"We are all Colombia!"

bristol | globalisation | news report Saturday March 08, 2008 17:07 by Guayusa Andina and Guayabo Pastuso - Espacio Bristol-Colombia espaciobristol at redcolombia dot org

Espacio Bristol-Colombia join thousands marching in homage to the victims of the state terror in Bogotá

On Thursday we were on the streets of Bogotá as thousands of Colombians took to the streets again, this time in homage to the more than 15,000 victims of state terrorism in the country. We marched with campesinos from BP’s oil exploration region of Casanare, in the capital to attend the National Movement of Victims of State Crimes forum being held this weekend. The slogan, ‘for our dead, not a minute of silence, only a lifetime of struggle’ was particularly poignant as we stood beside, Dolores, whose two sons were killed by the army last year.

Espacio and COS-PACC, the Colombian social organization we’re working with in Casanare, have set up a scheme to protect threatened members of rural communities in the region by ‘twinning’ them with people in Britain, who undertake to follow-up their situation with the authorities and build up personal solidarity links as pen-pals, to remind people that they are not alone and disposable, as the strategists of state terror would like to have them believe. To take part get in touch.

protesters in Bogota

On Thursday we were on the streets of Bogotá as thousands of Colombians took to the streets again, this time in homage to the more than 15,000 victims of state terrorism in the country. We marched with campesinos from BP’s oil exploration region of Casanare, in the capital to attend the National Movement of Victims of State Crimes forum being held this weekend.

The slogan, ‘for our dead, not a minute of silence, only a lifetime of struggle’ was particularly poignant as we stood beside, Dolores, a woman we know from Casanare (not her real name) whose two sons were killed by the army last year and the neighbours of community activist Armando Montañez who shot dead last month after he and other members of the community were blacklisted by a sergeant of the 16th Brigade.

Many of the marchers carried photos of friends, family members and neighbours who had been killed by the state forces and state-linked paramilitaries. Some wore t-shirts baring the words ‘we are all Colombia’ in response to the ‘I am Colombia’ trade mark of last month’s government-backed march against the FARC guerrilla (see our report at http://www.bristol.indymedia.org/article/687876).

Despite the fact that bosses encouraged employees to take the day off for the previous march, on Thursday workers were threatened with sanctions if they didn’t turn up for work. Despite this, the streets were thronging with people and, although it’s difficult to estimate numbers when the mainstream press are concerned to play down the significance of the march, the streets were far more densely packed than on 4 February at which according to generous estimates over 8 million people marched across the world.

There was also widespread support for the march in other countries, including across Europe where Colombian exiles and groups in the network we’re part of – the Red de Hermandad y Solidaridad con Colombia - and other solidarity networks organized protests, vigils and street theatre. In Paris, around 600 people joined a vigil in the Trocadero, while at home in Bristol, other members of Espacio Bristol-Colombia, alongside people from Colombia Solidarity Campaign and others highlighted the situation in Colombia through a piece of street theatre (see the u-tube clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEIRaoGpT0c and report at http://www.bristol.indymedia.org/article/688022?&conden...37421)
The mobilization was convened by Colombian social organizations to demand an immediate end to the persecution of members of social organizations and trade unions, human rights defenders, journalists, students, peasant-farmers, indigenous people and all those engaged in democratic opposition and to demand the victims right to truth, justice and meaningful reparation.

For more than 50 years the Colombian conflict has been the cause of one of the most longstanding and devastating humanitarian crises on the planet, with hundreds of thousands of dead and 'disappeared' and more than four million people internally displaced within the country. The vast majority of crimes have been committed by paramilitary groups that act under the protection of the armed forces and senior figures in the Colombian state and which, in many cases, are financed by multinational corporations.

These paramilitaries and their allies have caused the death of more than 15,000 people, including 1,700 indigenous people, 2,550 trade unionists and 5,000 members of the Patriotic Union – a left-leaning political coalition. These victims have been buried in more than 3,000 mass graves, or their bodies thrown into rivers. Six hundred people have been murdered every year since 2002, when the government supposedly began a 'demobilisation' of the paramilitaries.

Since 2006, a number of public scandals have demonstrated the tight links between paramilitary groups and dozens of politicians, including members of parliament, regional governors, military officers and other state agents. Many of these people continue told hold public office or positions as diplomats.

On Wednesday, UN High-Commissioner for Human Rights’ delegate in Colombia, Javier Hernández, issued a statement warning that paramilitary groups continue to thrive in the country and that what the government now refers to as mere ‘criminal gangs’ in fact have “structures of command and control, arms, operational capacity and uniforms” and include at least 15% of those paramilitaries have supposedly demobilized.

Like the Hydra, the great sea-snake of Greek legend, ‘it could be that we have only cut off one head, from which another seven will emerge’ he said. The UNHCHR delegate also underlined the need to clarify the links between paramilitary groups and corporations and the importance of reparation for victims that includes the recuperation of their land (a large proportion of land in Colombia has been turned over to corporate interests through displacement at the hands of the paramilitaries which has subsequently been legalized by the state). http://www.eltiempo.com/tiempoimpreso/edicionimpresa/po....html
Over the last few years, there has also been an increase in extra-judicial executions by the National Army. Since 2002, national and international human rights organizations have reported the murder of more than 950 civilians who the army tried to pass off as guerrillas killed in combat.

Casanare, where we work, is far from an exception and the army continue to protect the interests of BP and other companies linked to oil extraction and exploration. Dolores told us yesterday that now, months after the murder of her sons, a Canadian company has begun seismic exploration on her land with asking her permission or giving her any compensation for the damage to her farm.

Espacio and COS-PACC, the Colombian social organization we’re working with in Casanare, have set up a scheme to protect threatened members of rural communities in the region by ‘twinning’ them with people in Britain, who undertake to follow-up their situation with the authorities and build up personal solidarity links as pen-pals, to remind people that they are not alone and disposable, as the strategists of state terror would like to have them believe. If you are interested in getting involved, contact us as espaciobristol@redcolombia.org.