Last weekend was one of those weekends where place and people combined to create a moment where you cant imagine being more comfortable.

We had planned the trip in September, when my friend Johanna and I were camping with some friends of hers and we were all commenting on how much we loved camping, but how rarely we did it.

Two months passed and despite being certain that his plans was going to go the way of most well intentioned plans made amongst people will a million commitments; I was sure it wasnt going to happen.

Lo and behold, hours after sending a reminder message, Johanna had suggested a place and Anita, Isaac, Mika and Juanita had all committed to going.

We ended up going to Villa de Leyva in Boyaca, a 4 hour trip north east of Bogota. It was rainy, it was cold and it was by most objective measures pretty shitty weather. However, me being the cold, damp weather person that I am, thought that the Grey skies contrasted with he green mountains serving as a background for the town of all white buildings was pretty damn gorgeous.

So we spent the weekend walking through the woods, seeing ponds turned a milky green-blue by the excess of copper sulfate and wondering how a place that receives so much rain can look so arid in some places.

The nights were spent drinking aguardiente, playing pool and then moving to the plaza where we enjpyed making a bit of a scene playing various games that adults dont normally play. It was one of he more fun nights I have had.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the weekend. I didnt have my camera, but these are from Mika and I am hoping that Johanna and Anita get theirs up soon.



From left to right: MIka, Anita, Isaac, Juanita, me. In front of the water fall we discovered.


One of the streets of Villa de Leyva


Anita and I walking up to the mountain path


Another street


the first brook we found on the mountain hike. I thought it was the coolest thing...until I walked a little further.


Mika with Villa de Leyva in the background


Isaac with Villa de Leyva in the background


Johanna and me on the way to the mountain


the hidden waterfall I found looking for a place to pee without falling off the cliff.


Mika and Isaac enjoying the perfect mushroom from Mario Kart


Town center

US involvment in Colombian scandals

Yesterday I mentioned the US involvement in the scandal surrounding the closure of the Colombian version of the CIA and FBI.

Here is the Washington Post article publish on August 20 on the findings.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/us-aid-implicated-in-abuses-of-power-in-colombia/2011/06/21/gIQABrZpSJ_story.html

Back to reality....

In the previous post I had mentioned talking about more personal, 'light-hearted material.' Well, Turns out that such an approach risks giving my mother a heart attack. So maybe this time around I'll focus again on the more work related topics. The switch is also motivated my the fact that this week, shit has kind of hit the fan.

Below is an excerpt taken from an incident brief released by the Colombian Government in 2005.

"On July 12, 1997, approximately one hundred members of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, AUC) landed at the San José de Guaviare airport. The Colombian Army allowed the planes to land and provided its trucks to transport the paramilitaries to Mapiripán. At dawn on July 15, 1997, more than 100 armed men surrounded Mapiripán by land and river. The paramilitaries wore clothing used exclusively by military forces, carried short- and long-range weapons whose use was restricted to the State, and used high-frequency radios. Upon arrival at Mapiripán, the paramilitary forces took control of the town, the communications, and the public offices, and proceeded to kidnap, kill, and intimidate the inhabitants. The Army collaborated in supplying munitions and communications. The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia concluded that the commanders of Brigade VII and of Mobile Brigade II demonstrated complete functional and operational inactivity despite knowing about the massacre.

The testimonies of the survivors indicate that on July 15, 1997, the AUC separated out 27 individuals who were tortured and dismembered by a member of the AUC known as "Mochacabezas." The paramilitaries stayed in Mapiripán from July 15 to 20, 1997, during which time they impeded the free movement of the municipality's inhabitants and continued to torture, dismember, eviscerate, and decapitate individuals and throw their remains into the Guaviare River. Once the crimes had been committed, the AUC destroyed much of the physical evidence, in order to obstruct the gathering of proof. The Mapiripán massacre was carried out with logistical support from and with collaboration, acquiescence, and omissions on the part of members of the Colombian Army. The Army's omissions included failing to cooperate with the judicial authorities who tried to reach the scene of the crime."

