Colombia work

I got an opportunity to do some violence reduction volunteer work in Colombia that involves accompanying communities caught in the midst of conflict.

In this case, people in some rural fishing and farming communities who had been displaced because of fighting between the various armed groups wanted to return to their homes but felt unsafe so they asked for help from a local priest in the nearby city of river port town of Barrancabermeja.

Organizacion Feminina Popular marchBarranca was known as a “rebel city” for decades with the ubiquitous red star portraits of Che Guevara painted on buildings all over town. So for that reason Carlos Castena, leader of the largest right-wing paramilitary group in the country boasted he would drink “tinto” (cafecito) there by Christmas of 2000 and after intense fighting and many, many “guerrillas” killed, he did.

I arrived in Colombia three years later. The Catholic priest had in had asked some contacts of his in a Mennonite church in Bogota who knew of this group based out of Toronto who sent teams of international observers to conflict zones around the world in order to bear witness to any war crimes by either side and to remind the armed groups, when encountered, of their obligations under international law. So I was part of that team in 2003-2004.

die-in at political protest in ColombiaThe paramilitaries still had strict control of the city, unspoken but ever-present. Every day the papers headlined the latest murder victim –literally. I cannot remember a day when we didn’t read about a murder in the news. It was the kind of place where the taxi driver slows down when we see some people gathered by the side of the road because it’s probably a body.

We provided a zone accompaniment in the region by running boats up and down the river, stopping to visit families, playing with the children, attending community soccer matches and when we encountered the armed groups we reminded them of 12156500833_d8c0a1e393_mtheir obligations under international law to to respect non-combatants and let them know that we would document and report any human rights violations.

My time in Colombia had a profound effect on me. I’ll never forget all the activists, mothers, churchworkers, children, farmers and vendedores I met down there. I know how much you struggle for peace and an end to violence in your communities and I’m proud to have gotten to support you for a little while.

See more photos of my time in Colombia here.

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