COLOMBIA UPDATE: November 2008
December 15th, 2008
in:
CPTnet
15 December 2008
COLOMBIA UPDATE: November 2008
During November, members of human rights organizations in Barrancabermeja (Barranca) experienced further threats and risks to their safety as they continued their work. CPT-Colombia supported these organizations and leaders through their presence at various gatherings and workshops. In addition, the team continued accompaniment work in the Middle Magdalena region, visiting communities in neighboring municipalities.
Wednesday 5 November
Gladys Gomez Niño and Pierre Shantz attended a forum with representatives of the Regional Land Committee of Simiti, Southern Bolivar; Incoder (the federal government entity that oversees land use); and other social organizations. Participants discussed land rights and related conflicts as part of an ongoing process of small farmers trying to gain titles for their land.
Thursday 6 November
Julián Gutiérrez Castaño, Kim Lamberty and Sarah Shirk accompanied the Southern Bolivar Roundtable for Dialogue in Santa Rosa. The Southern Bolivar Agricultural-Mining Federation finally met with government representatives after government representatives cancelled and then failed to attend the last two scheduled meetings. (See “COLOMBIA: Southern Bolivar’s ignored and oppressed inhabitants prepare to take desperate measuresâ€.) The Federation presented a human rights report in which they documented 35 situations of abuses that resulted in over 100 deaths during the past two years. The meeting was very productive and the formation of a joint commission of miners and government representatives to investigate complaints of human rights threats and abuses was only one of many agreements reached.
Friday 7 November
Gomez Niño and Stewart Vriesinga participated in a meeting about human rights with the National Police, the mayor of Barrancabermeja (Carlos Contreras), the mayor of the neighboring town of Yondó, and representatives of social and human rights organizations in Barrancabermeja. While the National Police did not recognize as many human rights violations as the social organizations report, they did recognize it as a serious problem and discussed measures to reduce human rights abuses.
Saturday 8 November
The team learned that a man had bought large parcels of land in the Opón community of Los Ñeques. He was offering high prices for the land and work clearing the land to members of the community. A dead body appeared floating in the river, which had not happened there in over a year. Both events worried the community.
Monday 10 November
Shantz and Shirk met with one of the team's advisors to discuss current events in Barrancabermeja. The murder rate in the city continued to climb and was twice as high as in the previous year. This was due in part to competing paramilitary groups fighting over territory and resources. Death threats continued against social leaders, and nearly 30 young members of social organizations had been detained over the past few months.
13-15 November
Sarah MacDonald and Shantz visited three communities of the Opón: La Cienaga, La Florida and Los Ñeques. On 14 November, government representatives and members of the Program for Development and Peace in the Middle Magdalena held a meeting with Florida and Ñeques residents to discuss the communities' needs. "We're tired of failed promises," one community leader said, as community members listed the government's unfulfilled commitments since 2001. "Please don't come here any more if you're not going to keep your promises." Flooding, low prices for their agricultural products, and lack of government investment have forced more than half the families of these communities to sell their land and move away.
16-23 November
Chris Knestrick, Lamberty and Sandra Milena Rincón accompanied the indigenous communities' march, called La Minga, into Bogotá. Indigenous communities, who live on traditional, communally-owned ancestral lands, protested, among other things, governmental failure to honor past agreements signed with indigenous peoples. They decried the privatization of the sources of waters located in their territories. Privatization has led to contamination of their waters as a result of resource exploitation by large, multinational companies. Shortly after La Minga began in mid-October, 3 people were killed and 120 injured when Colombian police opened fire on the peaceful marchers. Indigenous leadership demanded a meeting with President Uribe in Bogotá, which he did not grant them.
22-23 November
Gomez Niño and MacDonald accompanied a gathering of union members and their families. The workshop provided space for those who had been victimized by violence to remember, process, build relationships of mutual support, and find healing in humor and play.
24-27 November
Shantz and Shirk made an initial visit to Mina Brisa, a mining community in the San Lucas mountains in the Southern Bolivar region. AngloGold Ashanti, a South African mining corporation, rented a house in Mina Brisa and began explorations to mine the land. The community requested that the company cease all work until Angl0Gold, the community and the municipal government were able to reach a satisfactory agreement about how that work would proceed. The company broke the original agreement they signed with the community, did not honor the request to stop work, and threatened leaders in the community.