Why is it important now?

Because it is now at the center of a blame game between the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the international legal entity that makes recommendations to the Inter-American Court on Human Rights) and the Colombian state. This argument changes the focus of the horrible event from state sponsored violence, to numbers killed and faulty investigations and calls into question the international mechanisms for the protection of human rights.

After conducting an investigation into the crime, the Inter-American commission on human rights found that 50 people had been tortured, chopped up and thrown in the nearby river. It consequently ordered the Colombian state to pay millions of dollars in reparations to the victims' families...some of which actually has been paid.

Now, the Colombian Attorney General's office has re-investigated the crime using new data and demobilized paramilitary members that have admitted to participating the massacre and have found that there are at least 9 people who where reported as killed in the massacre but who are actually still living or died in other ways.

Juan Manuel Santos, the Colombian President, is now taking this case to the Organization of American States meeting and denouncing it as a flawed investigation that questions the credibility of the Inter-American Court on Human rights.

The Inter-American Court has replied saying that the State had always promoted the same witnesses and victims' testimonies as truth, even using them in future court cases, and that ultimately it is the responsibility of the state to conduct its own internal investigations regarding human rights violations.

It is important to never assume that any entity, including one designed to protect human rights, is incorruptible or infallible. However, I worry (maybe somewhat unnecessarily) that the government will use this to call into question the legitimacy of the Inter-American court system as a whole, thereby damaging the credibility of the institution whose ruling recognizing the validity of the CdP's rupture with the State we as accompaniers rely on heavily to legitimize the community's struggle.

Second, the Mapiripan event has been one of the events that most clearly shows the connection between the Colombian Armed forces and the paramilitaries in heinous massacres that often occurred over the last decade and a half. It would be heartbreaking if this new development were to detract from the guilt the State has for such links.

Third, this development comes at a time when it is finally starting to be realized that despite the fact that Santos represents a softer more enlightened discourse toward human rights, little has improved in terms of their actual protection.

(See also here. It is in Spanish, but the stat he opens with is that in the first semester of 2011, 38 human rights defenders have been killed-more than 6 per month)

I worry that this development used as fodder for the government to assert that civil society, human rights defenders included, can legitimately be excluded from future processes, like, for example a potential peace negotiations with the guerrilla. In other words, Santos says "Look what happened when I gave you respect and gave you space. Now I have no reason to trust you."

We'll see what happens.

In other news, the maximum leader of the FARC, Alfonso Cano, was killed this week in another step in the state strategy at destructing the guerrilla group through attacking its leaders. Makes sense, except for the fact that the guerrillas can replace leaders as if they were toothpicks. Plus, it seems to make equal sense to worry bout the decentralization and scattering that occurs when you cut off the head. Here is an article in English about the topic.

Also, one has to kind of think about how perverse it is that on a global scale (think Osama bin Laden or Gadhafi), societies are treating the deaths of iconic people as momentous victories that should be celebrated. Nothing like hoping for peace through celebrating murder.

Finally, the last few weeks has also seen the official 'dismantling' of the Colombian intelligence agency, the DAS, whose head has been convicted to 25 years of prison for leading the organization through a program of illegal wire tapping and participation in the persecution and murder of human rights defenders and judges. Interestingly, though not too surprisingly, wikileaks has shown that the US embassy had a significant hand in funding some of the worst DAS sections. With over 90% of the current DAS employees keeping their jobs in some other government sector, it is difficult to see this as a real change in how the government as a whole works. Like most things, I guess we'll see.

Completely unrelated to Human Rights

So I have made a promise to myself to write two blog entries a month at least. It would be nice to be more, but we'll start with this modest goal first. And, at the suggestion of a few people, I am try to start using this a bit as a journal as well as a political blog.

While it inst very interesting, what has been on my mind recently are medical school interviews, and medical school in general. Start with med school in general because it ties in a bit with my work here. It is amazing how I feel like my comfort level Bogota has skyrocketed recently. No longer do I look at this city and see a purely temporary holding spot until my real life begins. I have a rhythm. I have friends. I no longer feel like the pollution is killing me. Bogota no longer looks like a gray, ugly city and it's transportation system no longer seems like a maze made to confuse everyone.

