On the 5th of June 2025 Operation Dove attended the public act of recognition of international responsibility and of public apology from the President of the Republic of Colombia, Gustavo Petro Urrego, for crimes committed against the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó.
The fundamental work of the Peace Community in the constitution of sovereignty, peace and civil disarmament has been recognised, as well as the failure of the judicial system to investigate the crimes perpetrated by the Colombian government against them.
A historic event, that marks the history of resistance and dignity of the Peace Community. An event that we have attended with profound emotion, accompanying the Community from Serrania del Abibe to the city of Bogotà.
We have witnessed the whole Community take off their working boots for a moment, put on some shoes, put down the machete for a few days and bring with them, once again, the pride of being a comunidad campesina.
Landing at 2600 meters of altitude, in the "cold" of the capital: an event awaited for years, through dignity and resistance.
"Perdón Comunidad de Paz de San José de Apartadó".
This is how President Gustavo Petro Urrego concluded his speech after more than 40 minutes, during which he declared the Colombian government as guilty for the violence in Colombia: "How can there be a continuous massacre of a Community with 300 direct victims over 30 years and the law does not investigate? Where is the Colombian court? Is this not ignominy? Has the Colombian military not directly killed many civilians, the majority of which in San José de Apartadó? Have their ammunitions not been bought with public funds? Have not their uniforms? Have General Rito Alejo del Río's wages not been paid by the Colombian population? Was what he said true?".
How did it come to this act?
The Colombian Constitutional Court has, in many past occasions, emitted verdicts in favour of the Peace Community. Amidst them the most important, T-1025 of 2007, that ordered the full protection of the Peace Community's rights of access to justice, truth and reparations.
In the absence of answers from the respective government bodies, in 2012 a magistrate of the Constitutional Court released the verdict, Auto 164, ordering the National Government not only to re-negotiate, but to define a procedure as to avoid future accusations.
The Peace Community had in fact been victim of many reports, filed from the then President of the Republic Álvaro Uribe Vélez, who accused the Community of having ties with the guerrilla of the FARC-EP.
The apex of such accusations against the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó was reached following the massacre carried out by a conjoined military and paramilitary force on the 21st of February 2005 in the villages of Mulatos and La Resbalosa, during which eight members of the Peace Community lost their lives, 4 of which were minors.
A month later, at the end of a security council meeting held on the headquarters of Brigada XVII, the Presidency released a statement: "In this Community of San José de Apartadó there are good people, but some of its leaders, patrons and defenders, are gravely accused, by people who have lived there, of helping the FARC and of intending to use the community as a means to protect this terrorist organisation".
As declared in the speech of the public statement by the chairman of the Agencia Juridica de Defensa del Estado, César Palomino, "these stigmatisations had been widely diffused by the mainstream media, condemning the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó to acts of racism, wounding the Right to Honour and Dignity of its people and placing them in grave danger, unguarded and unarmed.
Since then, women, men, the elderly, young people and minors of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó have been victim of massacres, extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture, sexual abuse, forced displacement, destruction, pillaging of the Community's property and persecution, committed by members of the national Army, of the national Police and paramilitary. […].
As systemic and large-scale, these are Crimes against humanity, as qualified by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace. […].
The country of Colombia recognises its immense historical debt towards the Peace Community.
We must give back its Rights, provide full reparations for the damages caused, guarantee its Right to neutrality and to live in peace, break the cycle of impunity, bring truth and justice in relation to the crimes committed and guarantee that these terrible acts will not be repeated. The Nation manifests its rigorous and steadfast commitment in repaying this historical debt and fulfil in its entirety the agreement on an out-of-court settlement signed with the Peace Community in occasion of the trial held by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.”
This recognition of international responsibility happened within the framework of case 12.325, before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), regarding the serious violations of Human Rights sustained by the members of the Community between 1997 and 2007. These events included massacres, extrajudicial executions and threats, perpetrated by illegal armed groups, with the complicity or acquiescence of members of the national security forces.
With this solemn act, the Colombian government has then offered its public apologies to the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, as part of the fulfilment of the agreement for the out-of-court settlement signed on the 18th of December 2024 between the Agencia National de Defensa Juridica del Estado and the Peace Community.
One of the milestones of this trial has then been sentence T-1025 of 2007, with which the Constitutional Court has recognised the impunity for the crimes committed against the Community and has ordered measures to guarantee access to justice and full reparations. The event saw the participation of members of the Minsterial cabinet, public servants, ambassadors, mayors of European municipalities, international leaders renowned for their work in favour of peace, in addition to laic and religious, national and international organisations for Human Rights that have supported the Community for over 20 years.
What does this act of recognition mean for the Peace Community?
We quote the words of those who have been, are, and will always keep on being the protagonists of this journey of non-violent resistance, of resilience, of justice and remembrance, sowing the Story of a different, possible world.
“It is an act of recognition of the journey of peace, of the journey of a Community that formed in 1997 amidst an extremely difficult situation.
This act signifies a recognition of non-violence, of the memory of the more than 300 victims murdered throughout all these years.
It is important for this journey towards peace to be protected, the journey of this Community that calls for justice, while having never recurred to violence.”.
The Peace Community has declared it does “not ignore the profound value and significance of this national and international act of recognition.
A recognition of the lucha campesina for the defence of life and of the land.
A recognition of the work, of the pain, of the memory of the more than 300 people cowardly murdered in 28 years by the intention of burning everything to the ground of the paramilitary groups that operated conjoinedly with Brigada XVII and guerrilla forces.
A recognition of having chosen this journey towards true peace, refusing any kind of violence and hateful reaction.
A recognition of the voice of those who do not have a voice anymore.
At the same time however, the Peace Community asks for this act of rectification and recognition to not underestimate the scale, the repercussions and the effects that the presidential interventions have had in the past, as well as its own stigmatisation reaching high levels and suffering mass-media coverage, with the consequence of irreversible and catastrophic scenarios throughout these 28 years of peaceful resistance”.
The day after the act it is the same Peace Community to give a message to the Nation: “We must not forget our victims, we must not forget all those people that have started their journeys of peaceful resistance before us, in search of new ways of life that allow us to be present here, today.
Come out!
Do not let the Peace Community be the only one in this Country to demand respect for human life.”
We quote as our own the words of Simona Fraudatario, historical international companion of the Peace Community and member, together with the Community, of the European Solidarity Network, in her statement during the public act of recognition:
“We thank the Peace Community for having never lost, not even for a single day, its profound desire for peace.
As people of the international civil society, present here today, we declare that we do not want to be aids of the good victims in times of peace.
We want to fulfil the role recognised to us by the Community, keeping on standing next to them: that of being changemakers and bringing forth the transformation needed for peace in this Country”.
[...]
Edison David… he's not here, they've killed him!
Nalleli Sepulveda... she's not here, they've killed her!
Ramiro Correa… he's not here, they've killed him!
Fernando Aguirre... he's not here, they've killed him!
Rigoberto Guzman... he's not here, they've killed him!
[...]
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OPERAZIONE COLOMBA
