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Introduction With the purpose of showing key aspects of the situation through which some of the displaced rural communities are currently going through as a result of the armed conflict in Colombia, the National Pastoral Social Secretariat – Cáritas Colombiana, with the support of Dioceses and Pastoral Social Montelibano and the Grupo de Trabajo por Colombia – GTC (“Colombian Labor Group” – made up of various Caritas registered with the Cáritas International organization), presents the case of the rural community which inhabits the PAQUEMÁS village in the town of Turbo in Antioquia, a Department in Northwestern Colombia. After having spoken with this community and listened to their voices and stories, we are offering a look at their reality, in order to better understand not only their problem, but also some of the causes and effects that aggravate, reconfigure and complicate it in significant ways. The continued effort of the PAQUEMAS community to advance in their recognition as people with rights and part of society in order to receive a better quality of life and wellbeing, and to have a harmonious environment of coexistence through mutual recognition of one another is reviewed. This is an example of reconciliation with life, with its own environment and future possibilities, in a national context of violence and social and political problems, both historically and structurally, such as in the case of Colombia. That this simple document represents not only a work tool, but also a homage to the ethnic communities that in Colombia persist in the search for peace among its territories, as well as a fraternal message to local, regional and national governments in order to advance their structural conditions and those of armed groups and those in conflict to promote dialogue and reconciliation for the sake of the dignity of these people and an invitation to the international community to continue with their usual solidarity in one of the most crucial and sensitive moments in the search for peace and reconciliation in Colombia.
National Pastoral Social Secretariat – Cáritas Colombiana
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Contents
I. Characteristics of the Territory: The Antioquenian Urabá …Violence and Conflict over Equal Access to Land…5 II. Central Problem: Socio-Economic Vulnerability, Armed Conflict and Risks for a Dignified Return..6 III. A Few Causes of the Problem…12 IV. Effects on Dignified Life and Other Indigenous Rights....13
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V. Experience of Political Incidents for the Community Regarding their Problem...17 VI. Role of the Church in the Process......18
Photographies and text: National Pastoral Social Secretariat /Cáritas Colombiana.
I. Characteristics of the Territory: The Antioquenian Urabá … Violence and Conflict over Equal Access to Land The town of Turbo is located in the northeast of the Department of Antioquia in the sub region of Antioquenian Urabá. It has a huge ecological value and diversity of natural and hydric resources and minerals, as well as being a strategic route for goods, products and services with access to the sea. In this region there is more land than required for livestock farming and less than needed for agriculture and conservation areas, which shows a conflict for equal use. This situation and the need for land for the rural people has generated a strong pressure for land for some time, whose access has been achieved through practices such as false tradition, forced displacement and adjudications of the previously known INCORA. The social problem regarding access to land has been heightened by the armed conflict involving guerillas and paramilitaries who have disputed the territory and its principal routes, involving the civilian population in their confrontations and interests. Turbo is the largest town in Antioquian Urabá, making it a center of trade and transport for the entire gulf region. Conformed of a town, 18 townships and 225 villages, of which 40 are located in the coastal zone, additionally making up the “banana region” with the towns of Apartadó, Carepa and Chigorodó, so called due to the extensive cultivation and trade of bananas is the main economic commodity in the region. Along the path between the towns of Turbo and Apartadó is the township of El Tres, where there are currently 70 displaced families from the neighboring village PAQUEMAS, a village where originally 114 rural families who were displaced in 1997 by paramilitaries (the other families have since dispersed to other areas of the country).
