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COLOMBIA: Civil War Isn't Our War, Blacks and Other Groups Say

In four open letters, 47 organizations of indigenous people, afro-Colombians, peasant farmers, women, local residents and trade unionists from the jungle province of Chocó demand respect for their territory and their neutrality in the armed conflict.

The letters, which were released Monday by the seventh Interethnic Solidarity Forum of Chocó and published Tuesday, were addressed to the leaders of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN), right-wing President Alvaro Uribe, and the heads of the extreme-right paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

The open letters warn the FARC and ELN that they must not remain in the territories of the black communities or in the indigenous reserves, while protesting that the AUC wants to settle many of the demobilized paramilitary fighters in the Chocó region.

Each letter clearly states that the groups expect a public response.

"War is not the way, and guns are not the solution," say the letters put out by the organizations from the northwestern province of Chocó, which demand that "all of the parties involved in this conflict (the governments of the United States and Colombia, the paramilitaries and the guerrillas) bring an end to the confrontation, begin serious peace talks, and respect the civilian population."

Colombia's civil war broke out over four decades ago, when leftist guerrillas in rural areas took up arms. In the 1980s, private militias formed by large landowners began to fight the rebels. The ties between these paramilitary groups and government forces have been amply documented.

The armed conflict, which is fueled by the drug trade, also involves land disputes, with the paramilitary groups using violence and terror tactics to force rural communities off of resource-rich land or property needed to develop megaprojects like hydropower dams.

A report released in September by London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International, "The Paramilitaries in Medelln: Demobilization or Legalization?", also noted that the "large-scale displacement of civilians has facilitated the illegal expropriation of land through which paramilitarism aims to launder the considerable wealth built up as a result of its reliance on drug- trafficking."

The United States, meanwhile, provides abundant financial and military support to the Colombian state in its fight against the leftist rebels and the drug trade.

In the four open letters, the groups that took part in the Nov. 10-14 interethnic forum remind the FARC, ELN and AUC that "you have the obligation to respect and observe international humanitarian law in our territories, which prohibits the parties in conflict from involving civilians in the internal armed conflict."

In their letter to the president, the organizations add that the police and army must "respect and guarantee human rights in our territories." They also point to serious denunciations made by the interethnic forum and the Catholic Church in 2004 "with regard to the continuing collusion between paramilitary groups and public forces in the region."

The organizations reaffirm their opposition to the cultivation, production, trafficking and consumption of drugs in their territories, and point out to Uribe that he has failed to address their complaints in 2003 about pressure from armed groups to get them to plant coca, the raw material used to produce cocaine. Colombia is the world's top coca producer.

Thus, "we do not accept that indigenous people or black communities are being held responsible for crops that were violently imposed on them, or that the argument (that they are growing drug crops) is used to threaten us with the expropriation of our territories," the letter adds, alluding to warnings that the president has issued.

The open letters warn the FARC and ELN that they must not remain in the territories of the black communities or in the indigenous reserves, while protesting that the AUC wants to settle many of the demobilized paramilitary fighters in the Chocó region.

The AUC began to disarm last year as a result of ongoing talks with the Uribe administration.

The groups say they support "the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration into civilian life of the irregular armed actors," but "in a context of respect for truth, justice, reparations and the non- repetition" of war crimes.

The law passed by the Colombian legislature to govern the paramilitary demobilization process has been widely criticized as an "amnesty" for paramilitary fighters who have committed atrocities.

The United Nations blames the AUC for 80 percent of the war crimes committed in the country, including torture, forced disappearances, targeted killings and massacres.

The groups from Chocó argue that the reinsertion of paramilitaries into civilian life must not become "a mechanism for the expropriation of our ancestral lands."

Human rights groups have also expressed concern that the law outlining the rules for the paramilitary disarmament process does not guarantee that people who have been displaced from their land by the violence will be able to recover it.

