Urging all U.S. citizens to act in solidarity this week!

Thank you to everyone around the world who has been following my blog and supportive of my work here in Colombia. I am writing to ask U.S. citizens for your help this week in politically defending the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado.

We have some great news about activism on behalf of the U.S. government: Representative Hank Johnson from Atlanta has introduced a "Dear Colleague" letter in Congress. The letter calls on the Colombian government to create a Justice and Evaluation Commission which will both investigate the history of violations against the community as well as why the Colombian State has not provided legal justice for these crimes.

When Jesús Emilio Tuberquia, a leader of the Peace Community, was in the United States last month, he talked about the systematic attempts by the Colombian State to destroy his community. "They have used every means of violence, and it has occurred under all the presidents" since the community began in 1997, he said.   After some 900 violations against the San José community, including more than 160 murders committed by the army or their paramilitary allies, only one military officer (an army captain who confessed to participating in the 2005 massacre) has ever been convicted.

By way of our Congressional Representatives, we have the opportunity to do something about this impunity of violence against a community pledged to peace. Members of Congress may sign on to this letter until THIS FRIDAY, JUNE 17th.

This is what I, the community and the organization FOR are asking of you:

               Please call your Congressional Representative today!

               (Congressional Switchboard, #202-225-3121) then:    

               * Ask for the foreign policy staff

   * Say that you would like your Congressman/woman to sign on to the Hank Johnson letter on the San José Peace Community in Colombia

   * Offer to send the staff person a copy of the letter. (I have posted the letter to my blog below and you can access a PDF copy of it here: http://forusa.org/sites/default/files/uploads/sanjosecongltrtextmay2011.pdf)   

   * Urge them to contact Sascha Thompson in Hank Johnson's office at:

 225-1605 (do not call Sascha yourself)   

               *Say you would like to hear back from them and leave your phone number

Success! Thanks for your efforts in solidarity! 

   * Give FOR a call at 510-763-1403 or send us an email: action@forusa.org and let us know about your call and what staff told you.

We are looking for as many signers as posible. This action will help push the commission forward, show the Santos' government that the U.S. as a whole is concerned about impunity, and once again raise the visibility of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado.  If you can take time to do this before Friday, please do.

Below is a list of signers from a Dear Colleague letter in 2005 regarding the massacre of the same year. If you are in the district of someone on this list or know anybody who is, please call them and urge them to sign onto this letter. Even if you don’t know anyone in these districts, please encourage your fellow activists, friends and community members to also take the time out of their day and make a call to their representatives.

On behalf of the entire FOR Colombia team (Emily, Sean, Jon, Liza, John, Susana and myself) THANK YOU in advance for supporting the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado.

List of signers for letter regarding massacre, 2005:

• Peter Defazzio, Oregon's 4th
• Rosa DeLauro, Conneticut's 3rd
• Elliot Engel, New York's 17th
• Sam Farr, California's 17th
• Bob Filner, California's 51st
• Raul Grijalva, Arizona's 7th
• Luis Guitierrez, Illinois' 4th
• Maurice Hinchey, New York 22nd
• James Langevin, Rhode Island's 2nd
• Barbara Lee, California's 9th
• Zoe Lofgren, California's 16th
• Nita Lowey, New York's 18th
• Jim McGovern, Massachusetts 3rd
• Pat Meehan, Pennsylvania's 7th
• Gregory Meeks, New York's 6th
• John Olver, Massachusetts 1st
• Donald Payne, New Jersey's 10th
• Bobby Rush, Illinois' 1st
• Janice Schakowsky, Illinois' 9th
• Christopher Smith, New Jersey's 4th
• Henry Waxman, California's 30th
• Lynne Woolsey, California's 6th
  
  

Current letter for which we seek Congressional support, 2011:

Mr. Angelino Garzón

Vice President of Colombia

Carrera 8a No.7-57

Bogotá, Colombia

Dear Vice President Garzón:

We write to strongly encourage you to expeditiously create a Justice Evaluation Commission to examine alleged human rights abuses committed against the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, and to effectively investigate and prosecute assassinations of members of the Peace Community by paramilitary groups operating in the area.

