Tomorrow Emily Kephart and I are heading to Colombia as part of Shalom House’s participation in a learning delegation led by Witness for Peace.  Back in the fall, the U.S. government signed an agreement with the Colombia government for the Pentagon to lease 7 military bases in Colombia.  After 10 years of funding Plan Colombia to the tune of over $7 billion in the attempt to fight the drug war and the global war on terror, we’re going to find out what this increase in U.S. presence is all about.   What does it mean for the people who live near the bases?  Does it have to do with protecting U.S. trade interests by military force?  Is it to continue fighting drugs on the supply side of things?

Finding out why the U.S. military presence is growing in Colombia is crucial as a U.S. citizen whose name is being used to justify the money being sent to Colombia and the consequences of military actions that include killings, crop fumigation, destruction of food systems, and displacement of millions of people.

As I’ve been reading stories and articles from Colombia, I’m haunted by the 40 plus year civil war, drug war and global war on terror that Colombians are enduring.  I’m astounded by the stories of people and communities who are refusing to let violence and militarism have the last word.  And this is at the heart of why I am going.  I yearn to meet and learn from others who are rejecting violence and living out alternatives.

Enrique Petro, a small-scale farmer, was driven off his land in 1997 along with many others.  The military burned their homes and bombed their lands, while the paramilitaries massacred civilians saying they were rooting out guerrillas.  Petro’s land was then confiscated by African Palm companies, who produce palm oil for the biofuel industry.  In 2000 Petro decided to go home and take his land back.  He cut down the illegal palm trees growing on his land.  He invited old neighbors to come back and live side by side, knowing the military or paramilitary could come at anytime and attack them.  The reestablished their community and named it Caño Claro Humanitarian Zone.  They are an community of civilians who intentionally proclaim that they are opposed to the use of violence and the exploitation of natural resources.  Petro is in the process of legally getting his land back from the Colombian government. (“Biofuel Boom Means Bust for Colombian Campesinos,” Oct. 18, 2007 by Annalise Romoser)

The people of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó formed it in 1997 when they were forced to flee their lands in the midst of the country’s civil war.  The paramilitary, with backing of the military, said it was cleansing the area of guerrillas.  They actually went after many nonviolent farmers’ organizations, clergy, political opponents and unions.  For community leaders, the exterminations propelled them to form a neutral community.  So when the several hundred families founded the community, they declared their neutrality in the war.  Entry of any armed persons was forbidden, including Colombian soldiers.  Also community members refused any assistance to armed groups.    The community now includes 1,300 people and has the goal of returning to their original lands.  Together they are resettling families back to their different areas one at a time.  They go back together to the land to replant crops and build basic structures in work groups.  When the crops are ready to be harvested, a huge number of the community accompany the pioneer families to the resettlement and then they start again, resettling the next group of families.  There is great risk to this collective organizing and mobilizing.  From 2006-2008, 4 community leaders were killed and 2 neighbors were murdered with impunity, some by the military and some by the paramilitary. (“Attack on Peace Community in Colombia” Creating Alternatives, Feb. 2008 by Theo Ballvé)

It is these stories of people and communities, who exert themselves in the midst of violence, reject it, speak out against it knowing the risk, and act according to their own principles, that is why Shalom House is traveling on this delegation.  We are going to connect with peacemakers and to learn from them.  We hope to come back infused with their stories and their examples.