gathered because they wanted to voice out their dissatisfaction with the government and its existing policies that have consistently failed to provide for the almost 4 million displaced people in the country.The crowd stood in one of Medellin’s street corners, listening to a representative of the Coordinación Metropolitana de Desplazados (Metropolitan Coordination for the Displaced) speak about the failure of law of 397 of 1997. This law was approved eleven years ago and stipulates in Article 3 that “the Colombian State has the responsibility to formulate and adopt policies and measures to prevent forced displacement and the responsibility to protect and provide a socio-economic consolidation and stabilization to those who have bee internally displaced due to violence“ (http://www.secretariasenado.gov.co/leyes/L0387_97.HTM). But, all those individuals present were there because they have seen very little evidence of the application of such law given that since its approval, the number of displaced people in Colombia has been on the rise.
The many faces, most of them with empty stomachs, started walking towards the city center and made their way across the crowed street on their way to the Plaza Botero. They chanted the words “Forced Displacement is a State Policy! “ The participants wanted to remind the Colombian State that they continue to be walking proof of the existing crisis in the country. Some of
them live in the city of Medellin (which is supposed to be one of the main cities that have gone through great improvements since Uribe took office as president, in isolation from any of their basic rights. In actuality, Medellin is still a home to many victims of abuse and violence, including the control of the Paramilitary in the different sectors of the mountainous city. There are numerous slums on the outskirts of the city, the so-called Comunas, where people live in degrading conditions, with rooftops made up of scraps of aluminum, or broken pieces of wood. Hunger, thus, is the common denominator, plainly evident when you ride the metro cable cart and look down to the houses and wonder what happens inside those colorful squares on rainy days, or even worse what happens there day to day? Most of the displaced people have been forced to find shelters in cities such as Medellin and Bogota, and since most of them have roots as peasants in rural settings they lack the skills necessary to live in urban environments, where little opportunity exists for them in the job market.At about noon, hundreds more joined the march, many who originated from the rural areas all across state of Antioquia. They came to march and remind the observers and the State that they are still displaced and hungry, and above all, disappointed with the lack of support and options for them to change their status and improve their quality of life. They are disappointed with the lack of judicial mechanisms have not succeeded in ensuring that their rights are not being violated and the lack of policies that in practical terms can guarantee adequate forms of reparation, reconciliation, and collective healing for the displaced.
It has been three years since the Justice and Peace Law of 2005 was passed and applied as a form of judicial way out for paramilitary demobilization. In the meantime those displaced because of the violence have been waiting for the victimizers to return the property and material goods--all that was lost through threats and violence.. Nonetheless, no real or effective form of reparation has been implemented . The victims of the violence that forced them to displace know that their relatives that were killed and buried in mass graves cannot be returned to them and that no form of reparation can bring back their dead; however, they at least expect to once again be able to live in their homes and receive guarantees to their life and safety. As of now, a shift in their current status seems like a distance possibility.
According to the Justice and Peace Division of the Attorney General’s office, only 793 millions of Colombian pesos have been turned in by the paramilitaries out of the almost 545,000 millions they committed themselves to return (http://www.terra.com.co/actualidad/articulo/html/acu13532.htm). Moreover, it seems quite ridiculous to even mention that they have only returned 10 vehicles, 5,166 livestock, and 99 houses that have been given to the State when we compare it to the almost 4 million hectares of land lost by the displaced population (without even mentioning the value of goods, property, and the family heritage, which is priceless). According to a study done by researches in the Andes University in Bogota, 94.% of the Colombian population lives under the poverty line and almost 75% of them are displaced (https://egresados.uniandes.edu.co/volver3/documentos/presentacion-ana-maria-ib.ppt).
As I stood there, a man about 50 years old man asked “Are you also displaced?“ He explained that he came from Argelia (in Antioquia) and that he and his family of three have been displaced for six years. They lost all their land, their livestock, and their crops. Now, they live in the outskirts of Medellin in conditions he described as “a cardboard box full of holes“.
The Asociasion Campesina de Antioquia (Peasant Association of Antioquia) invited FOR to observe the march as they find it important that the international community not ignore the internal crisis that defines the Colombian State. They want to make sure that the displaced people do not become more invisible than what they already are, given the current news of the government defeating the FARC and the release of the hostages, as they get lost in middle of the parapolitical scandals and the propaganda for Uribe´s next reelection. Displaced people are also a kind of hostage--a hostage that is held prisoner by poverty, by the chains manifested through the dangers they face day to day, by the illnesses and hunger chained to their bodies, and by the existing conflict that prevents them from safely returning to their land. They are held hostages in a society that does not make room for them to live a life with access to decent housing, healthcare, education, and sustenance.
Alongside FOR, stood Peace Brigades International and other non-governmental organizations. Nonetheless, the media coverage was practically non-existent, which only exemplifies the fact that such news are not a matter of importance to mainstream communication.
Please visit the video put together by the Communications Area of the Peasant Association of Antioquia (ACA): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNmCO_v63KA