Rather I look at Bogota and I see the incredibly acitivity that happens just under the surface. I appreiate the fact that within 10 blocks of my house I have two very active social/cultural centers organized by people ranging from ardent anarchists to progressive professionals. The pollution probably still is killing me, but ive gotten use to it, and now I see the transportation as one that values flexibility and convenience over rules and standards.

In fact, that is the coolest thing about Bogota. Here a person still has influence over things just because she or he is a person...with the ability to talk, to push and convince. Here rules are still just rules, and there is never no option. The flexibility of life here is incredible.

Anyway, the point is that I am starting to feel like I have a place here. I mean, I went out and bought house plants.

This is making the future seem a bit less certain than before. Med school has been the next step since sophomore year of college (except for a stint in Seattle where I thought that dream was over) I mean it still is and I still plan on coming home in the Spring, I am just enjoying the feeling of finally planting roots. Though it is a bit nerve wracking, the combination of planting roots while I am still telling myself that I am leaving in 5 months. It is stupid. But it is making life so much better.

I mean, maybe it is time to get away from the idea that it is necessary to study medicine in the States. Maybe it is time to act my age and push in a different direction, a direction that not only talks about a globalized world, but lives it. Maybe I should accept that the comparative advantage of going to school in the US is getting closer and closer to being based almost exclusively on reputation. Plus, there are serious advantages of going to medical school in a country where they still teach doctors how to use instinct rather than depend completely on an MRI, or where the doctor patient relationship isnt burdened by such an incredibly complex health care system.

To me, one can learn the basic sciences anywhere, and I think anyone would be very hard pressed to say that doctors in the US are better clinical teachers than in other countries. Finally, I can assure you that living in a developing country you see a hell of a wider variety of cases to learn from. The only thing that Colombia lacks that the US has are machines...and they aren't even very far behind on that.

In the end though, giving up the chance to study in the US to study in Bogota would take more courage than I could ever muster. The reputation, the guilt, the what ifs would be just too much.

then again, I havent even been interviewed yet. this post might be getting a bit ahead of myself.

Powerful Slideshow of the Peace Community

Obreros de la PAZ / Comunidad de Paz de San José de Apartadó from Agustin Fernandez Gabard on Vimeo.

Above is a slide show created by an Uruguayn photographer, Augustin Fernandez, whom I had the pleasure to met while he was doing his project in La Holandita. I find it moving, mainly because the pictures seem to do a good job of capturing the strength, resilience and commitment of the community.

Ive recently be in the throws of trying to decide of whether or not to spend a portion or all of my last two months back in the community. The desire to be back in the mix of things working directly with the community and living again in the country-side is strong. However, there is a part of me that feels that if I give up on the last two months in the Bogota office, I would be doing to myself what I wish I hadn't done when I left the community 4 months early: cutting off the time where, after 6 months of getting used to the Bogota office work, getting to know our partners, and understanding the issues at hand, I would actually have a good enough grasp on my job where I could actually start being a real player at the table.

In the end, a combination of my desires and team logistics has me staying in Bogota until my time with FOR is up in the end of March. I am sad that I wont get a chance to reconnect with the community and try to deepen some relationships, but I am glad that I am sticking to one thing long enough to actually feel competent at it.

Goin back into the mix of things

My coworker, Gina, and I met the audiovisual and communications team from the ACA in their office at 10:30 on August 2^nd. Maricella is a tall, dark-haired teenager with broad features, perfect skin, a perfect smile and eyes that always seemed to be smirking at you with that ‘you don’t know shit’ look. She came from a community outside of Dabeiba with her good friend Dyionsys, a short, stocky 15 yr old who combined her grasp of the seriousness of the situation of violence facing her community with a bubbly, flirtatious personality typical of most 15 yr old girls. The only male student, Oscar hailed from a different community in Antioquia, San Francisco, which, as Oscar is quick to tell me from the get go, is a community that has suffered massive displacement (more than half the population) as a result of several killings, threats and presence of different armed actors in the last year. While all three obviously have a passion in documenting their communities’ experience, Oscar seems to be the most serious about it, jumping at the smallest opportunity to handle the camera or carry the fanny pack with all the supplies, always with laugh much bigger than one thought possible from such a skinny teenager.