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II. Central Problem: Socio-Economic Vulnerability, Armed Conflict and Risks of a Dignified Return National Context: Colombia, a country with rural conflicts: Even though 75% of national territory is rural (www.igav.gov.co) and guarantees cultivation and consumption of 70% of our food (www. minagricultura.gov.co). Both the statistics from DANE (www.dane.gov.co) on the situation regarding rural homes, and the 2008 report presented by national organizations such as civil society such as TECHO COMUN to the UN Human Rights Council (www.coeuropa.org.co), show a situation of poverty for 64.3% of the population, 53.1% of rural people with unsatisfied basic needs, (UBN), a rural homelessness rate of 29.1% and a displacement of lands which has left 87% of the population with just 3.7% of the land. 6
Additionally, even though the state has advanced with the enactment of a victims’ law for the restitution of lands in order to recover them due to their violent occupation (Law 1448, 2011 and Regulatory Decrees), the security and material guarantees for effective restitution continues to be one of the biggest challenges when advancing toward integral repair, a situation which involving men and women, children, adolescents and adults, both rural, indigenous and Afro-Caribbean people in differed areas of the country.
For the second part of 2012, there are 683 claimants of lands under threat. The majority of cases are in Córdoba, Cesar, Antioquia and Chocó (SEMANA 2012) and an uncertain number of murders of land claimants. According to official figures, in 2012 there were two (2) deaths which occurred in this way, while for social and non-government organizations, this figure is closer to fifty (50) people (eltiempo.com, 2012).
The National Protection Department approved special protection measures for around four hundred (400) leaders claiming land between 2012 and February 2013 (www.elespectador.com, 2013), even though organizations of claimants such as TIERRA & VIDA have serious objections to the use and relevance of some of these measures due to the risk of overexposing the victim due to their ineffectiveness resulting from a weak presence and articulation to act immediately and of constant armed conflict in the territories.
““When I was threatened, I asked for protection from the government and they gave me a bullet-proof vest, a bodyguard and a radio, but I gave up because I felt even more exposed. I gave everything back because it wasn’t really protecting me.” * Member of Paquemás In the case of the Department of Antioquia, of which the sub-region Antioquenian Urabá is a part, of the 91 towns with petitions for restitution of lands, 44 have a moderate risk level and 28 a high risk level for the victims and communities.
“Not long ago, we found out about the murder of a claimant who was under government protection and we wondered that if they can kill those who are being protected, what will they do with those of us who have no kind of security? There is no answer to this question.”* Member of Paquemás
Regional Context: The presence of organized armed groups, known as “criminal bands” such as “The Urabeños”, “The Rastrojos” and “The Paisas” as well as the FARC and the ELN, and the existence of drug trafficking and illegal crops results in an extreme risk for the 28 towns belonging to Urabá, Bajo Cauca and Eastern Antioquia. In Antioquenian Urabá and in the surrounding towns such as Apartadó in which restitution occurs, the risk levels are significant and the risk situation is extended to the south of Córdoba, affecting territories in other regions, as well as leadership and organizational reclamation processes that are important for advancing in effective land restitution processes.
THE CASE OF THE CLAIMANTS IN THE VILLAGE OF PAQUEMÁS a. The displacement process: Beginning to reconstruct memory and truth
““If we have no truth, we cannot have reconciliation. Those who have committed these crimes still hide the truth and we, the victims, cannot reconcile with them. When we have the truth, we can reconcile.”* According to a report made by Verdad Abierta (19/01/12), INCORA awarded one thousand hectares to several rural families who were later dispossessed of them by a paramilitary group. Farmers and merchants supposedly together with an official from the institute later took advantage to make themselves the new proprietors. “On November 10th 1994 INCORA awarded these families between eight and 15 hectares in the village of
Paquemas, part of a territory measuring 1,138 hectares bought from the company Ovalar Investments Ltd. In this moment the confrontation between paramilitaries and guerillas in Antioquenian Urabá has been heightened, involving the rural population and leading to displacements. On September 14th 1995 an armed group following orders from Ever Veloza, alias H.H., led by Jesús Albeiro Guisao, alias ´The Tiger’ entered the village Pueblo Galleta in the Currulao Township in Turbo where they murdered six villagers. ‘The Tiger’, currently in prison, testified that they cut off the villagers’ heads in order to spread terror among the population. Weeks afterwards began the mass exodus from villages such as Paquemás, El Limón and La Arenosa, which had to be abandoned by order of the Castaño brothers as they considered these lands to be guerilla strongholds. Pedro*, a villager to whom INCORA had awarded 15 hectares in Paquemás, resisted until paramilitaries killed his brother in 1995,accusing him of being a guerilla. In these days, the men of “H.H.” told José* another villager who had been awarded lands by INCORA, that it was better he left if he didn’t want to “chopped into little pieces”. Libia,* a 50 year-old midwife and one of the last to abandon the township, could not bear to see how her fellow villagers were threatened and murdered and on December 28th 1996 decided to flee with her family to new lands. Over the years that followed, new people took control of the lands, with crops and livestock. However, the villagers could do nothing, as the paramilitaries remained in the region and made it impossible to return or reclaim what was theirs, but when the process began with the paramilitaries, these landowners began one by one to knock on the door of justice and peace to see how they could recover what they had lost.