The open letters additionally complain about the emergence of new AUC structures in the region.

In their message to the FARC leadership, the organizations from Chocó protest the insurgent group's meddling "in the community and indigenous councils, which compromises our autonomy and our cultural identity, hinders us from freely going about our day-to-day activities, serves as a pretext for the state to refrain from making the social investments that it is bound to make, and affects our own security."

Black communities in the jungles of Chocó began to organize 20 years ago in community councils to fill the gap left by the state's neglect of the region, one of the country's poorest.

"You single out and stigmatize our people with unfounded accusations that are impossible to counter and that cast a pall of suspicion on people who go back and forth between rural areas and the district seats, insinuating that they are army informers," complains the interethnic forum's letter to the FARC.

In their letter to the paramilitaries, the groups underline that "we do not accept the irrational exploitation of our natural resources that have been converted into war booty through megaprojects, as is occurring with the extraction of timber, gold, platinum and other mining resources, and the imposition of extensive livestock breeding" in the Chocó region, one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world.

The local communities and organizations add that "we do not share the AUC's 'development proposal' for our region because after invading our territory and murdering and displacing our people, they want to impose a model that has nothing to do with our culture and our conception of ethno-development and plan of life."

Colombia's constitution and laws recognize communal ownership of ancestral land by indigenous and black communities through collective property titles. This land can neither be sold nor foreclosed upon. The national laws also establish the right of the ethnic communities to choose their own development model.

In the letters, the organizations reject "monoculture African palm plantations (promoted by the government and the AUC) which endanger our collective land titles, affect our fragile ecosystem, aggravate the food crisis and imply a lengthy process of accumulation of capital that will only benefit large investors, to the detriment of our communities."

A recent government resolution ruled that local black communities no longer collectively owned 10,162 hectares along the Jiguamiand and Curvarad rivers to the east of the Atrato River, where killings by paramilitary groups had forcibly displaced the local residents. The land that they were forced to abandon is now being used to grow oil palms, in what the ombudsman has called illegal plantations.

The government and the AUC defend the plantations as a source of jobs.

The decision that the local communities in question no longer own their ancestral land "only benefits monoculture growers of African palms," and violates the principle of private property, the interethnic forum warned Uribe in its open letter to the president.

In the letters, the groups also reject the government's forestry bill, which is pending a final vote in the legislature, as well as a bill on water, and urged the president not to sign them into law if they are passed.

"Although water is a public asset according to the constitution, the bill would allow the state to grant rivers and other sources of water in concession," economist Hctor Mondragn told IPS.

The forestry bill, meanwhile, would open the doors to logging in the country's jungle regions. The Colombian Commission of Jurists, a highly respected human rights group, said the bill would lead to "the privatization of Colombia's forests and of the territories" belonging to indigenous and black communities.

The groups warn the president of the grave humanitarian and human rights crisis in Chocó, "which is manifested in communities that have been displaced and cannot return " because of the war.

An estimated 7 percent of Colombia's 43.7 million people have been forcibly displaced. And although indigenous and black communities account for 11 percent of the population, they make up one-fourth of the displaced.

These communities depend on their relationship with land for their physical and cultural survival, stated the Switzerland-based Center on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), which said in a report this month that people are forcibly displaced in Colombia with the aim of expropriating their land.

Some 300 leaders of community and indigenous councils from the Chocó region took part in the seventh interethnic forum that ended Monday.

SOURCE: by Constanza Vieira, Inter Press Service/Global Information Network

By platano on Nov 29, 2005, 23:31 in Politics & the war.

viewpoint says on Nov 30, 2005, 04:28:

Platano Thanks for bringing this article (post) to the forum and sharing it with us.

