COLOMBIA

“Called by name and as a people, we walk together careful to the last of history, to the bloodiest parts of creation"

Together with another volunteer, today we accompanied a man to do his job in the field: picking up cocoa pod, the fruit of the cocoa tree.
Once the pods were opened, the man going extracted the beans, which he then stored to be able to sow them, thus creating new cocoa seedlings, which will bear new fruit within three years.
This man is a humble peasant.
What he desires is simply to be free to work his land and live his life happily in his Country, Colombia.
This man has been repeatedly threatened with death.
An international presence is therefore necessary to guarantee him the security of not being killed during his work in the fields or his movements.
His life, like the life of the others men, women, old people and children who make up the "Comunidad de Paz" of San José de Apartadó, are threatened.

Every year the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó commemorates the massacre of 21 February 2005 (VIDEO).        
That day Luis Eduardo Guerra, among the founders and main leader of the Community, was killed, together with his partner Bellanira, his son Deiner (only 11) and other 5 people including 2 children, 5-year-old Natalia and 11-month-old Santiago. It was a very hard blow for the whole community.
After 14 years from that brutal massacre, after the signing of the Peace Agreement with the FARC, the situation has not improved at all.
On 29 December 2017, some paramilitaries tried to kill, without success, German and Roviro. Since then, together with other leaders / members of the Community, they are constantly threatened with death and forced to live without being able to move freely, but only by planning their (few) movements in detail and always "escorted" by international volunteers, among them those of Operation Colomba.

The memory of Luis Eduardo Guerra, Deiner, Bellanira, Alfonso, Sandra, Natalia, Santiago and Alejandro is alive.
On February 21st 2005, these 8 people were brutally slaughtered in the villages of Mulatos and Resbalosa (San José de Apartadò) by the army and the AUC paramilitaries.
In the main village of the Peace Community, Operazione Colomba volunteers share the days with the family of Luis Eduardo and Deiner.
The children, the sister, the grandchildren represent the blood family, but an entire community represents that family for which Luis gave his life: the family of nonviolent struggle, justice, respect and above all love.

Malcom X says: ‘If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing’.
 The day-to-day reality, which is becoming more and more difficult with every passing day, is too complex to be briefly described. Or, it might be terribly simple, so much so that it becomes trivial. The whole population of Chocò and Buenaventura (the main Colombian port on the Pacific coast) has been on strike to denounce the complete lack of government will to face the dramatic situation concerning poverty and security, just to mention two of the main causes.
At one of the many protest marches of the last few days, a woman was seen holding a sign that read: ‘They have taken so much from us, even the fear’.
 In both regions, paramilitary groups have perpetrated new forced displacements and killed social leaders and human rights defenders after the Peace Agreement was signed.