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The victims reported that the violence of “H.H.” and his men meant that paquemas and the surrounding areas became a ghost town. There were 173 homicides committed and 30 forced disappearances. There is also a record of 85 forced displacements, which almost coincides with the number of families who were helped by INCORA. They also reporter that the paramilitaries committed a rape, tortured and recruited a child. Doña Libia will be one of the victims present at the hearing. “We have been struggling for many years to recover our land, maybe since 2003 or 2004, I don’t remember well. We are tired of having nothing happen, but Ok… we must have faith. We have already hoped for ‘the most’, now we must hope for ‘the least’”, she said. 8
Several villagers have told verdadabierta.com that once displaced, an intermediary found them in the areas where they were hiding and asked them to sell their lands. “Months after settling in Carepa we were contacted by a man who told us it was better to sell. Turbo is very dangerous and you will definitely not be able to return. I didn’t want to but my husband was very worried because he had taken out a bank loan to make some improvements to the farm. He told me “let’s sell it.”, remembers Libia. * The business was simple; she and her husband would receive 2.8 million pesos in cash through the intermediary (whose name is withheld so as to not damage the investigation). To seal the deal, both of them went to the INCORA office in Turbo where they were told to look for an official to sign the document for them according to the victims’ declarations. The District Attorney was able to determine that the blank documents signed by many villagers had been used afterwards by the official after to draw up an act by which the villagers would waive their territories.
Statements taken by the District Attorney indicate that the ICORA official and the intermediary acted together to take the deeds and give them to others, among which were livestock farmers and traders who theoretically should not be the object of awards resulting from agricultural reform. The official was identified by the victims in the region as a “permanent collaborator” with paramilitary groups who later awarded these lands to livestock farmers, traders and suspected drug traffickers in Turbo accused by the Paramilitaries. In turn, the villagers in the region indicated that the intermediary was a “collaborator” with the paramilitaries. Raúl Hasbún, alias ‘Pedro Bonito’ has also mentioned him in some of his testimonies to attorneys from the Justice and Peace Department. In accordance with his confessions, this intermediary was recognized as the second in command of the alias “H.H.” in the townships of Currulao, El Tres and Nuevo Antioquia. According to Hasbún, this man was initially a collaborator and ended up as an ideologist of the organization. His abilities as a community leader led him to have not only this role, but to have a post in the Turbo Council at the end of the 1990s. In accordance with alias “Pedro Bonito”, this intermediary decided which lands were to be bought and to whom they were given. His knowledge of the region allowed him to localize the displaced villagers from Paquemas and persuade and even threaten them to sell. Several of the new land owners were mentioned by alias ‘Pedro Bonito’ as financiers of Frente Arlex Hurtado from the Auc.
