CPTnet
31 July 2012
COLOMBIA/CHICAGO: Cries of Las Pavas women reach U.S. senator’s ears

Members and supporters of Christian Peacemaker Teams took to the streets of downtown Chicago on 20 July to reenact the courageous nonviolent resistance of Mercelis Payares of Las Pavas, Colombia, who lay down in front of a tractor to prevent the illegal planting of oil palms on her community’s land.

Beginning at the Colombian Consulate, participants marched through the noon-hour crowds on Michigan Avenue to the Federal Building, calling attention to the case of Las Pavas where corporate agribusiness is once again threatening small farmers with displacement. Using a large tractor pulling palm trees crafted from cardboard, the group repeated a street theater version of the Las Pavas community’s blockade of palm oil workers numerous times along the route.

At the Federal Building, five international delegates from the group delivered a letter and video footage explaining the situation unfolding in Las Pavas to the office of U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). The Senator’s unexpected arrival provided a face-to-face opportunity for the delegation to share the story of how a group of men contracted by Aportes San Isidro, several of them recognized as demobilized paramilitaries, forcibly entered Las Pavas, destroyed local food crops and planted oil palm seedlings despite a Constitutional Court ruling prohibiting such operations there. Delegates asked the senator to urge the Colombian government to resolve the land issue immediately in accordance with Colombian law. Senator Durbin listened attentively and said that he and his staff would look into the matter.

20 July also marked the 40th anniversary of one of CPT’s local partners, the Organizacón Femenina Popular (OFP), a women’s organization based in Barrancabermeja working for peace and respect for human rights, especially the rights of women and children. In honor of the OFP, CPT’s Chicago witness highlighted the suffering and resistance of Colombian women. During the street theater, women lay down to block the encroaching cardboard tractor. As the tractor retreated, the women stood up, joined hands and called out, “Colombian women resist displacement! Colombian women reject violence! Colombian women demand change! Colombian women stand for peace!” Captivated passersby eagerly took leaflets calling for action to support Colombian women and the Las Pavas community.

The U.S. government heavily funds the application of Colombia’s “Victim’s Law,” which seeks in part to return lands to displaced communities. International awareness about Las Pavas helped hold a palm oil buyer accountable to ethical guidelines in 2010. In 2012, it is the faith of the farmers, and of CPT, that their witness and its echoes in solidarity will help hold officials accountable to apply the law rightly and to protect communities, activists and the land itself from predation by corporations and their enforcers.

CPT training participants who organized the witness were Jonathan Brenneman (Ohio, USA), Debra Delois (North Carolina, USA), Mel Early (Nova Scotia, Canada), Stephanie Epp (Saskatchewan, Canada), Beth Kuntz (Ohio, USA), Kate Paarlberg-Kvam (New York, USA), Carol Powell (Queensland, Australia), Maurice Restivo (Texas, USA), Ulrike Schmutz (Baden-Württemberg, Germany), Annika Splade (Mjölby, Sweden) and Terra Winston (Ohio, USA).