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San José de ApartadóCSN Home |
Don Bartolome Catano greeted the delegation from Wisconsin warmly. We were visiting our sister city of Apartado. With his sweet smile he explained to us that he represented the peasantry of the region at the City Council. He ran on the ticket of the Union Patriotica, the third alternative party that represented the hopes of many Colombians who did not feel represented by either of the two traditional parties, Liberals and Conservatives.
With a quick speech, smiling eyes and his cane, the 75 year old founder of San Jose de Apartado told us his life story. He came to Apartado on May 4, 1966 seeking an opportunity after working for others since he was 7 years old. He found beautiful lands near the Serrania de Abibe. He bought a small plot, got married at 36 and started to raise pigs and chicken. He built a small house with a zinc roof. He received leadership training offered by the Peasant Association and liked it very much because they not only trained him but spoke of the need for agrarian reform.
Soon, 17 other peasant families came to live in the area where he was. Then the army came and a sergeant Rodriguez, along with a notary who typed quickly, started to ask him questions. Who orients you ? Nobody, myself. Why did you come? I came from the town of Andes where the rich are very rich and the poor very poor. Who sent you here? Necessity sent us here. We have been tilling this land for more than 60 days and if nobody claims it, you can settle here. Don Miguel Florez says you are guerrillas. We work this land from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. We plant food -- bananas, yuca, plantains, corn -- come and see for yourself.
We built a school, a health center and constructed the road. We are not rich people. Why did you call it San Jose? Because he is the patron saint of the peasants who till the land. Sometimes--he tells us--I am afraid but I keep it inside. Where do I go? God gives me peace. I study my conscience and I do not owe anything to anybody. In 30 years here I have no enemies. San Jose's peasants sold avocados, cocoa beans and other products. Don Bartolo and the community organized the Balsamar cooperative to market and process the cocoa beans, rather than selling to middlemen.
On August 17,1996 at 11:30 a.m. unknown armed men burst into the city council and shot Don Bartolo twice. He started calmly to pick up his papers when a third shot, directed to his face, killed the founder of San Jose de Apartado. In February of 1997, paramilitaries entered the town at night, pulled the four leaders of the cooperative from their beds and beheaded them, leaving their bodies in the street. The paramilitaries shut up the market, and forbade the selling of foods and the tending of crops, accusing the villagers of running a supply post for the guerrillas.
The above description repeats the scene that for the majority of this century has taken place all over Colombia: a war against the poor. In the 50's and 60's it was called La Violencia. Now it is called a war-on-drugs. The name is not important to the people who suffer from it. The root problem of Colombia's tragedy lies in the poverty of so much of its people in a country of great wealth. 90% of the wealth is owned by 2.5% of the population. From this situation 3 guerrilla movements were formed: FARC, the oldest in Latin America and ELN in the 1960's.
A formal constitutional democracy to the outside world, Colombia with its 35 million people in reality has been a facade democracy, where the military were given "carte blanche" to control the population during most of this century. According to the Comision Colombiana de Juristas there are 10 people killed every day for political reasons. Since 1988, 30,000 have been killed, with an average of 3,000 a year making each year more killings than during the 17 years of Pinochet in Chile. The targets are peasants leaders such as Don Bartolo, labor leaders, teachers, grass roots organizers, priests, nuns, human rights activists, NGO's leaders, lawyers, journalists. In fact, anybody who thinks.
The army and its paramilitary allies carry out nearly three quarters of the killings. The other quarter is done by the guerrillas. The army, constrained by international public opinion from doing the killings itself, has allied with landowners, drug lords and even multinationals, to create the paramilitaries. They do their dirty work - killings, disappearances and horrible torture--knowing that in 97% of the cases of killings in Colombia no one is ever convicted. Any attempt to organize a legal opposition in this "democracy", has been eliminated. Such is the case of the Union Patriotica, Don Bartolo's political party. It was founded in 1985. Since then, almost all its members and leaders have been killed. About 4,000. Nearly one killed a day.
Drug dealers have become land owners. Big international capital wants to join the elites to "develop" areas such as San Jose where there is a coal mine nearby. In Uraba a canal is being planned to replace the Panama canal. People have fled in terror when paramilitaries arrive, producing one million internal refugees, more than Rwanda has according to UNICEF.
Paramilitary, guerrilla and army actions grew greatly from the last quarter of 1,996, creating a context of terror and death by killing humble unarmed people--mainly peasants--in open violation of international human rights codes.
Seeking to recognize community life and to strengthen ties of citizen unity and not let members become involved in military action or espionage or support for the armed actors, and to give value to their constitutional rights, the inhabitants of 28 settlements, with San Jose de Apartado in the center, declared themselves a Comunidad de Paz, on March 23 of 1997, on Palm Sunday, after High mass, in the presence and with the support of Pax Christi Holland, members of the Dutch Parliament, the Diocesis of Apartado, Justicia y Paz , CINEP and the then Mayor of Apartado, Gloria Cuartas.
This admirable peace initiative developed a program based upon absolute neutrality as to the bands confronting each other and the creation of a Special Mixed Commission of Observation for any violations of their commitment and rights on the part of the armed groups.
The people commit themselves :
The Community members are clearly identified with flags, billboards or other signs with a white background and a red circle which can be seen at great distance.
The community obeys the recommendations of an Internal Council composed of 4 elected citizens delegates , 2 representatives of national NGO's and 1 delegate of the Diocesis of Apartado.
The community seeks stable peace and, through active neutrality and participation, tries to recover civilian and communal space. This peace initiative springs directly from Don Bartolo's influence in the community. It seems to recover his deep desire to live free and work his fields and think about what one wishes, respecting everybody else's right to do the same. Don Bartolo's spirit is alive. Peace Community members want to give value to their rights and autonomy as citizens and Colombians.
This is an alternative allowing the civilian population to express resistance, autonomy, a dignified life and a peaceful expression of opposition to the status quo. It is a novelty in Colombia because it redefines popular power, focusing on exercising fundamental rights as citizen in a democracy, and breaks the dynamics of war and injustice, creating a space to survive.
Since it declared itself a Comunidad de Paz, San Jose has seen the death of 38 members - 33 executed by paramilitaries and 5 by FARC guerrillas- On February 11, 1998 coming from harvesting crops, 4 people among them a boy of 16 and another of 14, were confronted by a heavily armed paramilitary group in military uniforms. They threatened them with decapitation holding machetes to their throats. Despite public commitment by the Colombian government to dismantle paramilitary groups, no effective action has been taken and they operate on and off a checkpoint on the road leading to San Jose de Apartado from Apartado.
In the middle of an atrocious reality created by both paramilitaries and guerrilla, civilian peace initiatives even as fragile as San Jose de Apartado Coumunidad de Paz , represent one of Colombia's greatest hopes.
In my last visit to San Jose I went to the small cemetery where among wild flowers Don Bartolo's body rests. There I promised him that I would tell the world the story of San Jose. And thus this account.
* Co-founder of the Colombia Support Network with headquarters in Madison,Wisconsin