Forced displacement in Cimitarra Valley: A military objective?

--by Stewart Vriesinga (March 22, 2008)

Deadly threats to security of campesinos living in the Cimitarra Valley continue. They consider the very entities responsible for their safety and protection -the state security forces-to be a threat to their security and livelihood. Most of the peasants living in the area feel that state interventions in the area seek to promote rather than prevent forced displacement as part of an effort to expropriate their farms and territory. They insist that the state has an obligation to protect their rights to security and protection and prevent their displacement. They feel that under the status quo they have to displace before the state will consider providing any form of assistance.

The untenable situation of two hamlets of San Pedro in south Bolivar -Paraíso and Alto Cañabraval and surrounding communities-is illustrative. CPTers Jim Fitz and Stewart Vriesinga joined a human rights verification commission on March 11^th and 12^th which traveled to these remote communities at the request of the Association of Campesinos of the Cimitara Valley (ACVC). The commission was comprised of local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), representatives of the Organization of American States, national, regional and local (municipal) governmental representatives, and three international accompaniment NGOs. The objective was to document past and on-going human rights abuses and threats to the security of the folks living in the area.

Local residents and community leaders painted a bleak picture of on-going security risks and the immediate likelihood of more displacements. They described military operations in which community members were assassinated and then dressed up and presented as guerrillas who died in combat. They described how demobilized guerrilla and paramilitary informers were travelling with the military and pointing out their community leaders which were subsequently accused of treason and arrested (Currently 6 are in jail, and 14 more have arrest warrants against them). They described how their crops and the cacao (chocolate) trees they had planted as an alternative to coca (from which cocaine is derived) were wiped out by U.S. sponsored aerial spraying. (For background information see CPT Colombia release "COLOMBIAN ARMED FORCES JUSTIFY DISPLACEMENT")

As one man put it, "The last time they sprayed they killed all the food crops -even the crops of those who didn't have a single coca plant! How are a people expected to be loyal to a government that is trying to starve them?" Another said: "If they aren't protecting us, if they are doing these things to us, what can we expect from our government?" "A bullet!" a third man replied.

Local residents and community leaders went on to describe how they agreed to the manual eradication of coca plants on the condition that the government provide an economically viable alternative, and their opposition to the on-going military's manual eradication of coca in the absence of viable substitute crops. (For background information on see CPT Colombia release "Why do small farmers cultivate coca?") They described how the troops involved in the manual eradication of coca were also burning down their houses. They described how the FARC was targeting military personal by planting landmines on the paths and in the fields, thus preventing farmers from working and moving about. They described collaboration between the military and paramilitary, and how the army tells them that they won't hurt them but the paramilitaries who will come next will. They described how soldiers bribe their children with candy and then try to pump them for information. They described how the soldiers used them as human shields and stayed for days in one of their hamlets. They described how difficult it is to hold soldiers accountable for their actions when they often walk around in t-shirts with no insignia, and when asked to identify themselves respond "We are all the same, it shouldn't concern you".

The residents of these communities welcomed the commission, but were sceptical about whether or not our presence there would increase their security. They informed us that when community leaders make denouncements they are targeted. (There were soldiers in the area that had arrived moments before the meeting started. When federal and regional governmental human-rights workers and CPTer Stewart Vriesinga talked to the commander he said they had only come to buy groceries and would leave directly. However they were still in the area an hour later, and could potentially identify some of the local residents who dared to meet with the commission.)

Various comments reflected a degree of hopelessness: "We make our denouncements, but nothing happens. The Sate isn't committed."; "We are almost completely abandoned by the state. We only have two teachers for over 100 children, and we have to feed the teachers because often they are not paid on time"; "The municipality was deaf, mute and blind when we went to them for help during the aerial spraying" (in June of 2007); "It looks like it will be the same as last time. The Black Eagles [re-mobilized paramilitaries] were here about 15 days ago..."

Although local residents doubted that the commission's presence would prevent further displacements, they are determined to struggle on as a community. Applying for "Displaced Person's Status" might entitle them to some government funds to relocate, but they would end up dispersed, and the likelihood of their being able to return to their lands would be greatly diminished. For this reason those who feel they must displace are thinking of foregoing the government assistance and joining other displaced persons, also from the Cimitarra Valley, in a "Humanitarian Camp", hosted by USO (the Petroleum Workers' Union in Barrancabermeja). As part of a Humanitarian Camp they can collectively continue to pressure the government for justice and pursue their dreams of returning to their lands. The prospect of being permanently separated from their land is for most unthinkable. As one community member put it: "We are all already displaced people. That's how why we came here in the first place!"

The idea that there is a deliberate campaign to expropriate their lands is not far-fetched. There are a number of mega-projects planned for the larger area in which these communities are located: new highways along the Magdalena River and to Medellín and the Caribbean coast; huge multinational mining projects; a hydro-electric dam; expansion of the bio-fuel industry (African Palm plantations); and accounts of a violent struggle as two rival paramilitary-run drug cartels threaten the local population and each other in a battle for control of local coca production.

As is happening elsewhere in Colombia, when particular land becomes a valuable commodity, its inhabitants are often forced to sell at below-market-value prices, killed or displaced. This phenomenon is likely to reoccur in the rural communities of San Pablo if local residents continue to refuse to leave their homes and livelihoods. The threats to the security of local residents is very real, and their speculation about the reasons behind these threats are based on the outcomes of their own past experiences and the experiences of other communities in similar situations. (See Times Online Article )

Whether or not the Commission's visit to the region increases the security of the local residents or that of other Colombians in similar situations remains to be seen. It depends on what happens to the information and denouncements we've collected. Those who receive this information must act. They must act to end indiscriminate aerial spraying of coca regions; act to end Plan Colombia. They must act to end national and international corporate expropriation of peasant land. They must act to increase economic community development that will benefit those who live there (as opposed to increasing the value of their land thus aggravating the expropriation of their lands). They must act to ensure a clear distinction between civilians and community leaders and armed combatants, and act to end the arrest and extrajudicial killing of civilians in the area. They must act to ensure that there is a real effort on the part of state security forces to protect the lives and homes of the people in these rural conflict zones and to provide their communities with all the services that citizenship entitles them to without forcing them to displace.

What is happening in rural San Pablo is not an isolated incident. It is not just a local incident. It is not just a national phenomenon. It is the consequence of a combination of all of these things. Putting an end to forced displacement and land expropriation requires changing the minds of local, national and international decision-makers. When doing presentations on Colombia I have often said "One of two things is likely to happen to a Peasant living near lucrative resources in Colombia. He or she will either be killed, or forced to displace. This is true whether the Peasants live near legal lucrative resources such as gold, oil, or land or illegal enterprises run by gasoline or drug cartels." This has got to stop!

Please do your part!