The purpose of this commission would be to analyze the text of the Right of Petition submitted to the High Courts (January 2009) This document, submitted by Jesuit Priest Father Javier Giraldo, contains details of over 180 killings of Peace Community members, including the names of state agents allegedly implicated, the status of investigations and recommendations and to examine alleged irregularities in the administration of justice. The final commission’s report will provide to all interested parties a diagnosis of how the judicial process has operated in these cases, and make recommendations to correct the failings.

Considering the role ascribed to the Ombudsman, Mr. Volmar Perez, by the Constitutional Court in its jurisprudence, Mr. Perez should negotiate its creation with the Prosecutor General in order to establish whether or not the Prosecutor is willing to support it

As you know, the U.S. Congress has monitored the situation of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó for many years. On numerous occasions, Members of the U.S. Congress have expressed to the Colombian Government their concerns regarding assassinations of Peace Community members by paramilitary groups and members of the Colombian National Army, as well as concern with continued threats against Peace Community activists.

After Congress learned of the February 21, 2005, massacre of seven Peace Community members, including three small children and a teenager, by paramilitary forces of the United Self Defense Forces and members of the Colombian National Army´s 17th Brigade, the U.S. temporarily suspended some foreign aid to Colombia and ceased providing assistance to the 17th Brigade.The lack of effective investigation and prosecution of these cases is deeply troubling, particularly in light of continued U.S. military assistance to the Government of Colombia. As of today, only one conviction of a state agent has resulted from investigation of the killings.

In October of 2010, several Members of Congress met Mr. Jesus Emilio Tuberquia, the legal representative from the Peace Community of the San José de Apartadó. Mr. Tuberquia expressed his deep concern with the ongoing threats against and assassinations of members of his community, the lack of protection and effective support from the Colombian Government, the continuous existence of paramilitary groups who operate with impunity, and the lack of investigation and prosecution of many cases of intimidation or alleged murder.

It is troubling to learn that paramilitary groups continue to operate bases in Nueva Antioquia (Antioquia Department) and nearby Batata (Cordoba Department), and that these groups are consistently targeting the civilian population and in particular members of the Peace Community. In addition, we are aware of a list that has been circulating in the area which threatens the lives of Peace Community leaders. We would like to take this opportunity to urge the Colombian Government to immediately investigate these allegations.

We would also like to express our deep satisfaction with the meeting in November of 2010 between representatives from the Vice Presidency´s Human Rights Program, and representatives of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó in Bogotá. It is our understanding that during the meeting the Peace Community reiterated to the Colombian Government the urgent need for effective protective measures. We were pleased to learn about the Santos’ administration wiliness to investigate and prosecute the crimes and human rights violations suffered by Peace Community members as well as the administration’s acknowledgment of Peace Communities as important humanitarian zones for the protection of Colombian civilians affected by the armed

conflict. We welcome these observations and the government’s intention to seek justice for the Peace Community’s victims. We hope such expressions will be followed by appropriate action.

While this meeting represents a very positive step, it is imperative to reiterate the importance of moving towards the creation of a Justice Evaluation Commission in coordination with the Colombian Human Rights Ombudsman to effectively address human rights abuses, and to fully investigate and prosecute all pending assassination cases.

Please bear in mind that Members of Congress must approve continued U.S. military assistance to the Government of Colombia. Continued reports of military and paramilitary abuses against civilian activists and apparent negligence in the investigation and prosecution of such acts call into question the commitment of the Colombian government to civil rights and accountability on the part of the Colombian military. We believe it is in the best interest of all parties for the Colombian government to demonstrate a stronger commitment to protection of its civilian activists so U.S. policymakers continue to feel comfortable providing substantial military assistance to the Government of Colombia.

