Community Leader's Death Highlights Danger of Resisting Violence in Colombia
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WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct 31 (OneWorld) - The murder of a well-known peace activist in Colombia has highlighted endemic violence in the Latin American country, and the vulnerability of people trying to resist it, despite high-profile steps toward ending civil war.
Local authorities reported discovering on Tuesday the body of Orlando Valencia, a leader of the Afro-Colombian peace community of Curvarado. Valencia, who had been ''disappeared'' by gunmen apparently belonging to a right-wing paramilitary on October 15, appeared to have died from gunshot wounds. Baltimore-based religious charity Lutheran World Relief (LWR) said Valencia's wife confirmed on Wednesday that the body was that of her husband and the father of their seven children. LWR had invited Valencia to speak at a peace conference last weekend in Chicago but said the U.S. embassy denied him a visa. The group said it was ''saddened'' to learn of Valencia's murder but added that his case was not unique. ''Unfortunately, what happened to Orlando happens to many others in Colombia, and all too often these tragedies go unnoticed,'' said LWR president Kathryn Wolford. ''Orlando was an outstanding young leader, bringing hope to his community, working for the dignity and protection of his people, and his life was needlessly taken.'' Another Afro-Colombian leader, Bernardo Pequi Diaz, reportedly was detained by a paramilitary earlier this month and his whereabouts remain unknown. In parts of the country, military and paramilitary forces alike have targeted Afro-Colombians with harassment, property seizures, and death threats. Many Afro-Colombian communities have been trying to assert traditional rights to land now held by major palm-oil producers. Peace talks between the government and left-wing guerrillas broke down in 2002. The government and right-wing paramilitaries are committed to a peace process under which combatant groups are supposed to demobilize. Such steps are meant to cap more than four decades of civil war believed to have killed tens of thousands of people. Estimates of the number of people forced from their homes and ancestral lands range from more than one million to around 3.4 million. In reality, however, the government has stepped up military action against the guerrillas even as the paramilitaries have abandoned demobilization and, in some cases, appear to have stockpiled new weapons. Among the displaced, Afro-Colombians were pushed off ancestral lands and into cities. In the past five years, they have returned and established settlements known as peace communities back on collectively owned land. They have not been able to shield themselves from armed conflict, however. Washington, D.C.-based Refugees International, in a recent assessment, noted that ''different armed groups, including the national army, are attempting to break their [peace communities', i.e.] nonviolent resistance in order to enhance their military strategy and the communities are losing confidence in the capacity of the Colombian government to provide them with the necessary protection.'' The settlements are called peace communities because members agree to maintain a rigid stand of not interacting with any armed actor, whether members of the FARC (the main guerrilla force), the national army, or the right-wing paramilitary. ''Their strategy is non-violent resistance to involvement in the conflict,'' according to Refugees International. ''This means refusing any formal relation with individuals carrying weapons, and aiming at self protection through building houses close to one another, fencing the settlement, and cultivating collective fields within its perimeter.'' The strategy carries a high price in isolation, limited economic opportunity, and barely acceptable living conditions, with no running water or electricity and no health or school facilities at hand. ''Further, the choice of non-violent resistance is a challenge to all armed actors, and the settlements are under constant pressure from them to provide intelligence or material support. When these entreaties are resisted, the response may be violent,'' Refugees International said. The advocacy group urged the Colombian government to strengthen independent judicial bodies and community early warning systems. It called on the U.N. refugee agency to expand its presence in the area and is asking foreign donors to maintain financial support for national and international non-governmental groups that are supporting the peace settlements. |
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