on forced displacement in Colombia (part 2)
(si quieres el texto en españo? escribir a ulrikinha@gmail.com)Eliptical Room of the Colombian Congress 21, 22 and 23 of November, 2007, Bogota
The call of millions of forcibly displaced Colombian women and men has reached the international community. As a response of solidarity, a Tribunal of Opinion was convened in Bogotá from the 21-23 of November, 2007. It was designed to hear the voices of the often abused and persecuted victims of this crime against humanity, and also in order to contribute to the restoration of justice and right in Colombia. The International Tribunal, composed of 8 members, compiled existing information on displacement and its causes from a number of sources, including official ones such as the
United Nations, and the Colombian government, but also from NGO’s. Five regional hearings had taken place: in Valle de Cauca, Chocó, the Central region, Arauca and the Atlantic coast. Hundreds of testimonies were collected. Finally an international jury, convened in the Congress of the Republic, heard more than 30 testimonies. Three sociological and juridical studies were added to the documentation that had already been collected. The Colombian authorities had been invited in advance to participate so that they could present their point of view. But they did not do so. Furthermore, the leaders of the National Coordination of the Displaced and members of the Tribunal received constant threats from the paramilitary group, self-identified as Aguilas Negras (Black Eagles) because of carrying out the Tribunal.
The Displaced Population in Colombia The massive character of forced displacement in Colombia reveals a structural humanitarian crisis that until 2007 has affected more than 4 million people in the country, a number much higher than that of the official statistics. The latter only reflect those persons who have been officially registered as displaced. They also do not take into account the thousands of refugees outside the country. The current tidal wave of forced displacements dates from the begin-
nings of the 1980s. However, the roots of this displacement date back much earlier. Already in the middle of the 1940s the paramilitary repression against the Gaitanist Movement
caused internal migration, the product of political violence that Jorge Eliecer Gaitan referred to as the “State against the people”. A similar genocide took place in the 1960s against
the “United Front”, led by Camillo Torres.
Since the mid 1980s, Colombian drug traffickers decided to bring their dollars (profits) to the country and launder them by buying large expanses of the best land. In general, they appropriated properties and possessions without improving them. They resorted to illegitimate and illicit means as methods for dispossessing people, while always turning to
intimidation and elimination. The drug cartels together with sectors of the national oligarchy, the political class and the Armed Forces, created a new version of paramilitarism that
offered support and training, claiming that this was necessary in order to defeat the insurgency.
In this way an alliance was formed. This paramilitarism eliminated the Left wing opposition (the Patriotic Union) and the social movements that were calling for better living conditions while at the same time the Establishment permitted this illegal activity to continue. The illegal expropriation of land not only led to an enormously inequitable distribution of land, but also a transformation in its use. Huge expanses of land, suitable for agriculture and forestry, became dedicated to cattle ranching. This wave of displacement increased during the first half of the 1990s, at the height of neo-liberal policies that opened the doors to transnational investment.
Large multinational companies required a free reign to continue the expropriation of land, one of the major sources of productivity in the country, in order to invest in megaprojects (in agriculture, industry, mining, tourism, and the construction of roads and ports…). This happened under the pretext of halting the insurgency. But it really aimed at the control of political and economic power in specific regions of the country. Plan Colombia, representing strategic military funding from the United States, came into effect in
1997. Therefore another increase in forced displacements occurred, with some of the highest annual numbers of foribly displaced people registered. Indiscriminate bombing, mass arrests, the criminalization of social protests, a strong military presence in the region are some of the reasons that explain this increase.
At the beginning of the present decade, the official statistics on forced displacement decreased, although they continued to be frightening. This displacement can be explained by the same reasons as before, only that there were now areas available that were completely depopulated, large expanses of land that had belonged to the dispossessed. As well, there occurred displacement between and within urban centres and new causes of displacement arose (in-
discriminate fumigations -even in regions where coca was not grown-, massive detentions, extra-judicial executions, criminalization of organizations and social leaders) that are
not recognized by the government. They include confinement of the population, as a new method of war against the people. In fact, despite the messages and assurances of the
media, the number of persons displaced annually continues to be very high, affecting regions differently depending on where the armed conflict goes in Colombia. The Colombia government is sponsoring legislation that attempts to legalize the land that has been stolen from the
displaced population. It thus allows the crimes committed against humanity, presumably because of the armed conflict, to be left in impunity. This legislation includes the Sta-
tute on Rural Development, the Law of Justice and Peace, and laws of land, mining, petroleum etc.