Such is the case of a livestock farmer and a trader from Turbo who appears today as owner of various lands in Paquemás who are the object of claims before the court. One of them is that of Maria*. At the beginning of 1996, a paramilitary known by the alias ´Grandulón’ gave an order to the woman: either she sold her property to the intermediary or she would bear the consequences. She has no other choice but to flee the region. Eight years later she decided to go back to her land, but it was already owned by someone else, the livestock farmer and trader from Turbo There is nothing different about the case of Libia, whose farm now belongs to one of the Turbo traders indicated by “Pedro Bonito”. Even though she has trouble understanding the laws, she senses that the legal process to recover her land will be very complicated. This process could begin to be resolved this May 2nd, when the INCORA official who was called by the District Attorney will be heard, and will explain why he made the villagers sign blank documents which were then used as acts of waiving their territories. This is the very least expected by the victims.
The community consists of 114 families of over 500 people, the majority of whom are women and children (half the population are younger than 20 years old) of rural or Afro-Caribbean origin, coming from Córdoba, Antioquia and Chocó, farmers by trade and accustomed to making a living from plantain cultivation or as employees on farms. Of these families, only 70 live in the township and the rest are spread among various regions of the country.. b. The current involvement in the armed conflict: a war that persists and changes. In addition to the above, there is evidence of participation by the Los Tangueros paramilitary group, as well as the presence of these groups in the region and where they live, after having committed crimes involving arbitrary retentions, threats, and damage to the property of others, illegal foods, torture and rape to displace the people.
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“Some people who occupy the land have a lot of power and wealth and in any moment can take action against us. They will not allow themselves to be ousted from it so easily and we feel very vulnerable in front of them. For this reason we avoid going out. We are afraid that something might happen to us.”*
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According to the community, these victimizations still occur in the El Tres township and the town of Paquemás, and in the moment in which individual legal rulings begin to be made which recognize the right for four families to return to their lands, the community fear for their integrity and their lives and the measures to be taken by the state for the safe return without risk of re-displacement and new violations of rights.
¿What security do we have? If they send the army to protect us, we cannot have them behind us the whole time and when they go, what will happen to us? We do not know how the people will react when they are notified that they must leave the land.” *
c. A 19 year displacement without the clear possibility of a safe return Despite the time which has passed and the new regulations for restitution and integral repair, as well as the multiple rulings, concepts and national recommendations from international bodies from the Inter-American and universal human rights systems to guarantee integral, dignified and secure recuperation of the victims, there are only four legal rulings in favor of the same number of families which still do not offer guarantees of dignified return, nor clarity over the inter-institutional articulations which aim for restitution without re-displacement and under secure conditions.
“There have already been various sentences regarding lands and we are told that we will be given the lands, but we wonder what we will be given if the lands are occupied. We are given a document, not land. We cannot grow crops on a piece of paper.”*
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III. Algunas causas del problema In dialogues with the community, Diocese of Apartad贸 and the National Pastoral Social Secretariat, the following causes of the problem have been identified:
The rural area of Turbo is located in a region of strategic interest due to its access to the sea and the number of fertile territories, leading to the occupation of lands for economic ends such as the expansion of livestock farming under political arguments such as suspected belonging to leftist parties or movements, or social stigmatization such as accusations of belonging to guerilla groups.
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Lack of knowledge on the existence of the armed conflict by the past National Government generated an absence of public policy to confront and avoid involvement of the civilian population. Absence of public policy and democratic meetings to prevent conflicts from the use of land and promote its equal access locally and regionally. Little institutional presence and public control by the fiscal bodies of the situation in rural areas. For decades there has been an historical absence policy or strategy for protection of victims of displacement. Security risks and lack of state guarantees to lead, organize and report these occupations to achieve repair and avoid repetition. A historic absence of articulated, continued and participative social offer by the state in the region, and of articulated public policies (national, departmental and local) that give budgetary prioritization to offer the community a protective environment and access to rights.
