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February 21st marks 5 years since 8 people, including 3 children, from the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, Colombia, were brutally massacred. Horror about the crime – in which some of the bodies were beheaded, and the rest cut into pieces before being thrown into a common grave – led to a six-month suspension of U.S. military aid because the 17th Brigade, implicated in the crime, received U.S. assistance at the time. Ample evidence points to military-paramilitary collaboration in the crime, yet five years later, not a single individual has been punished for the crime.

This case is emblematic not just as an example of the brutality suffered by civilians at the hands of the Colombian military and paramilitaries, but also of the Colombian state’s efforts to maintain impunity in such cases, particularly for those high in the chain of command. While the Peace Community always insisted that the army and paramilitaries committed the crime, the Colombian government tried to place blame on the Community itself.

Shortly after the massacre, President Uribe publicly accused the Community of guerrilla collaboration, backing up Army officials who claimed that the FARC had committed the massacre to punish the Community for collaboration gone awry. It has since been proved that army officials paid false witnesses to testify that the FARC committed the massacre.

Several former paramilitaries have admitted their participation in the massacre and described the military’s role. After being implicated by these testimonies, Captain Guillermo Gordillo, who commanded one of the companies involved in the military operation during which the massacre took place, pled guilty in exchange for a lesser charge. As a result of these testimonies, ten low-ranking soldiers have been charged with collaboration in the massacre. Nonetheless, there are over a hundred soldiers who participated in the operation, not to mention the superiors who ordered or had knowledge of it. (more…)

I recently watched an episode of a Brazilian documentary television series called ‘Pasagem Para’ ,or, ‘Voyages To’ in English, this series gives viewers the opportunity to visit different countries and to find out about different people and aspects of the location which is visited, with a narrative dialogue provided by journalist Luis Nachbin.

During seven years of the series the documentary has travelled to different locations in over twenty countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and the American continent, I watched episode 115 which was a voyage to San Jose de Apartadó a Community of Peace in Colombia.

San Jose de Apartadó is a small village located in the region of Uraba, approximately 12 km from the city of Apartado, Antioquia, and is near the Serrana del Abibe, bordering Cordoba.where peasants from neighboring areas sold avocados, cocoa beans and other products.

San Jose is comprised of 28 hamlets and has a population of nearly 3000. The land is apt for raising cattle and for cultivating corn, cocoa, avocado, yucca, plantains, rice and coffee, the village has organized a cooperative called BALSAMAR to market and process cocoa beans.

The film starts as Luis enters the village and the camera focuses on the notice board at the entrance to the village which reads as follows:

The Community freely declares its commitment:

To participate in community work efforts;

To say no to injustice and impunity;

To not participate directly nor indirectly in the war;

To not carry weapons;

To not be manipulated by, or, give information to any of the parties in the conflict. (more…)

The FARC-EP: Secretariat of the Central and the ELN: Central Command have issued a joint statement announcing that they will now be working together in unity to oppose the latest escalation of the US proxy war in Colombia. (more…)