The Legal Basis of the Verdict The problem of displacement has concerned the United Nations for more than a quarter of a century. As a result, various agencies and legal instruments have been developed. Inter-
national and national legislation considers forced displacement as a crime against humanity. Colombia has ratified the majority of conventions on human rights and on Internatio-
nal Humanitarian Law, which should oblige the State and the so-called armed actors to respect these principles. The political Constitution of 1991 established the protection
of life, mobility and the explicit prohibition of forced displaement as vital rights. But these rights are being violated by the state and its agents in the application of their policy of
forced displacement. Displacement has become a fundamental strategy in the imposition of an economic model.
Recently, criminal code-legislation has deemed this conduct to be a crime against humanity. However, the structure of impunity prevailing in the Colombian justice-system makes
these domestic as well as international laws inapplicable, doubly victimizing people who suffer these violations, especially children, women and elderly people.
It is worth noting, however, that the rulings of the Constitutional Court have been an effort to draw attention to this situation. They oblige the State to respect the rights of dis-
placed persons and to apply the named policies on forced displacement. But these have been complied with only par- tially or in bad faith. It is important to note that the Colom-
bian State violates the guiding principles of the United Nations on internal displacement, especially principles 1,2, 3, 4, 6-C. 10-1-2, 11, 13-1-2, 14,16, 18-1-2,21-1-1, 23, 25-1-3, 26,
27-1, 28-1 y 29; and not only in a direct way, but also by protecting the public officials responsible for these crimes, thus maintaining impunity. For example there is the case of the
extermination of a political movement: the Patriotic Union. Its survivors have been forced to take their case to the Inter American Court on Human Rights. The Tribunal calls on the Colombian state, multinational corporations, the governments of developed countries and their agents to cease and desist from these practices that gravely violate the human rights of the population and to equally respect the principles and norms of International
Humanitarian Law, of human rights and of the rights of refugees. Furthermore, this Tribunal calls on the government of Colombia to generate a truth process that reveals the true
intellectual and material authors of these crimes so that justice may judge and punish them in the search of reparation for the victims.
The TestimoniesThe Tribunal received direct testimonies and benefited from the numerous other testimonies heard in the regional hea- rings and the ample documentation that demonstrated what was happening throughout Colombia. The testimonies came from Santander North, Vichada, Casanare, Arauca, Meta Antioquia, Chocó, Sur de Bolívar, Nariño, Cauca, Sucre,
Bogota, Cartagena, Boyacá, Valle, Eje Cafetero, Guaviare, and Putumayo. Within these cases 28 had economic origins and 10 were socio-political. Those responsible included the
army (21), the police (3), the army and paramilitary together (8) and the paramilitary forces (6). It was verified that the 28 cases of forced displacement with economic origins, took place in zones where mining and energy projects were being developed, as in the Chocó where there are deposits of gold, copper, uranium, coal, petroleum, gas, areas of electrical energy production, forests and water sources. As well there are projects linked to lumber, the African oil-palm and “eco-tourism”. Similar motives exist in Arauca where companies like Repsol, and Occidental
Petroleum, are accused of grave violations of the rights of workers, indigenous peoples and the population in general.
In Antioquia and Nariño where petroleum, gas and gold are being explored and exploited by Canadian and US companies, similar methods are being employed. In the South of
Bolívar AngloGold Ashanti is forcing out small miners and appropriating enormous deposits of gold that exist in the region, with the open support of the paramilitary, military,
and the Colombian government. Indeed the government has handed over lists (to paramilitaries) of those who protested the exodus of 1998. They were later detained, disappea-
red and assassinated. The situation in Santander North also stands out where the military and the paramilitary acted in favour of the companies like Harken Energy, Anglocoal and
of investors linked to the Uribe family in the exploitation of coal, gas and petroleum in the zone.
