CALL for Solidarity
with Afro-Colombians of Choco
A Call for Solidarity with the
African-Colombians of Chocó
By Proyecto deache
³The Flight²
The images of the refugees in Bosnia fleeing the war there are
dwarfed by the image of the hundreds of Colombian peasants who
recently left the region of the Atrato river in the Department of Chocó.
They left with bags over their shoulders containing their memories and
possessions: a pot, some plantains and corn. After crossing the Atrato
river and the Gulf of Urabá they reached land and there began a parade
of horse-drawn carts.
If they were lucky, families got out together. But even today some
families remain split apart ‹ with a daughter or sons, some fathers and
mothers, as well as some grandparents having fled up into the hills. War
arrived without warning. ³When the bombing began, it was daytime. But
our daughter was working in our plot; we have not heard from her
since.²
The refugees arrived at Turbo - a town controlled by paramilitaries -
coming from the rural communities of Las Pajas, Salaquo,Vijao, Cacarica,
Bogotá, Quebrada del Medio, Balsita, Quebrada Bonita, Montanita, San
Higinio, Limon,Peranchito, La Virginia, Santa Lucia, Puerto Nuevo, all of
them in the jurisdiction of Riosucio in Chocó Department. These Black
communities were subjected to a new forced exile, similar to that which
their ancestors had experienced. They arrived in small groups at the
stadium in Turbo. There were 40 of them on February 28; on March 6
there 470; and by March 14 they totalled 800 persons. Many more, about
1200, preferred trying to survive by living dispersed in the marginalized
poor neighborhoods of Turbo. Today 250 are still at the mouth of the
Atrato river, being unable to cross the Gulf of Urabá.
In the meantime others who could not reach the river to take the
motorboat across, spent a month walking across the jungle in the Chocó.
They also fled the same bombings and reached Pavarando, near the town
of Mutata, and they number nearly 3,000 persons. Hundreds crossed the
Darién border and arrived in the neighboring country of Panamá.
³The Prologue²
The scorched earth war for position ‹ power over this valued land of
Chocó ‹ began on December 20 with the paramilitary seizure of
Riosucio, which generated a first wave of individual or family
displacements toward Cartagena, Turbo, Quibdo and the Panamanian
border. The swift current in the broad Atrato River carried away
innumerable headless bodies; many of them came out of the feeder rivers
where dozens of small settlements once were and which can hardly be
reached today. Many of the deaths are attributed to the much-feared
Mochacabezas - the name of a paramilitary group characterized by its
cruel and barbarous killings.
Riosucio, the municipality containing the second largest rural area in
Colombia, has witnessed the way in which the paramilitaries operated in
conjunction with the Colombian Army and Navy. The paramilitaries
announced in the first few days of the month of January that they
would take over the zone of Salaqui. ³Progress will also reach them...We
are going to clean up the zone. You know about the canal...² Exactly
three days thereafter, on January 9, when the paramilitaries were
walking peacefully through the streets of this town, the guerrillas
undertook a fruitless offensive to recover it, and were repelled by
paramilitaries and military troops. In less than one month the number
of persons killed reached about 60 with innumerable persons forced out
of their homes and some disappeared.
But the counterinsurgency offensive continued its course. Threats
became reality. On February 23 a joint operation by military troops and
paramilitaries was carried out in the small settlements at the mouth of
the Salaqui River. In some communities the paramilitaries indicated
that bombings were going to take place and ³invited² them to leave: ³we
need to have you leave the zone.² At the same time they told them to go
to Turbo, that they would be received by the Police in that city. In other
communities they brought the residents together and gave them a
deadline of 3 or 5 days to abandon the region or to join the paramilitary
bands. After the paramilitary¹s occupation by land, penetration of
regular Army forces was carried out by air and in the meantime the
bombing took place. In other communities they murdered poor
peasants, dismembering them in the most cruel of ways. In this way the
second wave of displacements began.
³Survival²
The 19 communities which the police received in Turbo were grouped
together in the stadium. There, by necessity they began a process of basic
organization, naming leaders, spokespersons or representatives. Many
were forced to take on that role without having had any previous
preparation for it.