15 December 2008
COLOMBIA UPDATE: November 2008
During November, members of human rights organizations in Barrancabermeja (Barranca) experienced further threats and risks to their safety as they continued their work. CPT-Colombia supported these organizations and leaders through their presence at various gatherings and workshops. In addition, the team continued accompaniment work in the Middle Magdalena region, visiting communities in neighboring municipalities.
Wednesday 5 November
Gladys Gomez Niño and Pierre Shantz attended a forum with representatives of the Regional Land Committee of Simiti, Southern Bolivar; Incoder (the federal government entity that oversees land use); and other social organizations. Participants discussed land rights and related conflicts as part of an ongoing process of small farmers trying to gain titles for their land.
Thursday 6 November
Julián Gutiérrez Castaño, Kim Lamberty and Sarah Shirk accompanied the Southern Bolivar Roundtable for Dialogue in Santa Rosa. The Southern Bolivar Agricultural-Mining Federation finally met with government representatives after government representatives cancelled and then failed to attend the last two scheduled meetings. (See “COLOMBIA: Southern Bolivar’s ignored and oppressed inhabitants prepare to take desperate measuresâ€.) The Federation presented a human rights report in which they documented 35 situations of abuses that resulted in over 100 deaths during the past two years. The meeting was very productive and the formation of a joint commission of miners and government representatives to investigate complaints of human rights threats and abuses was only one of many agreements reached.
Friday 7 November
Gomez Niño and Stewart Vriesinga participated in a meeting about human rights with the National Police, the mayor of Barrancabermeja (Carlos Contreras), the mayor of the neighboring town of Yondó, and representatives of social and human rights organizations in Barrancabermeja. While the National Police did not recognize as many human rights violations as the social organizations report, they did recognize it as a serious problem and discussed measures to reduce human rights abuses.
Saturday 8 November
The team learned that a man had bought large parcels of land in the Opón community of Los Ñeques. He was offering high prices for the land and work clearing the land to members of the community. A dead body appeared floating in the river, which had not happened there in over a year. Both events worried the community.
Monday 10 November
Shantz and Shirk met with one of the team's advisors to discuss current events in Barrancabermeja. The murder rate in the city continued to climb and was twice as high as in the previous year. This was due in part to competing paramilitary groups fighting over territory and resources. Death threats continued against social leaders, and nearly 30 young members of social organizations had been detained over the past few months.
13-15 November
Sarah MacDonald and Shantz visited three communities of the Opón: La Cienaga, La Florida and Los Ñeques. On 14 November, government representatives and members of the Program for Development and Peace in the Middle Magdalena held a meeting with Florida and Ñeques residents to discuss the communities' needs. "We're tired of failed promises," one community leader said, as community members listed the government's unfulfilled commitments since 2001. "Please don't come here any more if you're not going to keep your promises." Flooding, low prices for their agricultural products, and lack of government investment have forced more than half the families of these communities to sell their land and move away.
16-23 November
Chris Knestrick, Lamberty and Sandra Milena Rincón accompanied the indigenous communities' march, called La Minga, into Bogotá. Indigenous communities, who live on traditional, communally-owned ancestral lands, protested, among other things, governmental failure to honor past agreements signed with indigenous peoples. They decried the privatization of the sources of waters located in their territories. Privatization has led to contamination of their waters as a result of resource exploitation by large, multinational companies. Shortly after La Minga began in mid-October, 3 people were killed and 120 injured when Colombian police opened fire on the peaceful marchers. Indigenous leadership demanded a meeting with President Uribe in Bogotá, which he did not grant them.
22-23 November
Gomez Niño and MacDonald accompanied a gathering of union members and their families. The workshop provided space for those who had been victimized by violence to remember, process, build relationships of mutual support, and find healing in humor and play.
24-27 November
Shantz and Shirk made an initial visit to Mina Brisa, a mining community in the San Lucas mountains in the Southern Bolivar region. AngloGold Ashanti, a South African mining corporation, rented a house in Mina Brisa and began explorations to mine the land. The community requested that the company cease all work until Angl0Gold, the community and the municipal government were able to reach a satisfactory agreement about how that work would proceed. The company broke the original agreement they signed with the community, did not honor the request to stop work, and threatened leaders in the community.