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elmodefoque says on Nov 30, 2005, 04:50:

Funny thing, when I see pics of FARC soldiers I don’t see any “gomelito” metro sexual looking kids, I mostly see dark poor modefoques with injun and black faces. The same faces I see in Colombian military. Where are the rich/middle class Colombian kids? in front of their computers? Abroad? Super sizing their whopper meal or listening to Juanes, sonido stereo, worshiping European culture, walking around with pictures of John Lennon on their t-shirt telling everybody how great Colombia is. I hang out with the dirt poor modefoques, do you think they lose one second of sleep when wealthy modefoque gets kidnapped, or they feel bad because the wealthy are in danger when traveling cross country in their Land Cruisers, hell nooooo! some might even say “the hell with them if they can’t take a joke”

I'll get there, when I get there!

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kernow62 says on Nov 30, 2005, 05:19:

Elmo look at US troops, the majority seem to come from poor backgrounds too and that is a voluntary force. The southern states, the hispanics and the blacks make up a disproportionate percentage of the US armed forces.

How many rich politicians sons or daughters are fighting on the lines?

I think those with money in any country have a way to avoid the military life ot they have other opportunities.

In the UK you knew you weren't going to get out of the poverty unless you became a great footballer, joined Oasis, got a role on Coronation Street or received specialist traning through the military.

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elmodefoque says on Nov 30, 2005, 05:31:

The difference between the USA and Colombia is that the poor Colombians soldiers are fighting the poor campesino to keep the wealthy safe. Here in USA the poor are kicking other modefoques ass in the Middle East. No need to protect the rich from getting harm by the poor here, that’s why the USA has plenty of prisons. NYC Mayor Bloomberg is a freaking billionaire and rides the subway next to a modefouqe only making 300 dollars a week in factory, even with out security around him, nobody is gonna kidnapped his filthy rich ass. No matter how poor you’re here. there’s plenty to eat, as a matter of fact TOO damn much to eat look at all the fat black and Hispanic women in the projects. They got 18 wheel truck size culos

I'll get there, when I get there!

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kernow62 says on Nov 30, 2005, 05:40:

There is no difference Elmo. It isn't to keep the rich safe in either country it is to keep the rich from being poor and to keep the poor from being rich.

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kernow62 says on Nov 30, 2005, 05:42:

I will agree with the "enough to eat", sometimes I think the poor in the US eat better than the lower middle-class like me. I see the groceries stacked up and watch people pay with food stamps and meanwhile my cart has sweet bugger all in it.

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caslug says on Nov 30, 2005, 06:08:

the difference kernow.. is that there is NOT war in the US, the war are OUTSIDE the US. Unlike COL where there´s FIGHTING INSIDE COL. Look at the last war that fought INSIDE the US, whole population of US folks got out in the battlefields and killed on another with gusto!

Poor folks in the US, as whole do feel they have an opportunity to advance via hardwork or education out of poverty. Hence they are more willing to fight and die for it. As Elmo and GIB mention, classism in COL much more ingrain than anything i´ve seen in the US. The other night, i was meeting a GRINGO friend that lives IN EL CENTRO. He invited me to come down and have dinner and drinks near where he lives, which is in a safe area of el centro with lots of bars and restaurants and people. I took my two COL amigas, both are educated and professional. We took the taxi to the area to meet my friend, there was lots of restaurants, most of which my friend said were pretty decent and cheap. My two amigas high tailed outha there, and want to go somewhere else, we ended up a a pizza joint. They said that the original place was not their type of scene! WTF

Considering the fact that i´m footing the bill, you figure they let me choose. middle class and upper middle class gals always want to go to crepes and waffle, which to me is bland food, like any chain italian restaurant in the states. I had upper class gals tell me they would NOT go out with guys that were in lower class than them.

Most educated, professional gal in the US, will go to a divey bar or restaurant with you, of course not ALL the time. But if i want good chinese or dim sum, i head to chinatown which is in a dodge area of most cities, the US gals have no problem slumming with you to places.

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elmodefoque says on Nov 30, 2005, 06:11:

Now do you guys see why i can't stand those modefoques

I'll get there, when I get there!