In Cauca, where there are also deposits of minerals, petroleum and gas, the military and paramilitary operations are directed at expropriating the lands of indigenous and afro- colombian communities to put them into the hands of palm and lumber companies working in collusion with the large land owners in the zone. It is important to highlight that there is a higher incidence of forced displacement in zones that are populated by Afro-Colombians like Chocó, Nariño, Cauca, Valle de Cauca, North of Bolivar, and Uraba Antioqueños.
Other departments like Putumayo, Vichada, Casanare, Sucre, Meta Valle de Cauca, have suffered forced displacement as a way of guaranteeing the presence of petroleum, gas,
mining, lumber and African palm companies. Finally, there is a need to note the use of displacement as a form of social control, in departments where social organizations are very
strong, for example Arauca. In this Tribunal no cases were presented of forced displacement caused by the guerrilla.
The Actors and the Reasons Many testimonies linked the State to forced displacement, by action or by omission. Paramilitary groups with the complicity of the armed forces and the police carry out a cam-
paign of terror against the rural population in many regions of the country. Paramilitary groups like the AGUILAS NEGRAS (Black Eagles), NUEVA GENERACION (New Generation), BLO- QUE CACIQUE NUTIBARA, BLOQUE CALIMA continue assassinating and displacing people. The national army through its various brigades acts in collusion or simply does not in-
tervene although it knows where these groups are operating and displacing the population.
Parts of the political class and of the large land owning groups in many regions of the country have been identified as members or allies of paramilitary groups, that are using terror to plunder and expropriate the land of small farmers and maintain political control in municipal politics, in the Congress, in the Senate and the national government, as a strategy of social control, without tolerating any form of political opposition, and the democratic use of civil rights.
The judiciary in Colombia often acts in a biased and corrupt way towards the displaced population, not recognizing their right to property and registering their land instead with the
paramilitary, large land owners and politicians who displaced them.
Multinationals like Harken Energy, Grey Star resources, CEMEX, Holcim, BHP Billiton, Angloamerican, Xtrata, Drummond, Chiquita brands, Oxy, Repsol, B.P., Union Fenosa,
Codensa, Urapalma, Glencore, AngloGold Ashanti, Petrocanada, Consorcio Colombiano del Cerrejon, Kedada are complicit in displacement by financing and lending their installa-
tions to paramilitary groups that threatened and massacred thousands of trade unionists, of afro-colombians, as well as indigenous people and people in peasant communities. The
responsibility of the government of the United States in this forced displacement has also been demonstrated through its support as part of Plan Colombia and Plan Patriota, its
military aid, mercenaries and extensive and indiscriminate fumigations.
These actions of displacement have taken place through massacres, selective assassinations, threats, burning of houses, false operations, massive detentions, violence against women, forced recruitment, disappearances, state terrorism and psychological terrorism towards the victims. It was also found that urban displacement was the result of actions by banks charging unbearably high interest rates, thus causing the dissolution of families. The police is used in
order to evict people from their homes.
The Structural Causes of Displacement The first forced displacement was that imposed by the Spanish conquerors that stripped the indigenous peoples of the best flat lands and established cattle ranches, forcing the
original inhabitants to move to the slopes where many of them and their descendants continue to intensively cultivate the land. The new owners then proceeded to concentrate by force small villages in larger ones, always with the aim of clearing the lands. The result was a genocide in which millions of indigenous people were killed, also African slaves who had been “imported” to work in the plantations and the mines. This was the first phase of capitalism. The region became part of the famous trade triangle (Europe, Africa and the Americas) and contributed to the accumulation of capital in Europe. Within the region it created wealth for the class who
held power, but lacking conscience, religious or civic. The sole aim became to accumulate more wealth and power, a constant in the history of Colombia.
In the current period, the arrival of foreign capital and the domination of transnational companies correspond to an opening of world markets, the product of a neo-liberal model of development. The overexploitation of primary resources (petroleum, gold and other metals), the expansion of monocrops in agriculture for export and finally the production of agro-fuels, are based on the expulsion of indigenous, afro-colombian and peasant communities from their land. The demands of the globalization of capital are obeyed and the dependency of the dominant Colombian class on North American and European capital is accentuated. An ecologi-
cal disaster thus is added to a social catastrophe.
