and the return of Father Rafael Gallego. Father Gallego, the parish priest of Tiquisio and a strong supporter of the Citizen's Process was forced to leave the area in April (see April Update) following threats from the North Block of the Black Eagles, a paramilitary group. The community expressed gratitude for CPT's continued accompaniment of the community, which was a factor in their priest’s decision to return.
3-7 August
Nine members of the CPT Colombia team spent four days in a retreat working on its strategic plan for 2008-2009.
8-13 August
CPTers traveled to Santa Rosa to accompany community members to the Festival of the Magdalena River and a Citizen Audience with the Colombian Senate's Human Rights Commission in Barrancabermeja. Team members also assisted with an opening prayer for the occasion; attended forums, workshops, cultural events, and the Citizen's Audience; and traveled with community members as they returned to their homes in Southern Bolivar province. The Citizen Audience, which was intended to gather information about human rights abuses committed in the Middle Magdalena region, was attended by community members and many members of the Colombian Congress, staff from several embassies, and local and national human rights organizations. At the end of the Audience, Colombian Senator Alexander Lopez announced that the group gathered information on 102 cases of Human Rights violations to investigate further.
15 August
CPTers William Payne and Laura Ciaghi attended a vigil in the Liga neighborhood of Barrancabermeja after a shooting there injured two demobilized paramilitaries, a psychologist working with them, and a passerby.
16-20 August
CPTers Jenny Dillon and Laura Ciaghi visited the community of Micoahumado as part of the team's ongoing accompaniment of that area. Their visit coincided with the community's Bean Festival. Beans are an important cash and food crop for the community. Festival events included horse races, a greased pole climb, folk dance presentations, and the election of Miss Micoahumado (the Bean Queen). Dillon and Ciaghi talked with a group of soldiers occupying a civilian house, asking them to respect the army's own guidelines and the wishes of the community by not occupying civilian spaces.
20 August
CPTers Gerald Paoli, John Volkening, and William Payne, along with staff from the Campesino Association of the Cimitarra Valley (ACVC) and the Program for Development and Peace in the Middle Magdalena (Programa), accompanied an international group of researchers who visited communities in the Cimitarra Valley to meet with campesino families. The researchers wished to learn about the community, the violence its members face, the coca production that exist in the region, and the consequences of the forceful eradication of coca crops.
24 August
CPTers Jenny Dillon, Gerald Paoli, William Payne and John Volkening accompanied a Moonlight Festival for Life (Lunada por la Vida) presented by the youth organization, Legion of Affection, in the Castillo neighborhood. Members of the Legion had requested CPT's accompaniment because they were worried about safety. They had recently received death threats from a paramilitary group, but had committed themselves to continuing their work with youth and setting up festivals in each of Barrancabermeja's economically poorest communities. CPTers Dillon, Paoli, Michele Braley and Nils Dybvig accompanied another Moonlight Festival put on by the Legion on 27 August.
27-29 August
CPTers William Payne and John Volkening accompanied an assembly of the Integral Development Zone of Southern Bolivar province in the community of El Paraiso. Staff from Programa and the ACVC met with family farmers who had joined the assembly from villages throughout the southernmost part of Bolivar province. At the assembly, the farmers evaluated their organizational efforts and the success of development projects intended to replace illegal coca crops.