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elmodefoque says on Nov 30, 2005, 06:19:

even freaking paris hilton or j-lo would be happy to eat anyplace, they are down for anything, gringo mentallity, but these third world broads....... wait i gotta punch the wall, something. i'll be back!

I'll get there, when I get there!

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paisa29 says on Nov 30, 2005, 06:25:

caslug I always try to avoid el centro at night,I work in el centro and don`t have any problem having lunch or walking around during the day but I don`t feel safe over there at night.

"Fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality" Conrad Hilton

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caslug says on Nov 30, 2005, 06:32:

Paisa.. the area i was in.. was around centro colombo, lots of students hanging out and theirs several nice bars around there. Now, i agree about the safety situation in MOST of el centro, i certianly WOULDNT walk from san antonio metro station to centro colombo at night, BUT my friends and I took a taxi. The area within 1 or 2 blocks of centro colombo is pretty safe, kinda of like a mini calle 33.

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Miguel says on Nov 30, 2005, 06:33:

No shit, GIB "So on both sides of this thing you have the wealthy directing the poor and the poor are paying with their lives. Some day that is going to come home to roost."
It's true that the price of human life is cheap in parts of Colombia.
Sad, but true.

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cam0940 says on Nov 30, 2005, 12:04:

Kernow was talking about basically the demographics of the people going in the military in the U.S. these days, and the abscense of politicians kids in the military. Same thing in Colombia. It's "beneath" some of the elitist families.

There used to be a time when if you didn't serve, you were nobody. Used to be a time when a guy went down to sign up and if they didn't take him, you had to watch him because he might commit suicide. It used to be an honorable thing to serve your country. Remember WWII? People were dying left and right and they didn't have as good medicine, but if you didn't go, you were like... nothing. Same thing with the Civil War. The American Revolution. And all through history. Underage guys lying about their age, cheating and doing all sorts of things to get in. And among nobility and elitists too. You couldn't have honor unless you looked the enemy in the eye on the battlefield.

Wasn't until Vietnam that it became uncool to serve. And it's spread like wildfire. Now no one wants to go, it's for poor and disadvantaged people. I was reading on the history of South America last night, and indigenous peoples, African slaves, and the conquistadores all had honor in fighting for their country, empire, whatever. Where, when, and why did it become uncool? The conquistadores themselves were noblemen. But then somewhere along the line, everything changed. I think that is so unfortunate. I'm not a warmonger, I just think it's cool to serve your country.

The title of the thread sounds straight out of the Vietnam war, when this change in attitude took root here in the U.S. Except change "Civil War" to "Vietnam War". I thought it was a great article, and Colombia's situation is unique on so many levels. But the chosen title for the article is inflammatory from the outset. Just reading it you imagine you'll be reading about sit ins and marches on Bogota.

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utopiacowboy says on Nov 30, 2005, 12:07:

Cam, all the rednecks and kids from the little country towns still join up in droves. For them it's still "cool".

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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caslug says on Nov 30, 2005, 14:04:

cam..if you read a history a little closer.. you´ll see that the spanish conquistadors that came to the ¨new world¨didnd´t do for queen and country. They were the 2nd sons of royal or rich families, in other words they stood NO chance of inhiereting the family fortunes. So they choose to go the new world where they can make their fortunes, it was longer but more profitable. Plus the catholic church also made it an ¨honarable¨ venture because the conquistador were fighting non christians, which the spanish had been doing for centuries with their wars against the moors.

Overall, the history of spanish ¨colonization¨ in latin america was ALOT more violent than the English, French, and Dutch colonization of N. America. In N. America, it was more trading than fighting at first, it was ONLY after the english colonist wanted to expand that they started skirmishing w the indians, and that didn´t start happening on a massive scale till after the american revolution.

Also, Vietnam started on a VERY patriot note, with the US military having NO morale or recruiting problem, until after 1967/68.