We would like to restate our strong support for the creation of the Justice Evaluation

Commission as a crucial initiative of significant interest to the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, and we urge you to take the necessary steps towards the prompt establishment of the Commission.

Sincerely,

[signatures]

Cc: Mr. Peter McKinley, U.S. Ambassador

Cc: Mr. James Steinberg, Deputy Secretary of State

Cc: Mr. Volmar Perez, Human Rights Ombudsman

Cc: Mr. Germán Vargas Lleras, Minister of the Interior

Cc: Mr. Fernando Pareja Reinemer, Vice-Prosecutor General

Cc: Mr. Alejandro Ordoñez, Inspector General

A Colombian Caribbean Vacation

Vacation is so good. 

I have had a couple weeks of friends to fill up my heart with goodness. First, my friend Ed (former co-worker in Guatemala/room mate in Bogota) came to visit the community and hang out with me for a few days in Uraba. Then we headed to the Caribbean where dearest Bendy (other half of this power couple) was waiting with open arms to whisk me away on beach hopping bliss and finally, Beth (other Bogota roomie) hooked up with all of us in Cartagena. Too good to be true. Here is Ed’s blog, which has some of his own reflections from his time in the community and his photo link, which has some great photography:

http://www.edgarluce.com/; http://www.flickr.com/photos/edluce

My initial bus ride to Cartagena where I was to meet Bendy was extended several times due to bad road conditions and fallen bridges. As in: “Everybody off the bus, time to cross the river on foot!” (And we did, by crossing a bamboo drawbridge.) A long time later I rolled into the Cartagena bus stop in the middle of the night and arrived to a smiley Bendy sometime around 2am. 

We stroll in old town Cartagena and enjoy flowered balconies and colonial architecture with pretty peeling paint. We eat amazing entrees and street vendor coco treats and stop for coffee whenever we please. We laugh in hammocks and talk of our lives. We are the goodness that real power couples should be but never really are. We are a different kind of power couple. Bendy eases me into an outside the warzone reality where low flying choppers are just the coast guard and canons protected the city so long ago that now you can just sit on them and drink a sunset beer. We catch up and laugh some more and drink beers on a plaza with salsa playing. I wear long red beads. We are but once upon a time.

Then we bus to Santa Marta. We eat more amazing food. We drink on a hostel bar balcony with a Peruvian. We repack for the beach.

We leap off the bus in front of Parque Tayrona and hike in to the beach. We hike through mud and fire ants, over streams and moss covered rock. We hike along and we sing songs. And as the rocky moss and lizards gives way to shells and sand and palm trees, we stop for a juice at a seaside resort. We hike on, walking in the waves, jumping beach to beach and then we disappear again back to the jungle. We weave and hike and laugh some more. We meet a boy picking mangos from a tree. He shares them. He tells us he has snorkel gear. We have reached Cabo. We sleep in hammocks and spend our days in front of a bluegreen cove full of brightly colored fish and white sand. We borrow our new friend’s snorkle goggles and swim along the grey-brown reef. I see an octopus. We gorge on mango and coconut. Bendy sees monkeys. We saunter from beach to beach and somehow manage to be the only people on them. Life is just us and our snorkel friend and our beer vending friend on beaches that could not be more beautiful. How can this be? I feel I am in a dream. We bronze, we swim. When the rain storm comes in the evening, I go back in the water. With my goggles I can see bioluminescents all around my arms as they move. After dinner we sit and watch the lightening storm in yet a different cove. It lights up the mountains and the forest and the turbulent water and the boat in the bay. Later, from my hammock, I still watch the lightening, while listening to the rain on the palapa. I think I may never be happier. 

