Three and a half weeks away working in other parts of Colombia. Three and a half weeks without writing. But finally I come with an update!
I have been working a lot with our advocacy work and because of this, travelled to many regions in the country as we cover the rest of the country from the office in Bogota. In order for us to be able to have a preventive presence i.e. working with the protection of human rights defenders, civil and especially military authorities in Colombia have to know about our work. About the fact that we observe human rights, that we can actually bring up cases where human rights violations have occurred or when we are worried about that something might occur.
My trips during the last month
First up was Santa Marta where we have one of our human rights defenders whom we accompany. Santa Marta is at the Atlantic coast of Colombia, it is a prime tourist destination with a major port. All lovely on the fa莽ade but the paramilitary groups (demobilized paramilitaries, neo-paramilitaries or criminal gangs, whatever you want to call them) are still active. Ivan Cepeda, a senator, said in a public debate that three major universities in the region, C贸rdoba, Magdalena and Atl谩ntico, still are under control of paramilitary groups and he was worried about threats to human rights defenders, union members, students and teachers.聽During three days, we had meetings with the military, the police, and also some civil authorities working with human rights, the Defensor铆a del Pueblo and the Personer铆a (like ombudsman offices). Unfortunately I had no time to go swim in the sea but at least one afternoon I had time to go to the beach and have an ice cream!
Next on the list was the region of Magdalena Medio, which lies around the river Magdalena in the departments of Antioquia, Bolivar, Boyac谩, Cesar and Santander. We accompany several local organisations from Bogota to this region when they have workshops or meetings in the communities. According to a local NGO, Observatorio de Paz, in the rural areas there is presence of both Farc and ELN and in the urban areas there are two bigger paramilitary groups, Urabe帽os and Rastrojos. Because of the situation in the region, many human rights defenders appreciate the international accompaniment that exists, in this region most from PBI and ECAP.
the indigenous Mona Lisa
First I went to Barrancabermeja, which is an oven. It is even hotter than Quibd贸! Barranca is known for its petroleum as it has the biggest oil refinery in the country. I even heard some Dutch and English at the hotel, all here for working with the oil. We met with several NGOs and international accompaniment organisations as well as with the navy and the police. After three days in Barranca I went with my colleagues to Bucaramanga, which lies beautifully between the mountains, to meet with the military. One speciality from this region is hormigas culonas, big butted ants, which are toasted and salted. I actually tried it! It just tasted salty… I also had time to go to the Museum of Modern Art in Bucaramanga, which was a house with two rooms of exhibition. Nothing too big or fantastic but it had its own interpretations of Mona Lisa!
The canyon of Chicamocha outside San Gil, a very nice hike on the edge of the mountain
Third destination for advocacy work was Medellin. Although between Bucaramanga and Medellin luckily I had a weekend off and as I was in the region of extreme sports, I went to San Gil (a town which is known for extreme sports such as paragliding, rafting, mountaineering, caving etc.) 聽I went rafting and hiking that weekend. There is an astonishing canyon outside San Gil called Chicamocha where I would recommend people who like hiking to go. It is just incredible.
In Medellin I met with the military, civil authorities, UN agencies and our partner organisation, both for taking up cases of human rights defenders and to get some good context analysis. Most importantly however was the meeting with the 7th division of the national military as they have jurisdiction over the brigade in Choc贸. I must say they are quite defensive when you talk about human rights with them… But that is my personal opinion. No time for tourism in Medellin but some very delicious international food at restaurants around El Poblado and Parque Lleras in the fancy part of the city. The best thing though, was that I could meet up with friends from the US, UK and Greece, all in the same town in Colombia! The world is small indeed.
Last on the destination list was Apartad贸 and Turbo in the northern part of Antioquia called Urab谩. I have accompanied the indigenous organisation AsOrewa to northern Choc贸 in the process of land restitution which I wrote about before. The authorities that have jurisdiction over this area are in Apartad贸 and Turbo (police, military, navy and institutions like the ombudsman麓s office). This region is bordering Panama and with all the drug trafficking and big land owners taking the land of the indigenous population it is a bit complicated the situation. All armed groups are just mixed here and I was told the police look the other way when the drugs are transported out of the country. Hmm… Well, the thing I noticed the most was actually the bananas. It is like a sea of bananas when you fly in over Apartad贸. Actually, in an indigenous language Apartad贸 means river of bananas 馃檪
BA-NA-NAS everywhere
After a long time away from home I am very happy to come back to Bogota. The world cup is on and soon also vacation in Sweden!
International Peace Observer 