In COL, they been at this for 40 yrs with no end in sight, with neither the general population getting fed up(ala USA) nor is the COL military capable of scoring decisive victories in the battlefield that would force the FARC to lay down it´s arm. While FARC is NOT capable of winning over the majority of the population nor are they capable of winning a decisive victory either.

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ws244 says on Nov 30, 2005, 14:14:

incorrect Majority of U.S. active duty soldiers are white. The bottom line is there is "not a draft" in the U.S. unlike Colombia where there is complusory service.

Yes-the higher class in Colombia can avoid Colombia military service.

No-in the States where any class can avoid the military.

To compare the two Country's has no basis.

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kernow62 says on Nov 30, 2005, 14:15:

Tinto shouldn't you move this thread over to said Politics and War Forum?

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cam0940 says on Nov 30, 2005, 14:34:

at Caslug I don't see where that makes my comment invalid. A second son obviously has to take a number for inheritance. But the second son, nor the 10th son, of any current day leader wouldn't be on the front lines of a comparable expedition.

The second son still carried the family name, and it was still honorable and endorsed by arguably the most powerful institution of the time, the Church. You would never see that these days.

I also don't understand the Vietnam comment. I thought I was spot on. Of course at the outset the public is behind it. They've just been sold on the idea. It wasn't until the body bags started coming home that you started to get some unrest. HOWEVER, that didn't happen in Korea, WWII, WWI, the Civil War, the War of 1812, the French-Indian War, or the American Revolution. So my question was, what changed along the way?

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kernow62 says on Nov 30, 2005, 19:50:

I suppose the threat to the US during the Vietnam war as well as the war in Iraq are quite a bit different than in WW2. Perhaps it is that has changed people's minds.

However in both WW1 and WW2 the US did not want to get involved, the people that is. They had to be tricked into entering WW1 with the ploy that Germany was going to aid Mexico in taking back Texas, New Mexico, Arizona. Lucky the British decoded that message. Then in WW2 the attack on Pearl Harbor which many believe the British knew about and indeed possibly warned the president about in advance brought the US finally into the war.

So they initially weren't chomping at the bit to go to war, however when duty called they were more than willing to fight.

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caslug says on Dec 1, 2005, 05:37:

Cam..i not disagreeing with what you said.. i just elabrorate on additional motivation those conquistador had. It wasn´t as simple as honor. War and conquest is rarely about honor and duty, at least not when goverment policies are concerns. Most wars or conquest is fougth for perceived political, geopolitical, or economic gain. The crusades was under the guise of religious motivation, but eventually turned into one of economic gain, european nobility sent their second sons to fight, while the first son stayed in europe.

There´s a great book on the history of colonization in latin america, it´s called guns, germs, and steel. I forgot who the author is, but he describes how small bands of spaniard were able to subjagated entire indengionous nations.

One gringo told me that the difference between the spaniard raped and blunder latin america and didn´t really put roots it. While in the N.America, the english and french colonist came in droves and farm and developed communities and trade goods back to the mother countries. In Latin America, the spaniard came, took gold and sent it back to spain. The spainard foot soldiers breeded with the indigenous folks, while the officers and aristocrats either went back to spain with their wealth or brought spainard wives over. To this day in Latin America, there´s is a inherent racial/classism undercurrent. If whiter you are the better off you are in the social heirachy, because you were consider spaniard/european ancestary.

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juancegomez says on Dec 1, 2005, 09:31:

Tinto... "I thought it wasn't a civil war

(see thread in the Politics and War Forum).

Apparently some Colombians think otherwise, or the translator took the liberty of calling it that.

;-)"

Evidently he or she did. More specifically, perhaps Constanza Vieira, or platano, I don't know who, but definitely not the Colombians involved.

At least not in what was published above did they (the "some Colombians") use the word "civil war" once. The word appears in the title and in the description made by the reporter, which is vastly different.

