Accompaniment to Córdoba

A wide riverbed trail surrounded by steep rock walls. Delicious locally harvested rice. Lagoons and rivers met with lush green foliage. Homemade bee and sugarcane honey...
These were the sights and flavors experienced during a recent FOR accompaniment in early March to visit areas whose inhabitants have recently joined the Peace Community of San José.

One of the most dynamic and intriguing elements of the current Peace Community process is its expansion into new areas outside the district of San José de Apartadó and department of Antioquia. Specifically, families from four adjacent veredas in the neighboring department of Córdoba, including Naín (to the east of La Resbaloza), Alto Joaquín, Las Claras and Puerto Nuevo, have joined the Peace Community over the past two years.

A member from Alto Joaquín described the process: “We knew about the work of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, and the farmers in this region organized meetings to discuss the possibilities of joining. Then, Community members came to meet with us, to fully explain its principals. We feel much stronger and safer now that we are part of the Peace Community.”

During its first eleven years of existence, the members of the Peace Community shared a common history: displacement in 1996 from their farms and settlements in the district of San José de Apartadó, and then the subsequent struggle to return to their homes, be it to La Unión, La Esperanza or Mulatos. However, these new members from Córdoba are neither victims of that particular displacement nor relatives of the families that founded the Peace Community.

That is not to say they do not share a similarly tragic story. To the contrary, they do, albeit under different circumstances.


In the mid 1990s, the Colombian government authorized a massive hydroelectric project known as Urrá (after the name of the company, Urrá S.A.). Construction began in 1998, and this dam of the Sinú River flooded 7,400 hectares and displaced almost six thousand people. According to a Peace Community member from Las Claras: “This lot here where we are standing has been my family’s since I was a child. Then came Urrá and massive displacement. People were offered a very small amount of money for their homes; those that wouldn’t sell were threatened by paramilitaries. They killed lots of people. We displaced from here in 1995 to a town nearby. It was also dangerous there, and there was no work, so we returned here in 2003.” This plot of land is located on ground still above the reservoir, and is planted with various crops, such as rice, sugarcane and cacao. A wide variety of crops are planted in this region due to its incredibly rich soil.

However, since 2007, Urrá S.A. and the Colombian Ministry of Mines and Energy have urged the construction of another dam, known as the “Sinú River Project,” or Urrá II, which would inundate over 50,000 hectares, seven times as much as Urrá I. Last June, the Ministry of Environment denied the hydroelectric proposal, on grounds that the new reservoir would encroach into part of the protected Paramillo Natural Park. Other concerns include the adverse social consequences for the inhabitants of the area, which include not only Peace Community families, but also other farmers and indigenous Embera Katío communities. Nevertheless, the project’s proponents remain undeterred. Despite the Environmental Ministry’s ruling, the President of Urrá S.A. revealed this March that in order to begin construction as planned in 2011, he will appeal to the State Council for approval.


A resident of Puerto Nuevo told us that the farmers in the region fear being forcibly removed from their homes next year, and that “if they go ahead with Urrá II, about 100,000 families will be displaced.” This would significantly increase the number of the already almost 5 million internally displaced Colombians. It was the struggle to defend itself from displacement and violence that the Peace Community was founded thirteen years ago in San José. Now, the Peace Community extends its resistance against the encroachment of the armed groups and mega-projects across even more territory to encompass these areas in Córdoba.

Yet, many have already been threatened for deciding to organize themselves with the Peace Community. A youth from Las Claras told us, “I recently had to stand up to the Army and guerrillas and tell them that I am a Peace Community member and do not collaborate with nor share information with the armed groups.” In fact, Peace Community communiqués dated January 18th and February 21st record instances of Army soldiers in Naín and paramilitaries in Las Claras threatening civilians, respectively.

Still, throughout the four settlements we visited, common sentiments among the new community members were excitement and hope.

Members in Alto Joaquin said, “We are farmers, and want to work. This rich land gives life and food. We are happy to be part of this community because the Peace Community defends the rights of the peasant population. Before, when there were threats, we had to leave, and that was that.” According a man from Las Claras, however, “there is more security now due to the international support and accompaniment. When there are threats, internationals will bear witness and respond.” A man from Alto Joaquin added, “We hope that as the other farmers see how we work as a community, they will join as well.”

