COLOMBIA LETTER: A week with the Southern Bolivar Federation of Farmer-Miners
abril 29th, 2008
in:
CPTnet
29 April 2008
COLOMBIA LETTER: A week with the Southern Bolivar Federation of Farmer-Miners
by Duane Ediger
[Note: Ediger sent the following letter to his supporters on April 15, 2008. It has been edited for length.]
Dear friends, family & acquaintances, fellow travelers,
I greet you with hopes that you are well and navigating your life with joy, courage, and freedom. I bring greetings also from CPT in Barrancabermeja and from [our coworkers]. Some greet you from prison, others from hiding; some while mining gold, others while planting maíz; some while hosting a survivor; others from an urban refuge; some from court seeking justice, others while facing charges; some shout to you from the street, others serenade you from atop a mule on a mountain path.
They send their thanks, and I add mine, for your participation in a circle that sustains life and hope through direct accompaniment, listening, prayers, speaking truth to power, financial support, advocacy, and other forms of peacemaking.
While I was in Colombia, CPTer Stewart Vriesinga and I spent a week with the Southern Bolivar Federation of Farmer-Miners. Three pickup trucks brought some sixty people, including us, through Southern Bolivar’s St. Luke Mountains to the town of Tiquisio for the Federation’s annual meeting. I was in a pickup with Julio, whose strong voice and command of a variety of song genres carried us through miles of bumps, dust, and sunshine…
In September 2006, Colombian Army soldiers assassinated Federation leader and Town Council member Alejandro Uribe. The crime was intended to provoke a mass flight, or displacement, from the mining zone. With the land cleared of people, the multinational corporation AngloGold Ashanti (AGA), which has shown interest in the region, could begin work there.
Instead of fleeing, over a thousand people amassed in the town of Santa Rosa and demanded to meet with civilian government officials. After camping a month and a half, they left with some gains. Community representatives now meet with government officials about every six months, and almost half of the land originally slated for AGA is now provisionally allotted for small-scale mining.
But with the gains came punishment. During one of these meetings just under a year ago, Colombian authorities arrested Federation President Teofilo Acuña on an accusation of subversion. A judge released him ten days later for lack of evidence.
I was present when that same accuser tried to enter the Federation’s Assembly March 28 with a police officer. Acuña fled Tiquisio that night and missed the rest of the Assembly.
The next day an armed and uniformed Army Sergeant demanded a list of the leaders' names. Federation members, with a fine-tuned blend of courage, dignity, and diplomacy, defended their right to assemble. It took accompaniers’ calls to government officials in Bogotá, however, to get the Sergeant to back off. …
After enjoying dozens of Julio’s songs, I sang what I could remember of “Deep River.” At his request, I “translated” the lyrics into a Spanish version. Do you hear his voice, echoing through the St. Luke Mountains, across rivers, oceans, cultures, languages, and (un)civilizations?:
“Oh, don’t you want to go,
to that gospel feast.
that promised land
where all is peace?”
Let´s join him there!
29 April 2008
COLOMBIA LETTER: A week with the Southern Bolivar Federation of Farmer-Miners
by Duane Ediger
[Note: Ediger sent the following letter to his supporters on April 15, 2008. It has been edited for length.]
Dear friends, family & acquaintances, fellow travelers,
I greet you with hopes that you are well and navigating your life with joy, courage, and freedom. I bring greetings also from CPT in Barrancabermeja and from [our coworkers]. Some greet you from prison, others from hiding; some while mining gold, others while planting maíz; some while hosting a survivor; others from an urban refuge; some from court seeking justice, others while facing charges; some shout to you from the street, others serenade you from atop a mule on a mountain path.
They send their thanks, and I add mine, for your participation in a circle that sustains life and hope through direct accompaniment, listening, prayers, speaking truth to power, financial support, advocacy, and other forms of peacemaking.
While I was in Colombia, CPTer Stewart Vriesinga and I spent a week with the Southern Bolivar Federation of Farmer-Miners. Three pickup trucks brought some sixty people, including us, through Southern Bolivar’s St. Luke Mountains to the town of Tiquisio for the Federation’s annual meeting. I was in a pickup with Julio, whose strong voice and command of a variety of song genres carried us through miles of bumps, dust, and sunshine…
In September 2006, Colombian Army soldiers assassinated Federation leader and Town Council member Alejandro Uribe. The crime was intended to provoke a mass flight, or displacement, from the mining zone. With the land cleared of people, the multinational corporation AngloGold Ashanti (AGA), which has shown interest in the region, could begin work there.
Instead of fleeing, over a thousand people amassed in the town of Santa Rosa and demanded to meet with civilian government officials. After camping a month and a half, they left with some gains. Community representatives now meet with government officials about every six months, and almost half of the land originally slated for AGA is now provisionally allotted for small-scale mining.
But with the gains came punishment. During one of these meetings just under a year ago, Colombian authorities arrested Federation President Teofilo Acuña on an accusation of subversion. A judge released him ten days later for lack of evidence.
I was present when that same accuser tried to enter the Federation’s Assembly March 28 with a police officer. Acuña fled Tiquisio that night and missed the rest of the Assembly.
The next day an armed and uniformed Army Sergeant demanded a list of the leaders' names. Federation members, with a fine-tuned blend of courage, dignity, and diplomacy, defended their right to assemble. It took accompaniers’ calls to government officials in Bogotá, however, to get the Sergeant to back off. …
After enjoying dozens of Julio’s songs, I sang what I could remember of “Deep River.” At his request, I “translated” the lyrics into a Spanish version. Do you hear his voice, echoing through the St. Luke Mountains, across rivers, oceans, cultures, languages, and (un)civilizations?:
“Oh, don’t you want to go,
to that gospel feast.
that promised land
where all is peace?”
Let´s join him there!