The children, of pure black skin color like their ancestors, showed
symptoms of depression, malnutrition, diarrhea and possibly the disease
of the marginalized, cholera. One bottle of milk is shared by 30 infants,
and sometimes they eat only once per day. Their parents find it difficult
to sleep‹they feel like they are in a concentration camp, with the door
of the stadium closed at 10 p.m. They wait until the daylight comes to
be able to go out to breath. When they were able to meet, they expressed
the necessity of solidarity to break the dark solitude that they experience
in the stadium. Some leaders discussed the possibility of returning to
their homes, but others opposed that and advised resettlement.
³The government has an ax and a machete... This has to do with our
wealth. Here there is a lot of wealth, we are forced off of our lands
because of the canal and because of other interests which seek to take
over our land.² ³This land is worth a lot, the government has made
committments to build the canal and what they want to do is force us
out.² ³We dream with the cedars.² ³I am already dead. They destroyed
what I built with 30 years of work. If they wish they can finish killing me here.²
In the mist of the improvised kitchens just outside the stadium where
rice becomes more scarce day by day, reality contrasts with the official
pronouncements. It is not true what the media alleges, accepting the
position stated by the paramilitaries that those who are displaced are
guerrillas. ³They are beautifully Black men and women who love their
environment, their land, their work,² a medical volunteer said.
Here is the dark, dantesque panorama of the war. Of the forms of
state terrorism and of guerrilla war, we are possibly witnessing a war of
position, in which territorial and ideological domains are perfectly
determined and delineated, and the possibilities of a space of neutrality
made impossible and the civilian population is put in a totally
defenseless state. In this region the elemental human rights are openly
violated by the state through the armed forces and their paramilitary
groups, not to mention violations of the basic norms of international
humanitarian law, which includes also the other armed actor, the
guerrillas.
The state hides. It has ears but it does not hear, it has eyes but it does
not see. Today this large group of Blacks refuses to believe that all is lost.
They dream and they will continue dreaming until the last one is forced
off their land.
Searching for solidarity
he displaced communities in the stadium in Turbo need continued
accompaniement. Continued legal, economic, medical and psychological
support is crucial. That is why we invite you to take an action of
humanitarian solidarity and of national and international protest.
The following is a list some alternatives in which we all may support
the resistance and the hope for life of the displaced persons:
1) Economic Assistance: According to the evaluation this month
material assistance is not a priority ( neither clothing, nor food, nor toys,
not medicines) since sending them from Bogotá or Medellín is very very
costly. It is urgent to collect funds for food and medicine. For that
reason any type of economic support would be important.
Your contributions can be deposited in account # 0051 0004789-2 at
Davivienda bank in the name of Comisión Intercongregacional de
Justicia y Paz.
2) Moral and Psychological Support: We invite you to join the
Fraternal Network for those Displaced Persons of the Middle Atrato
through letters and drawings so that they feel themselves accompanied
and supported.
The letters can be addressed to the name of the following
communities : Comunidad de Salaque, Comunidad de Teguerre,
Comunidad de Cano Seco, Comunidad de Vijao Cacarica, Comunidad de
Vijao Puerto Nuevo, Comunidad de Balsagira, Comunidad Santa Lucia,
Comunidad Bocachica, Comunidad del Limon, Comunidad de Quebrada
Bonita, Comunidad de La Virginia, Comunidad de San Higinio,
Comunidad Las Pajas.
Send the letters to : Calle 36 # 15 - 39. Santa Fe de Bogotá, Colombia
telefax 011 57 1 338 1511
3) Politically: Write letters* to the Colombian government demanding :
a. The breaking up of the paramilitary groups
b. Respect for the autonomy of the civilian population in its decision
not to be involved with any of the armed actors
c. Payment of damages to the displaced families.
d. Return and/or resettlement of the displaced persons within the
frame of reference of respect for UN protocol # 2 and the international
law of Human Rights.
e. Eliminate indiscriminate actions such as bombings and machine
gunnings were the civilian population is forced to leave.
[* addresses ]