IV. Some effects on Individual and Collective Rights in the Community Psychosocial: a. Collective terror, feelings of insecurity, lack of support, dislocation, isolation, family dispersing, abandonment and solitude. b. Fear of expression, meeting, integration, organization, leading processes of awarding and re-establishment of rights. c. Internal tensions inside the community, a constant sense of persecution and being marked. d. Loss of ability to fight and create, constant skepticism and distrust of people from outside the zone. e. Situation of unsurpassed grief and constant sense of loss. f. General unawareness of rights and how, where and in front of whom to exercise them. g. Fear of reprisal due to the land restitution process and that the occupation of lands will be repeated with new killings.
Economic: a. Systematic and gradual process of impoverishment, lack of lands to cultivate, access water and begin agricultural projects. b. Absence of economic training, subsidies, credits and community entrepreneurial programs to help reduce economic vulnerability.
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f. General unawareness of rights and how, where and in front of whom to exercise them. “They give us a deed, which is important, but it is not g. Fearbecause of reprisal due touse theitland restitution process sufficient we cannot to work on the lands or and that the occupation lands will bethe repeated with new killings. to construct a homeof there, because lands are occupied and we cannot go in.�*
Economic: a. Systematic and gradual process of impoverishment, lack of lands to cultivate, access water and begin agricultural projects. b. Absence of economic training, subsidies, credits and community entrepreneurial programs to help reduce economic vulnerability.
Effects on Rights: 14
a. Effects of rights to a dignified life, freedom and integrity, as well as political rights (having political options leading proposals of this kind in favor of the community), social (loss of community cohesion), and cultural (the rural traditions of the community are being lost). b. Deterioration of access to food safety, drinking water, dignified home, public services, quality healthcare (absence of prevention programs for community health), education (lack of educational options for young people and adolescents over 16 years of age), work and production options. c. Handyman work has increased along with urban informality and job insecurity.
Effects by Sector: a. Childhood, adolescence and youth: There are no educational opportunities or opportunities for professional training after basic education, an absence of workshops, programs and options for access to culture, sport and healthy recreation. There are orphaned children who grow up in partially or totally disintegrated families due to the violence. There is a lack of prevention and protection programs for children, adolescents and youths, especially for displaced children and those with claims to land, as well as a lack of training, participation and organization programs. b. Women: Several widowed women have had to assume the double role of father and mother and have to work outside the community, leaving their children alone or leaving older children in charge of the younger ones, or to work with them, making them miss school and exposing them to child labor, living on the streets and crime. There are no prevention or protection programs for rural women, especially displaced women and those with claims to land, as well as training, participation and organization programs. c. Senior Adults: In a family in which the father is missing and the mother has to leave, older adults must continue working in spite of their age. There is a lack of prevention and protection programs for the older generation, especially those who are displaced or have claims to land, as well as training, participation and organization programs.
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“I have had to work very hard, and forfeit many needs. I have had to ask for help from people in order to be able to study. It makes me sad to not be equal to the rest of society, being discriminated against for being displaced. This leaves a mark on you. I wonder why I have to go through this if I have done nothing wrong.”* Young citizen of Paquemás.
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“Every day there is the offer to join illegal armed groups and there are many young people like me who do not realize that the answer is not war or weapons. I think that if we work, we can realize our dreams.”* Young citizen of Paquemás.
V. Experience of Political Incidents for the Community Regarding their Problem Despite there not being any articulated, integral permanent state attention, the community is beginning to gain some support and backing. In this sense, it has been a supporter of dialogues and influence on diverse situations to carry on in the search for integral and profound solutions to their problems. In the midst of the fear and lack of community training regarding the matter, an organizational relations process has begun with some entities such as the Organization of American States, the Lands Department and Pastoral Social Likewise, with the old National Repair and Reconciliation Commission – CNRR, the Justice and Peace Department, The District Attorney, CTI, The Regional Defense of the village and Turbo Legal Counsel, the community has entered into discussions for the pending integral reparation. With the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Land Reconstruction Department, the community has managed to get legal hearings to assist with the restitution of lands in accordance with Law 1448 (2011).