With the expansion into Córdoba, a new and exciting chapter of the Peace Community has begun! Stay tuned for more news about Urrá II and the courageous farmers of Naín, Alto Joaquín, Las Claras and Puerto Nuevo at www.forcolombia.org and www.cdpsanjose.org

Returning to Mulatos and La Resbaloza in 2010

Two years ago, the first major event I accompanied as an FOR volunteer in Colombia was the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó’s “return” to the veredas of Mulatos and La Resbaloza. (A vereda is a small rural district of dispersed rural settlements.) The farmers living there had originally been displaced in 1996, along with thousands of others throughout the country’s northwestern Urabá region, when paramilitaries swept the area in an attempted takeover of territory. The Peace Community began to return to these veredas in 2004, only to suffer the horrendous massacre, attributed to an army and paramilitary operation, of eight of its members on February 21, 2005. Three years later, the Peace Community attempted to return once again.

I remember vividly my first trip to Mulatos, on February 19, 2008. I had only a week earlier arrived in the Peace Community for the first time. The five-hour walk through hills and riverbeds to Mulatos from the settlement of La Unión where FOR’s team lives was brutal on my body, exhausting my legs and knees. Arriving at the site of the 2005 massacre, there was nothing more than a small chapel in what seemed the middle of the bush. In fact, this space to where community members had returned in 2004 was now totally overgrown with tall grasses. The area was subsequently cleared and prepared for the events that would take place two days later: a mass at the massacre site in Mulatos, and a commemoration event honoring those killed in La Resbaloza.

I made this first trip with my teammate at the time, Daniel Malakoff. He had been a FOR accompanier previously in 2005, and in the aftermath of the massacre remembered Mulatos as a desolate place. He commented how much had changed in the previous three years, in seeing various farmers along the trails, houses under construction, and the newly planted crops, such as corn. He told me that he perceived that the Peace Community had responded to the tragedy of 2005 with intense resilience and had become even stronger. (Read his Letter from the Field: http://forcolombia.org/monthlyupdate/feb2008/#letter)

Fast forward to 2010. The area that only two years ago was overgrown with weeds is now a settlement of its own: the Peace Village of Mulatos. In the proceeding weeks, Peace Community members from other veredas such as La Unión, La Cristalina, Alto Joaquín and Las Claras, had come to build the village. The new constructions were numerous: kiosks and homes, a kitchen and a dining hall, toilet and shower stalls.

Hundreds of people participated in the week-long commemoration of the 2005 massacre. Peace Community members were joined by representatives from other communities, such as indigenous Colombians from Cauca and Chocó, as well as internationals from Italy, Austria, France, Brazil, and the United States.

Community families have now returned to over ten veredas since its founding in 1997. Mulatos is emblematic of the community’s process, illustrating the constant obstacles it faces, where attempts to return are stalled through massacres and threats. Today, guerrillas, paramilitaries and army soldiers continue to pressure these farmers to submit to their command or to flee, yet the community remains vigilant and vows to return to and work their lands no matter how long it takes.

Community principles have evolved over time, as well. As explained by a member: “In the founding of the community, our priority was to return to and remain on our lands through nonviolent resistance. However, over the past two years, our principles have grown from simply not collaborating with any armed group to a focus on not replicating in any way the logic of the armed groups. In other words, to not simply reject violence in order to survive in the midst of war, but to work together even harder to develop a true social and economic alternative of peace. This has meant more harmony with the environment, such as cultivating our crops organically and building agricultural centers where we can harvest medicinal plants available in the region. We are continuing to evolve more and more into a true ‘community’ with the environment and with each other. This Peace Village in Mulatos is a focal point for this alternative vision.”

Many community members and non-members alike expressed similar feelings about the meaning of the gathering. In the words of an indigenous community leader, “learning about the history and resistance here makes me realize that peasants throughout Colombia face similar problems. The dynamic of the armed groups and multinational companies threatening to displace us from our lands is not unique to one place. This gathering shows us we are not alone; internationals are in solidarity with our resistance and your accompaniment increases our security.”

People expressed these feelings of togetherness and hope two years ago. Even more powerful is the extent to which the Peace Community has built upon this solidarity since then. A place where five years ago lay blood and dismembered bodies is now a peace village of remembrance and resistance.