These three students are studying documentary-film making under the direction of ACA’s veteran film makers, Gustavo and Carlos. (check out some of their films…though in Spanish, you can still get an good idea of their quality and signifance) Both of these teachers are well read, well travelled activists who are skeptical of any kind of authority and though staunchly anti-US, are able to differentiate between the disastrous Colombia-policies of the US government, and the citizens, like Gina and I, who are trying do our part in promoting change. That does not mean, however, that they let us off the hook; we are the only way the US government will change. It is our responsibility to get things moving. Naturally, I think that their self-righteousness is getting a bit out of control, until I remember all the work and difference they are making through their documentaries and audio-visual school.

The seven of us cram into two of Colombia’s typically tiny taxi cabs and get to the terminal with more than enough time to catch the overnight bus heading from Medellin to Popoyan. After an uneventful 10 hour bus ride, Gustavo wakes Gina and me up telling us, “it’s time to get off.” Thinking we were at some bus terminal in Popoyan, Gina and I were a bit surprised when we stepped on to the side of the Pan American highway amidst North Cauca’s rolling-hill countryside. Noticing our surprise, Gustavo told us to hold tight and not to worry. Sure enough after about 5 minutes, and without any phone calls or other communication, two motorcycles pull up along-side us and introduce themselves as Felipe and Gildardo from the Indigenous radio station Pu’yamat based in nearby Santander de Quilichao. As quickly as they appeared, they took off, assuring us that taxis would be by to pick us up. Within two minutes, two taxis came speeding up the high way in the opposite direction, honked twice,did a fast U-turn and slammed on their breaks right before that ran the curb and into our baggage.

Soon enough we were in the Pu’yamat’s office right of the main plaza of Santander de Quilichao. Judging from the recent news, this city has been anything but a pleasant place to live. Five bombings in one month, one would think, would turn any small town into something of a desolate ghost town. This was not Santander, however. Santander is by far the prettiest small town I have yet to see in Colombia. The plaza is full of people and even fuller of huge trees that must have been protected for decades. The weather is perfect with enough sun to keep things warm, but not too much to make things hot. Walking across the plaza, I couldn’t help but quickly forget that this pleasant town has been some of the worst violence (or at least, the most publicized) the country as seen in this summer.

Unfortunately, we only had time to eat a bit of lunch, where we met up with a Colombian who manages the Red Italiana in Colombia and an Italian traveler looking through Colombia for inspiration for her grad school thesis. Together we caught the next bus to the village of Guavito, our final destination, where the ACA was going to participate in the final ceremonies of the Rodolfo Maya film festival as well as the graduation of 20 or so students from the ACIN’s 1.5 year-long audio-visual school.

The ACIN is the (Association of Indigenous Councils of North Cauca) and is the human rights organization that fights for the recognition, respect and protection of the Nasa peoples of North Cauca. Among other programs, they have a 1.5 year-long ‘university’ where they teach activists, both local and non-local, how to make documentaries about their experiences. The idea is that such education will empower people to tell their own stories rather than wait for wealthier documentarians from the US or Europe to come in and tell the story for them. As we all know from the Michael Moore movies, documentaries are one of the most effective ways of eliciting emotion and motivating people to act around an issue. Furthermore, raising such consciousness is one of the best ways toward non-violent protection since no government likes to be known as a human rights violator. Thus, through making their own documentaries, activists, indigenous people and farmers are participating in their own protection and their own solution to their community’s problems.