This economic model continues with the current government in the implementation of a final phase of expropriation of land and realignment of people that is based on a counter-agrarian reform, a trend that can be seen worldwide. People returning to their previously inhabited areas do not really change the process. For this process of return is implemented in those regions where paramilitary control
is already consolidated, in subservience to transnational enterprises and also aided by “international cooperation”. In the best of cases, the State’s response is of the order of social
assistance. In the case of urban displacement, the principal actors are the banks that act in a way that obeys the logic of capitalism.
Furthermore, the geo-strategic location of Colombia in a continent that is opening new and alternative economic and political spaces and new projects of integration, explains the
brutal imperialist intervention based on violence and displacement that aims to conserve imperial hegemony, by e.g. implementing Plan Colombia and Plan Patriota. It is clear
that solutions to these problems require not only internal changes, in order to overcome the projects of death in Colombia, but also a reorientation of the global economy.
To bring a solution to this human tragedy of displacement, the following is needed:
1) A policy of handing back land based on principles of jus- tice, that is to say the return of land to rural communities under the application of the Colombian constitution.
2) Financial compensation for the material damages that have occurred.
3) A recognition of the crimes committed, as viewed through the lens of justice, truth and integral reparation and a guarantee of non repetition, putting an end to impunity.
4) The constitution of a Commission of Reconciliation.
Indictment Having heard testimonies, verified by the evidence contributed by the victims and supported and confirmed by experts, with respect to the forced displacement of almost 4 million Colombian men and women, we condemn the following agents and institutions for their direct actions and/or omissions:
1. The State, the Colombian government and their representatives:civil servants, members of the armed forces and the police, judges and biased judicial officials, functionaries, members of the intelligence services of the government, officials of the Prosecutor General’s office, such as attorneys, and spokespersons, for actions of omission and complicity in the Crime of Forced Displacement.
2. The multinational companies mentioned above that through the imposition of the economic model that guaran- tees the plundering of the nation’s natural resources, using military and paramilitary forces, mercenaries, members of the police and state intelligence services- act as agents of forced displacement. With this crime against humanity, en-
tire regions have been cleared where mega-projects are later developed for the exclusive benefit of these companies.
Furthermore, we denounce as accomplices to various types of displacement members of the Colombian establishment such as cattle ranchers, landowners, industrialists, drug traffickers, financial institutions and banks.
3. The governments of the United States, Canada, England, Switzerland, Spain, Israel, South Africa and the European Union for providing military aid to the Colombian government, and for permitting the multinational companies from their countries to directly finance military and paramilitary operations, while displacing millions of Colombian men and
women , in order to secure their operations on national territory.
Finally, the Tribunal holds the Colombian authorities responsible for the security of all of those who participated in this session on displacement, including organizations and witnesses.
Veredicto del Tribunal Internacional de Opinión
Bogotá, 23rd of November, 2007.
Francois Houtart (Belgium), President Orlando Fals Borda
(Colombia), Vice- president Patricia Dahl (United States) Don
Tomas Balduino (Brazil) Louis Nicodeme (Belgium) Joao Lu-
cio Da Costa (Brazil) Dieter Misgeld (Canada) Francisco Ra-
mírez (Colombia), Attorney and Prosecutor.
organizaciones convocantes
organizaciones de apoyo
En av de svåraste sakerna att förstå är hur Colombias president Alvaro Úribe Velez kan ha så starkt stöd hos befolkningen. Undersökningar visar på 77% och lika många sägs vara för att han väljs för en tredje period.
Det Colombianska folket är oerhört konflikttrötta och många väljer en ytlig ordning framför en lång förhandlingsprocess som många tappat tron på. Igår hade jag ett skrämmande samtal med en taxichaufför som menade att Colombia fått det bättre med Uribe. Då jag frågade vad han menade med Colombia, om han i begreppet patria integrerade den stora del som lever i fattigdom, internflyktingar, indianbefolkning, folk som tänker annorlunda... menade han att man för att förändra ett samhälle måste offra något. (Tog min första taxispringnota någonsin)
Samma kväll åt jag middag med Hernándo Gómez Serrano som