More photos

I've just uploaded some more pictures, this time from an accompaniment last weekend to support the families of the victims of the 16 May 1998 massacre in Barrancabermeja as they received the remains of 5 of the victims.

On 16 May 1998, close to 50 paramilitaries showed up at a soccer field in Barrancabermeja where lots of people were out celebrating Mothers' Day. They rounded up a bunch of men and told them to get in the back of their pickup trucks. One man refused, so they shot him. 7 men were killed at the soccer field, and 25 were disappeared. In Dec. 2008, an ex-paramilitary disclosed the location of some of the bodies of the victims of this event. On 23 Jan. 2009, the exhumed remains of 5 of the 32 victims were returned to their families in Bucaramanga. The families (accompanied by quite a number of social organizations, including CPT) returned to Barrancabermeja with the remains of their loved ones. In the very same field where their loved ones had been taken, the families set up a night-long vigil, followed by mass the next morning, and finally, burial.

16 May 1998 Massacre

Mining Zone accompaniments

So far nearly all the accompaniments I've participated in with ECAP Colombia have been in or with people from the mining zone, in the Southern Bolivar region. This link will take you to a Picasa photo album with pictures of two recent accompaniments in the mining zone.

Accompaniments in the Sur de Bolivar mining zone