“If we stay quiet, there will be no solution for this problem. For this reason we have taken the decision to let others know how we live, that we are who suffer and as the years pass, we get older and see ourselves in the same condition. For this reason we have decided to take help from those who have offered it to us.�*
URGENT PENDING MATTERS:
1. Influence concrete action and observance as necessary of both legal rulings and national regulations, and reiterated rulings, concepts and recommendations from bodies of the Inter-American and universal human rights systems in order to guarantee integral repair and finally advance towards: a. Relocation by the judges and public forces of traders and livestock farmers who live in the territories as well as the exit of armed groups who still remain in the zone. b. Restitution of the occupied territory in conditions of safe and dignified return, or the handing over and expansion of currently occupied territory. c. Guarantees of social and political protection and recognition to promote leadership, social cohesion and organizational processes. d. Inclusion in meetings to construct articulated public policies (national, departmental and local) in order to avoid new violence and exclusions and to create protective environments in socio-economic and cultural terms. e. Elimination of impunity with effective punishment of those involved in violations of rights and recovery of memory and truth, including cultural memory. f. The compensation to parents, spouses and children of those murdered during the occupation. g. Better articulation of local, departmental and national governments to provide a coherent social offer and an effective prioritization of social investment through permanent healthcare prevention and attention programs, food safety, water and environmental programs, as well as supporting organizational and protective processes for indigenous culture. h. Provide monitoring of the problem from the international community and bodies from the Inter-American and universal human rights systems in order to advance towards higher solidarity in front of the problem. i. Advance towards strengthening networks with other organizations for victims and social sectors as well as local, regional and national human rights organizations.
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VI. The Role of the Church in the Process With the Diocese and Pastoral Social of Apartadó and the National Pastoral Social Secretariat – Cáritas Colombiana, the following processes are under way:
The documentation of the case for national and international backing alongside the Colombia Labor Group. A socio-juridical and organizational orientation training process to improve the action of the community regarding the cited problem The participation of the community in national dialogues such as the National Reconciliation Congress and with international platforms such as the Colombia Labor Group (GTC).
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In this way, the objective is that of the common good, the promotion and defense of human dignity, the integral provision of human rights, care for the good of creation and solid human development through permanent dialogues with communities and institutions that can support and transform these realities.
“We want to return and never again be displaced, and in order to achieve this we need more guarantees. We therefore plead that we are not left alone. For us it is important that this case is heard in other countries and that the Cáritas of the Colombia Labor Group of continue to support us in this search to return safely to these lands. This will motivate us and give us confidence.”*
* The identities of the persons giving statements in this document have been withheld for security reasons.
GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION OF PAQUEMAS IN THE REGION OF TURBO, DEPARTMENT OF ANTIOQUIA-COLOMBIA
VEREDA PAQUEMAS
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The National Secretariat for Pastoral Social / Caritas Colombiana is an ecclesial non-profit organization and part of the Episcopal Conference of Colombia that seeks truth, reconciliation, justice and charity in relationships and basic structures of our society.
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We are part of the “Caritas Internationalis” worldwide confederation, working since 1950 in the fight against the structures that cause situations of poverty and oppression, to promote a society based on solidarity and social justice. The Working Group for Colombia accompanies the process of peace building, strengthening of democracy and reconciliation in Colombia, through the definition of objectives and strategies and practices of sensitization, political impact, education and mobilization to contribute to the social transformation of the Colombian reality. For more information and to keep up-to-date with new publications and news please register at www.pastoralsocial.org Cr. 58 N° 80-87. Barrio Entre Ríos. Bogotá, C.P. 111211 - Colombia Tel: +571 4377150 412 Fax: +571 4377171 Email: snpscol@cec.org.co *Caritas Working Group for Colombia