Praying for Peace

This is the reading, written by Pierre and Chris, that we used at our public action on Ash Wednesday.

Esther 3:8-10
Then Haman said to King Xerxes, "There is a certain people dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose customs are different from those of all other people and who do not obey the king's laws; it is not in the king's best interest to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will put ten thousand talents of silver into the royal treasury for the men who carry out this business." So the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.

Context:
Today, multinational corporations and countries like the U.S. and Canada have said to Colombia, "Colombia, you have a certain people dispersed and scattered in all your provinces that do not obey the laws of privatization, monocultures, fumigations, and the concentration of wealth. They don't obey the laws of the free market. If it pleases you, Mr. President, issue a decree of Plan Colombia to annihilate them, and we will deposit in the hands of your administrators billions of pesos."

Esther 3:13
Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and little children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods.

Context:
And the army and the paramilitaries were send to all the provinces of the country with the order to exterminate, kill and annihilate the farming villages, miners, indigenous groups, labor unions, social organizations, and human rights workers, and to forcibly recruit youth to be soldiers in the war project.

Esther 4:1-3
When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. But he went only as far as the king's gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

Context:
The Jews used sackcloth and covered themselves in ashes to show their sorrow. Today we come to dress ourselves for mourning and sit at the door of the government to lament the decree of economic, social and military war against the Colombian people.

Esther 4:6-8, 12-14
So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king's gate. Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to urge her to go into the king's presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.
When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: "Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"

Context:
Like Mordecai, we have knowledge of plans of destruction and how much they are prepared to pay for them. We have copies of the decrees that have gone out from the businesses and governments and we know the consequences of those actions. Just like Esther we are called to speak out and report to the king what we know is happening.

Esther 4:15-17
Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: "Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish." So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther's instructions.

Context:
As Esther fasted and prepared herself to present herself to the king, we also must prepare ourselves and think about what our roles can be in the face of this monster of war. This season of Lent can be a time of reflection for each one of us. Esther made the decision of "if I perish, I perish" and sadly many have perished because they have confronted the king. Now we invite you, out loud or in your hearts, to name these people.

Esther 9:28
These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never cease to be celebrated by the Jews, nor should the memory of them die out among their descendants.

Context:
The story of Esther ends well for the Jewish people. The king issued a new decree, allowing the Jews the possibility to defend themselves against the threat. Today we have come together here not to celebrate a victory but to defend ourselves against the great threat of war with our one powerful tool-- the truth. We are present here to denounce the violent acts so that they won't be lost to memory or remain in impunity. We hope for the day in which kings carry out their duties to respect the lives of each one of the inhabitants of Colombia and the entire world.

CPT Colombia 2008 Human Rights Report

For the past 3 years, the Colombia team has compiled reports of violations to international humanitarian law and published them in an annual report. We've just wrapped up the report covering Dec. 2007 through Nov. 2008, and you can read our findings on our website: Colombia 2008 Human Rights Report

Garzal

We traveled to Garzal and Nueva Esperanza, two towns along the Magdalena River whose inhabitants face forced removal from their land. After living on the land for 5 years, Colombian law states that they become the rightful owners of the land, and these communities have been here for 20 years or more. Many farmers grow cacao, which turns a pretty good profit. Plans are in the works to build an entire chocolate production plant in the area, so that the communities can manage all stages of the process themselves and greatly increase their profit margin. But the land title issue has them worried. At one point INCODER (the Colombian Institute for Rural Development) issued 64 titles to many of the inhabitants. Later, they returned and collected the titles, claiming they needed to make a few small changes, and have never returned the titles.

The Barreto family used to live in the area where they managed the region's drug trade working for Pablo Escobar. When Escobar was under attack, the Barreto family fled. But now they are interested in returning, and have had fake land titles drawn up that show themselves as the owners of the entire area. The real titles, which belong to the members of the community, are in a legal process to be revoked. Thankfully the communities have a good lawyer helping them navigate the system, but so far the odds are stacked against them.