;)

Speaking about "war" isn't equivalent to speaking of "civil war". See the other thread.

Other than that...GIB's comment may ring very true at first sight and/or when read in an overly emotional mood, but I believe it's not as easy as that when looked at in a different manner.

Saying that it's as simple as it's only the poor that suffer in a war sponsored by the rich on both sides ("So on both sides of this thing you have the wealthy directing the poor and the poor are paying with their lives") is pretty appealing to the social activist or revolutionary in some of us, maybe even to the point of becoming politically correct (non-mainstream PC, but PC nevertheless), but falls quite short of reflecting the rest of the situation.

He says that "Some day that is going to come home to roost". I'd say not necessarily, given what is known about Colombian history or even Latin American history in general. It may or it may not. But wishing that it may do so isn't going to make it come true, unless it's an appeal to an invisible "Spirit of History" or something akin to that.

What then, do I think will happen? That's precisely not the point. There is no "Spirit of History" to appeal to, that inexorably points towards a single direction, towards a fate that simply must come to pass.

I don't dare to make any such long term predictions because, fortunately or unfortunately, things usually end up taking roads that none of us can expect.

One can only speculate by giving opinions, as we often do in these forums and in real life, but that's probably not worthwhile in the end, no matter what does happen.

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platano says on Dec 1, 2005, 09:59:

juancegomez, a point of clarification... In this instance I did not invent a headline... I faithfully transcribed the original. So someone else used the phrase "civil war," not I.

I am more prone to use the word "paradise" when describing Colombia, though many will criticize that as being too Disney World. However, taking into consideration the flora and fauna and the incredible richness of the Colombian natural landscape, I think the word paradise is apt.

plátano

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Rubiazo says on Dec 1, 2005, 11:54:

I think cam is pointing out a very real tread Part of it is that people are neither as patriotic nor as arrogant, chauvanistic, ignorant, or prejudiced as they used to be. The view of one planet which everybody shares is a very new innovation in most social circles, but it has done nothing but gain ground :P

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007CA says on Dec 1, 2005, 18:10:

Platano Thanks for posting this article. I have visited an Afro-Colombian "community living in resistance" (they support no armed group) in Choco and these are the issues they face. They are incredibly strong and articulate people.

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poco says on Dec 2, 2005, 07:07:

Much Improved in this location Officially, as of today, I’m counted as being in Colombia. The census taker (a very attractive young girl) came by the House with a color screen Palm Pilot. Took down all the information in the Palm.

Asked why I was being counted because I have no Cedula and am on a tourist visa,, well,, I’m here, in a house,, so I get counted. Even in RURAL Colombia no paper is required these days. Thinking about it,, they would have preferred to use a copy machine but probably couldn’t find one small enough to carry around.

I asked about the towns population and it has tripled in the past 5 years,,, WOW,, maybe we’ll have two stop lights in the future !!!!!

It is obvious there are MANY more cars and moto’s. Many new homes in all areas are under construction and at least one new barrio has been established. Many more Colombians with pensions are coming to live in town. The park is starting to get full of older guys sitting on park benches watching the parade of people. The girl I’m with says they are just getting away from the wife for a while.

Those that say:
do you think they lose one second of sleep when wealthy modefoque gets kidnapped, or they feel bad because the wealthy are in danger when traveling cross country in their Land Cruisers, hell nooooo! some might even say “the hell with them if they can’t take a joke”

Great commentary,, keep it up in Choco,, we can use a few new people with money in Valley Cauca,, you know, those can invest in a new bake shop,, hire a few more people, spur construction activity.. maybe buy a new car or moto,, ie: someone with a brain.

Ha, Ha,,,, losers never know when to quit typing…

"When you men get home and face an anti-war protester, look him in the eyes and shake his hand. Then, wink at his girlfriend, because she knows she's dating a pussy." Quote - General Tommy Franks

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