Newsletters

Date: July 31st 2010

The challenges of rebuilding community
from Elizabeth Ingraham and Anne Sayre, July 30th 2010.

It is with heavy heart that we write this last letter from Colombia. Although we look forward to seeing family and friends, it is hard to leave these courageous and warm people. We have been "accompanying" the people of the North Coast Presbytery, as they work to accompany, and champion the human rights of, people displaced by Colombia's violence. This week we have met and followed the stories of a number of these people – one threatened community leader and two "re-building" communities. Please forgive how much we have to say!

In the middle of the week, we took groceries to a man and his wife who have both received death threats, have had to change homes several times and finally have been able to find a small farm where they have found sanctuary. They needed a place of sanctuary because his name, as displaced-persons' community leader, has appeared on "hit lists" and he has received death threats. The wife has lost two brothers to "false identities", and went to the authorities with the name of one of the assassins. Because of this, she also has received death threats. Hopefully their sanctuary will last. The husband, who we will call Jorge, is a good friend of the Presbyterian church. He has cleared a small plot of ground on the farm to plant corn, and he'd also like to plant yucca, egg plant and other things, but has no funds for seeds.

Then we (Anne and Beth) headed to two different communities of displaced people. Anne visited some displaced campesinos, or farmers, who are trying to get title to some land they're now farming, to replace what they lost when they were violently displaced. This area is a beautiful, bucolic picture of utter tranquility. You would never know what goes on behind this beauty. When one of the farmers identified some mountaintop land as a possible place for resettlement, he contacted Jorge (mentioned above) who has worked tirelessly on behalf of the displaced persons. It turned out that the owner, who was willing to give the land to these farmers, was a friend of Jorge's from his youth. Jorge helped the farmers with all the papers and requirements demanded by the government agency from whom, by law, displaced persons have to receive land. The owner gave the land to this agency with the understanding that the farmers would receive it. It has been three years since they completed the papers but, despite complying with the agency's continually changing demands, they have still not received title to the land. It seems that the mayor of this place is in league with a drug cartel who want this land for coca. As one of the farmers said, "many of the big landowners have millions of hectares of land (a hectare is a little more than two acres), and all we want is ten hectares." Already they are farming the land in individual plots, even though they don't own the land. In the future they want to continue with these small personal plots, and to farm the rest as a community and decide how to market their produce. They asked that we write letters to the government land agency here in Colombia and to our embassy and state department asking that, in fulfillment of the law, they be given title to the land.

Meanwhile, Beth had the pleasure of visiting (along with a delegation from the Chicago Presbytery) the farm in San Onofre which we described in our report, "Displacement in Colombia: One Community's Story." This is a community which has returned to the lands (about 1400 acres) from which it was violently displaced. The returned-community members prepared a delicious lunch of soup (of fresh yucca, plantains, and meat from their farm) and rice, and sat down to talk about their hopes, inspired greatly by their former leader, Rogelio. Rogelio was a man who stood strong in the face of opposition. When the families of the cooperative were forcibly displaced, it was Rogelio who encouraged them to fight back and demand their rights. He helped to organize the group, with the help of local and international human rights organizations, to learn about their rights and how to regain what had been taken from them. After 5 years, with 32 families remaining (7 families were kidnapped and the rest fled), the group moved back to their land. The armed actors in this area recognized Rogelio's strength as a leader and therefore threatened his life. While riding home on a motocycle taxi, Rogelio saw men coming toward him. He requested that his driver drop him off where they were and told the driver to go on. It was then that he was murdered. Rogelio's act of protection toward the driver was recognized by local taxi drivers at his funeral, as they all banded together to lead the funeral procession. For us visitors, the group performed a traditional Latin American chant, "Rogelio: Presente, presente, presente," reconfirming that he lives on in the life of the community and continues to lead them as they peacefully persevere in an area of violent conflict. (For more on Rogelio, see Mamie and Richard's blog-entry at http://calledtocolombia.org/?p=1105) Personally, I (Beth) have never encountered a group of people so kind, welcoming, persistent, strong, cooperative, and able to intelligently maneuver a system that has kept so many others from regaining ownership of their land. This is truly a testament of Rogelio's leadership and continued leadership of the people of La Finca de Alemania. The community was extremely grateful for our presence. Simply standing in solidarity, sending the message that others are watching, gives them strength to persevere and continue working to remain on their land. Their hope is to build a community shelter for meeting space at the cost of around 2.5 million pesos (roughly $1400), of which they are still seeking funding. Also, while the community was displaced, their debt to the government for the land grant continued to accrue and consequently went into foreclosure. They are currently trying to maneuver a complicating bureaucratic system to have this loan forgiven under Colombian law.

Please pray, then, for the farmers who, unable to return to lands from which they were displaced, are trying to claim title to land that has been freely given to them. Please keep the remaining families of La Finca de Alemania in your prayers as they continue the process of recultivating the land to which they have returned in the midst of ongoing violence. We also ask that you pray for leaders like Jorge and Rogelio and others who work for human rights, so that their work may persist. Sadly, our friend Dora (from our first report) received a threat on her life because of her advocacy work with mothers whose sons had been killed as False Positives. However great the challenges, we leave with the great hope that a new reality in Colombia will be achieved.

Blessings, Beth and Anne.


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