Garzal and Simiti

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

Christmas lights in Barranca

Parque de la Vida (Park of Life) in downtown Barranca,
all lit up for Christmas

My favorite, the iguana in a ceiba tree

Posing in the women sculptures

My other favorite, the snowman beside the palm trees

Enjoying ice cream at the Parque de la Vida on the Night of Lights

Sara, Chris, Stewart

Christmas lights on the palm trees lining the park

Velitas (little candles) lighting Mary's way on the night of the Immaculate Conception

David versus Goliath

It's been ages since my last post, so kudos to any of you who are still checking in to see if I have anything to say this time :)  

A few weeks ago I and two of my teammates (Kim Lamberty & Julián Gutierrez) traveled to Santa Rosa in the southern part of the Bolivar province to attend a round table discussion between a federation of small miners and government representatives.  The Southern Bolivar Agricultural-Mining Federation (FEDEAGROMISBOL-- la Federación Agro-Minera de Sur de Bolivar) have been trying to schedule a meeting with the government for months now.  The first meeting was planned for mid-September, and we found out the night before that the government had cancelled.  So it was re-scheduled for a few weeks later.  The government didn't go to that one either; nor did they bother to let anyone know they weren't coming.  Hundreds of miners, some from as far as a 10 hour journey away, had already made the trip and weren't very happy about being stood up.  They organized a commission of 150 representatives, who traveled to the Ministry of Mining office in Cartagena to demand an audience.  Finally, on 6 November, both parties met together in Santa Rosa.  

The Federation brought a huge agenda, which they didn't get through in its entirety, but they did broach several key topics.  The Federation presented a human rights report from the past 2 years, documenting 35 instances of human rights abuses which resulted in over 100 deaths.  One of the dead is Alejandro Uribe Chacón, former leader of the Federation and instrumental in organizing the miners to advocate for themselves.  Death threats continue-- leaders of the Federation, priests from a local diocese, and members of a development organization that work in the region received threats twice so far this year from a paramilitary group, promising to "exterminate them like dogs."  Paramilitaries continue to move and act with impunity.  Often, local police know just enough of their plans to be conveniently absent when killings and kidnappings occur.  In this, and many other cases, trying to make a living for yourself and your family on your land is enough to attract the attention of armed actors.  More on this dynamic in a bit...

At the end of the day, people seemed energized and pleased with the achievements of the meetings.  The biggest step forward came in the formation of a joint human rights investigation committee, made up of representatives from government entities and members of the Federation, who committed to look into the human rights abuses reported by the mining communities.  Another positive outcome is the promise to put a bank in the region to be accessible for miners to sell their gold.  (The government hadn't been pleased that the miners were selling their gold on the black market; the miners didn't have a bank to sell it to.)  Some speculated that the government representatives felt a bit sheepish after failing to attend so many previous meetings, which made them a bit more prepared to work with the miners and their requests.  Whatever the reason, it seemed like a constructive discussion.  

So why so much paramilitary activity in the Sur de Bolivar?  The answer is chillingly simple-- the veins of gold underground attract not only local miners, scraping to make a living, but also powerful corporations such as AngloGold Ashanti, a South African mining giant.  Their subsidiary, Kedahda, is actively purchasing land in the Sur de Bolivar region.  (see an article about Kedahda's activity in Colombia)  Small mining communities determined to keep their land represent a threat to the interests of AngloGold, and while they haven't been directly linked to fomenting violence in Colombia, they have admitted to paying off rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in exchange for access to gold mines there.  

The story is sadly similar the world over, and free trade agreements like the FTAA and the proposed Colombia Free Trade Agreement (which could be voted on in the U.S. Congress as early as this week) open the doors to corporations intent on increasing their profits, with little incentive for small farmers and miners just trying to survive.  The "disposable poor" continue to be stripped of what power they have, so that the already rich can get even richer.  But power comes in many forms, and economic power is just one of them.  Communities such as the miners in the Sur de Bolivar know that they have a power to which corporations have assigned little value-- the power to organize and stand up for themselves.  As the familiar quote goes, indeed, it is only the small groups of committed people who have ever brought true change to the world.  The Federation and the families they represent face a huge, uphill, David-vs.-Goliath battle, but their efforts give witness to the strength of those small committed communities who work for nothing less (and nothing more) than the right to a life with dignity.  

So this is what CPT does-- we go to meetings like this one in Santa Rosa, so that community activists can meet without fear of violent reprisal.  We can't be everywhere at once, but our presence signals the attention of the international community, and hopefully, reminds those who would perpetrate violence that their actions will not go unnoticed.