Event in January and February

In the following blog entry, I have included activities I have participated in for the months of January and February. I thought it would give a good perspective of my life here. I do not write about every event, therefore, i hope this will give a larger perspective to the work that i am doing here.

January 18

Christopher Knestrick arrived on team to start full-time word after three months of intensive language courses in Bogotá.

January 23

Knestrick and Shirk went to Bucaramanga with a commission of the Human Rights Workers Forum –ESPACIO- to accompany the family members of the victims of the May 16, 1998 massacre, when paramilitaries killed 7 people and forcibly disappeared 25. The bodies of five of the 25 missing were found through statements given by paramilitaries. Part of the paramilitary demobilization process is that they have to tell the whole truth about their crimes but, to date, the locations of only 5 of the 25 missing have been released, and members of the state armed forces who participated have not been named. After the families received the remains from the authorities, there was a program with prayers, speeches and music. After the program, the commission returned to Barrancabermeja.

On the soccer field in the Campin neighborhood, where the massacre happened, they placed coffins surrounded by flower arrangements on a stage. In front of the stage they placed 20 coffins with a photo of each of the disappeared persons still missing. There were theater presentations by a group of youths and a video called "Neither Returning Nor Leaving," a documentary with testimonies of relatives and people who witnessed the slaughter. Gomez and Pierre Shantz accompanied about 35 people who stayed throughout the night, holding a wake for the dead.

January 29:

The weekly Espacio meeting said there was a new threat by the Black Eagles paramilitary group. The threat is against human rights organizations that participated in the public action in memory of the May 16 massacre in Bucaramanga and Barrancabermeja. It was also disclosed that due to the threat, one of the 5 families that recovered their loved one's remains was forced to flee Barranca. (see January 23)

January 30-31:

Knestrick and Vriesinga accompanied the Southern Bolivar Roundtable for Dialogue in San Pablo. The police and army swarmed around the entrance to the site, searching everyone who came in. The police also took pictures from the second floor of a building during the meeting. This was a great concern because the photos could be used by paramilitary groups or the armed forces when they want to kill someone. One of the complaints of the communities is the mixing of armed forces with paramilitary groups. After the dialogue, the only agreement was to have another meeting in two or three weeks.

February 9-11

Gladys Gomez Nino and Chris Knestrick accompanied Teofilo Acuna, president of the Southern Bolivar Agricultural- Mining Federation, to San Pedro Frio. They participated in a meeting with members of the Federation that dealt with issues the community is facing, such as threats they have received from the paramilitary group Black Eagles, restrictions against the transport of chemicals necessary for the gold refining process, and re-drawing the boundaries of the Forest Reserve that has been the government's excuse for not giving the community titles to their land.

February 17

The Campesino Association of the Cimitarra River Valley (ACVC) presented a press conference in support of two of the organization' s leaders who have been imprisoned under charges of rebellion. Pierre Shantz, Gladys Gomez Nino, Chris Knestrick and Paul Horst attended the press conference and march that followed.

February 18

Miguel Gonzalez Huepa and Andres Gil, ACVC leaders and political prisoners for more than one year, were called for hearings in their cases in the palace of justice in Barrancabermeja. The judges heard testimonies from the prosecution against Huepa and Gil as part of the judicial process. The two men remain under custody throughout the trial. Sarah Shirk, Chris Knestrick and Pierre Shantz, along with representatives from many other social organizations, attended the hearings as a show of support.

February 25, Ash Wednesday

To publicly release the annual human rights report for 2008, the CPT Colombia team planned a public action at the Sacred Heart cathedral, directly in front of the mayor's office. Using comparisons between the story of Esther and the current context in Colombia, the team discussed the necessity to speak the truth to those in power. They dressed in sackcloth and ashes as a symbol of their mourning for the deaths, human rights abuses, and threats that continue happening today.