EL ENCUENTRO: THE GATHERING

My dates will be a bit of a mix due to the lack of internet availability but nonetheless, read on...

March 22, 2007
A child stares into one of the many candles lit this night in La Holandita which is here the members of the the Peace Community displaced to after a police post was established in the center of town. The community members preferred to move away to another place and start building a community from scratch, rather than to risk their security by living next to a police post due to the fact that this increases the chances of combat between armed groups in the zone.

There is one candle for every small coffin aligned in straight rows along a grassy area where a monument will be created. This monument will represent the many dead that have been brutally snatched from their families and loved ones. Dozens of people from the community and from different parts of the world stand in solidarity ready to participate in the outdoor mass held in honor of all those who have been killed. A song begins to play with melodious words of love that bring to life the memory of one of the leaders who was killed in the massacre on February 21, 2005 Luis Eduardo Guerra, his partner Bellanira Areiza Guzman, and their child Deiner Andres Guerra. Their bodies were found mutilated and buried by the river in another vereda/settlement known as Mulatos. Tears were seen on faces of all ages as I saw them roll down to wet the Earth; and the female voice was heard loud and it attempted to sooth away the immeasurable suffering. The honorable father began to pray as he opened the space for mass and the candles burned while the audience offered a moment of silence…
Mass was followed by the community’s own theme song, composed by another member whose name was on one of the coffins. The lyrics read:

Vamos todos adelante, con cariño y mucho amor, con los suyos y los nuestros, y toda la humanidad. Vamos todos campesinos para ir fortaleciendo la comunidad de paz, del derecho de gentes y la libertad (Let us continue going forward with tenderness and great love, with your people and my people and all of human kind. Let’s continue fellow peasants to strengthen the community of peace, our rights as people and our liberty).

And little by little everyone began to sing along as a single voice developed out of the lips of many. Their beliefs and faith were expressed as they sang away in unison. These lyrics expressed those ideas that have lead myriads of Colombians to become martyrs in the struggle for peace. People’s uncles, mothers, cousins, godmothers and neighbors have all suffered for believing that they should be dignified to live in peace, as a neutral community that does not take part in the armed struggle. Nonetheless, the pride in their eyes and the humble way they embody their extraordinary hope is bold. Their convictions have paid a price too high. People have died manifesting what the lyrics read. The vivid image of the crowd singing will forever remain in my mind when they sang as the energy shifted around us. The courage and strength represented by each community members was felt in the air, under the night sky, through the burning candles surrounding the dozens of coffins. And this is how the outdoor mass culminated: in front of a mixed audience composed of fellow Colombians of all ages, Spaniards, Germans, Italians, Canadians, and other internationals. Everyone encircled the coffins and was able to notice that despite the suffering there are strong spirits of the dead and on that particular night, they were incredibly bright. I felt very honored to be part of a gathering that was meant to embrace the sacred memory of the dead so that the living will not allow it to dissipate. A celebration of the dead through the living.

This Encuentro (gathering) was also organized to celebrate the 10th year Anniversary of La Comunidad de Paz de San Jose de Apartadó. On March 23, 2007, everyone from the community gathered in San Josesito to take part in the 12 kilometer Caminata (march) to the city of Apartadó. This caminata was an active non-violent form of resistance. It was also a way in which the community members could somehow shed light to, in my opinion, just a small portion of what the community members have experienced in the past 10 years. People for all the surrounding veredas (settlements) that are part of the Peace Community came to support and march. Some were barefoot, others were wearing shoes, rubber boots, or chanclas and hundreds of footprints were left behind as everyone marched down the dirt road from La Holandita across banana fields, homes, and children playing in the grass. Sweaty silent faces of foreigner delegates and campesinos marched as the sun burned our skins. Community members said that silence was the only way they could communicate the lack of words they have when trying to explain the pain and suffering that has been recklessly slapped in each of their homes and into their hearts by the paramilitaries; silence was they only way to express all the cruelty they have endured.

Community members of all ages walked carrying the cardboard coffins in their hands. It both perplexed me and brought a sharp pain to my heart as I watched the little kids carry black coffins in their arms under the heat. One imagines that children carry balls instead of a something that symbolizes a cruel and unjust death. I watched how passersby observed diligently and I could hear their curiosity mumbled: What is this march about? Oh, about their dead, oh, it’s the peace community. And as the crowed marched holding banners and pictures with words and names, the entire town seemed to have experienced a moment without time: the freezing of an emotion as they witnessed the silent march and listened to how La Comunidad de Paz expressed their decade of anguish.

The community members led the march towards the Fiscalia’s office (Attorney General). One by one, people begin to place the coffins in rows in front of the building. Each box had a name written on it, each the barrier of her/his own story and together they created an encyclopedia of the violence that has been shed upon the campesinos by legal and illegal armed actors in the region. The Fiscalia has not yet followed any case completely and not a single person has been prosecuted and/or jailed for the crimes against the community members. Community members stated that leaving those coffins in front of the Fiscalia’s office was a way of informing those in charge that they have not been fulfilling their job and that the Comunidad has not forgotten their dead; that they still wait for justice to be carried out. They symbolically asked for the termination of all the impunity that has managed to prevail over justice for far too long. Day by day, they hope for peace and for a lawful prosecution of the guilty parties and individuals that have successfully managed to carry out these awful acts against humanity. Day by day, the community hopes for officials to cease ignoring their suffering. How can you ignore a mother’s pain, as she is unable to give proper good-byes to a desaparecida/o? How can family members cease wondering what was the fate of their loved ones despite the long months and years without answers. How can there still be hope that one day they can see them again when hundreds of bodies have been mutilated and thrown in rivers to ensure that they are never found? How can someone accept that a person is dead if there are no bodies to prove it? And yet, thousands of people in Colombia and in other war-torn countries have to succumb to such a cruel reality. Year after year, they worry and hope that all those who have been forced to disappear will somehow reappear.

This community works through a peaceful form of resistance. They ask for respect for their living and justice for their dead. Their determination and conviction has no alternative: The community members want to live with dignity and respect without the presence-interruptions from the armed groups. They have lost almost 200 members in the last ten years as they have struggled in the middle of an armed conflict that has succeeded in making the civilians the middle target. No longer do they want to become desaparecidos (disappeared), desplasados (displaced), or victimas (victims). “The Peace Community,” they say, “has to be kept alive to be able to guarantee a safe future for the next generation of Colombians: one with dignity that embraces and honors peace and freedom.” The kind of life that we all deserve.

No more threats and violence against humanity. No more coffins with victims of this six-decade poly-headed war that gobbles anything that stands in the way of its power and control. Struggles are stronger when they embody peace and this community is playing an active role to be able to fulfill the promise of a peaceful Colombia.