April 2005

Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC.

Colombian Military Attacks Peace Community: Activists Call for End to US Military Funding

The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), a coalition of US-based religious pacifists, maintains a nonviolent peace team in Colombia. FOR issued a report on the massacre detailed below on March 1, 2005, and an action alert on March 23, 2005. These reports were excerpted for publication here by Peacework intern Andrew Riedl.

The members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation express our profound sorrow at the loss and suffering of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó over the murder of Luis Eduardo Guerra, his family, and five other persons killed on February 21 or 22. The Colombian army, which is funded by the United States, was involved in this massacre. Luis Eduardo was a co-founder of the community, deeply committed to nonviolence.

The Peace Communities in Colombia are a critical attempt to break the logic of war and impunity and allow communities to stay on their land and not join the mass of internal refugees. They refuse the presence of all armed groups, none of which they support. San José de Apartadó, in northwestern Colombia, has paid a high price, with more than 130 of its residents killed. March 23, 2005 marks the eighth anniversary of the Peace Community's founding.

According to the Peace Community and the Corporation for Judicial Liberty, eyewitnesses confirm that Luis Eduardo Guerra, his son Deiner, his partner Deyanira Areiza and another person were detained near the Mulatos River on February 21 by uniformed soldiers. They were then taken to the farm of Alfonso Bolívar Tuberquia and not seen again.

Body parts were discovered on the farm the following day, belonging to Alfonso Bolivar, Sandra Milena Muñoz, and their children. The body of another adult, Alejandro Pérez, was found together with the remains of the Tuberquia family. The dismembered bodies of Luis Eduardo, Deyanira and Deiner, were found at a second site.

When Peace Community council members received this information, they immediately requested an official investigation. FOR team members in San José accompanied the community on February 25 to the massacre sites. The Attorney General's forensic investigators exhumed the bodies of Sr. Bolivar and his family. Authorities stated that investigators would be sent by helicopter to exhume the remains of Luis Eduardo and his family. The exact location of the massacre sites was given to the authorities. FOR volunteers heard and saw helicopters overhead several times, yet the authorities stated that the weather was bad and they did not have an exact location. One official stated that the Army withheld use of a helicopter to investigators. Community members waited two nights and a day for the Attorney General's office to arrive.

Why did this happen? Less than two weeks before, the Peace Community announced the formation of humanitarian zones in several of the settlements in San José district. These zones would center around the local school and prohibit armed groups.

In the wake of the killings, the Peace Community issued the following statement:

"We call for national and international solidarity to demand that the strategy of terror against the San José Peace Community and the civilian population in the district comes to an end. We ask that you demand respect for the Peace Community's process and for the humanitarian zones developed in the region. This time it was eight deaths, innocent civilians, entire families, children who are victims of the terror. But the words of Luis Eduardo, his ideas and arguments, will remain with us, and with more force than ever. He believed that the civilian population has the right to live in dignity. We also believe it and will continue defending this principle, even if it costs us our lives."

The massacre occurred as the United States was set to certify a portion of the $579 million aid package to the Colombian military. Because of allegations of the Army's direct involvement in this brutal massacre and its denial to date of any responsibility, the U.S. State Department has delayed certification of military aid to Colombia. But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice could certify and release the military aid at any time. We are organizing an emergency high-level delegation to travel to San José de Apartadó.

What you can do:

1. Invite a member of the FOR Colombia team to your community to speak in your school, church, or home.

2. Write urging the State Department to:

• Pressure the Colombian government to conduct an investigation;
• Support the exclusion of armed forces within the Peace Communities;

Write to: Ambassador Michael G. Kozak; Acting Assistant Secretary of State; Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor; 2201 C Street NW, Washington, DC; 20520; 202/647-5283 fax; ifilldg@state.gov. Urge the withholding of assistance to the Colombian military until they sever links with paramilitaries.

3. Call or write your Congressional Representative and Senators. Urge them to communicate these concerns and requests to the State Department. Call the Congressional Switchboard, 202/224-3121.

4. Contribute or raise funds for a special delegation to San Jose de Apartado. Make checks payable to "FOR", and write "Colombia emergency" on the memo line. Send to: FOR, 2017 Mission St. #305, San Francisco, CA 94110.

For more information, please contact the FOR Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean, 2017 Mission St. #305, San Francisco, CA 94110, 415/495-6334, www.forusa.org. Please also see the resources available at www.afsc.org/colombia/default.htm, including the free report, Building From the Inside Out: Peace Initiatives in War-Torn Colombia, jointly published by FOR and AFSC.

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