Bendy has a vision- an abandon beach four hours away hiking. We must make it a reality. So we take off and hike through the most magical of dream jungles. We hike up ancient indigenous rock formations to a lost city (Bendy at one point is literally a ladder which I climb.), through the thick of the thick of the jungle, through huge spider webs and snake happy vines and shallow parts of rivers. We hike through a jungle that is some mix of Jurrasic Park and Avatar and The Beach- all of those fictional jungles combined to be one real jungle of dreams bliss. Bright blue butterflies with wings the size of my palms guide us. There are eggplant colored mushrooms growing on redwood logs, poisonous dart frogs and millipedes the size of accordions. There are Manaquins and parrots and huge lizards with tongues a foot long. We walk down a nearly dry riverbed because we believe it will take us to the sea. Just as I begin to think we can’t possibly be on any sort of path, we see a building. And a sign. It reads: Welcome to all who are lost. You have reached paradise.

We arrive at Playa Brava to hear that Ed has beat us there by walking a different path in from the highway. Hurrah! That makes three of us and a beach cove and one family to feed us and house us and make us very very happy. Here the waves crash bigger and the current is stronger and when you stand on the beach and look inland all you can see are mountainous jungle peaks. It is unbelievable. I decide that this is probably the prettiest national park I have ever been to. The kids chase their dog with dead poisonous snakes to scare him. They bathe in the freshwater of the river just before it reaches the ocean. Alvero cracks open coconuts for us in a coconut graveyard just inside the tree canopy and when my stomach starts aching Sirai makes me some special tummy tea. Ed and Bendy hike to a waterfall and I succumb to parasites that I’ve been ignoring for a couple weeks. (Not to worry, the bathroom has an ocean view.) We bronze the bronze. We swing in hammocks and sleep under palapas in rainstorms, listening to crashing waves. We have a bonfire on the beach and see stars through silhouetted palm trees. The sand is flecked with gold. The hosts are so good. Alvero comes out of the jungle after having been to town wearing a “se habla espanol” shirt. The sunsets pour over the horizon like foggy honey. The stars twinkle above and the lightening bugs below on a clear night. We laugh and eat well and lounge about. 

Then we hike again. A new route through the same mystical jungle. We hike all the way out to the road and we hop on a bus. We walk on waterfalls on our way to the next beach. There the view changes, because the beach in Palamino is long. We walk it and see huge black tires emerging from the waves. We meet hippies and toursits. We meet an American embassy worker with a Che tattoo (because we know Che would be pro- Plan Colombia). We are a hike from town and just go in for dinner. During the day the sun gets HOT and we have our first really hot beach days of the trip. The waves are bigger, some kids surf. We play in waves, we stroll and drink beers. We see a caimen and more big lizards. There are mangroves and white sand and hammocks lining the beach. We wind down our beach vacation and prepare to return to Cartagena.

Cartagena celebrates our return by celebrating its 478^th birthday (what luck!). Could things get any better? Probably not. Beth arrives and for a day we all play. We stroll and eat. We see a concert in the park and watch traditional cumbia and all the hip-happy afro-caribe dancing that I will have to learn in some other lifetime. Beth and Ed both leave Colombia this week. This is what happens to long-term ex-pats- slowly but surely your foreign friends leave you. The scene in Cartagena had me thinking… waitress on the beach? Learn cumbia? Juggler on cobbled streets? Permanent vacation? I met a man who teaches at an indigenous school in an Australian rainforest and we decided it is decidedly strange what people do with their lives.

Bendy says our vacation is especially great because we both are doing things that really merit vacation. Bendy and I dance salsa in the plaza and talk about how wonderful we are. And how wonderful life is. And how wonderful Latin America is. We  have one more day of strolling happiness pumped with a Panama hat and coco-limonade and cold beer. We have one more sunset on canons and one more slumber party. And then it is time to go home to the lives that merit vacations.

On the 20 hour bus ride back all along the Caribbean coast, I hear nothing but Vallenato. I think all about Los Caminos de la Vida. Now I am back in Apartadó, preparing for my hike back into a similar yet different jungle- the jungle of the war zone.