Guavito is a village in the Lopez Adentro reserve which is a part of the Nasa Indigen

ous community. The Nasa people are inspiring for many reasons, but one of the most significant for me was their Indigenous Guard. The indigenous guard in North Cauca is a civil-guard that is composed of up to 7,000 men, women and children. They are armed only with canes decor

ated with ribbons represented dead ancestors and mother-nature, this civil guard is charged with being present when combat happens or armed groups encroach on civilian territory. Like International Accompaniers, the hope is that through reminding armed actors of human rights and that they are watching and ready to react in the case of violations, they can dissuade armed actors from endangering civilian populations. Most villages have a contingent and those who don’t are monitored by a neighboring village’s guard. Every guard contingent has a guard leader who is equipped with a walkie talkie used for quick notification of events occurring anywhere in the zone. They maintain open dialogue with all sides of the conflict and thus have personal contacts with higher ups of all the armed groups. As such, they were much better prepared than us to respond in emergencies because we have no contact, and thus no dissuasion, with the guerrilla forces.

The guardia was present every day of the festival, always at the end of the driveway making sure to check everyone who entered and left. Being white foreigners, Gina and I weren’t allowed to leave after 6pm. It felt a little weird to be enclosed somewhere, but hearing every day of another murder happing close by, it turned out being more than a bit comforting.

With this indigenous guard there to do any security accompaniment better than we ever could, we realized that we had been invited along more to see how people in this part of the country are organizing themselves and resisting the violence in their way. While we had missed almost the entire actual festival, we were there for the part in which they discussed how they plan on taking this event back to their communities to continue the fight in their respective regions. There were times when things became uncomfortable as the ACIN started asking for commitments from people on what they were going to do back home. They knew that while all the attendees were serious about the movement, they had lives so complicated and so full of uncertainty that unless they did not come up with concrete ideas and action plans there and then, the actions would be sacrificed to raising a family, getting medical treatment or establishing a new home.

Eliciting these proposals was a bit like pulling teeth and required much prodding and encouragement by the ACIN. However, in the end, they filled several wipe boards with small, accomplishable ideas such as organizing local community musicians into a resistance concert, or interviewing 3 or four community members about their personal struggles with Colombian violence. Individually, none was very grand. But that was the point: small, local actions that are initiated and participated in by local people have a much more long –lasting and personal effect than something that reaches the entire nation or even the world but isn’t connected to any local community.

There are certainly times when I have been starting at my computer for 5 hours in one day where I forget what it is like to feel the energy of people organized in pacific resistance to violence. Those days are wrought with headaches. However, it is trips such as this one to Guavito, where I get to know fellow young people like Gustavo and Oscar and see them so impassioned by the idea of empowering a younger generation like Marcelli, Dionysis y Oscar to take control of their own story, that rejuvenate the mind and remind me of how important it is that I do what I can as an international to help that the individual Colombian movements for peace continue.

Gettin some fresh air....and fresh start

Living in the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado, I was surrounded by people who’s mere existence was an act of non violent resistance to Colombia’s human rights and violence issues. As my teammate who just returned from the Community after 13 months attests too, being in such an environment, constantly stimulated and inspired by the people, can also wear you

down, dull your sensibilities and make you lose a bit of that ‘awe’ that we all feel in the beginning and after we leave.

As I move into my 5^th month accompanying from the Bogota offices, I have a hard time relating to my coworkers insight. To me, there are times where I want nothing more than to feel like I am back in the middle of the struggle. In these moments, the modernity, luxury, and ease of life in Bogota seem to almost wash

away any sign of conflict, struggle and resistance. If it weren’t for the mountains, pollution, and Spanish, I would forget that I wasn’t back in the States.

That does not mean that I don’t appreciate working in the Bogota office. Here we are fortunate enough to have access to people and resources those in the community would never dream of having. Within a day I can read four news papers, talk to a human rights lawyer working on some of the most high profile cases in the country and have a meeting with 5 other accompaniment organizations in which, thanks to our joint-broad coverage, we can effectively analyze the changes and differences in paramilitary structure throughout the country. It is an inspiring rush in its own right. However, one cannot evade the sense that we are all outsiders talking about things others are experiencing while we sit in front of computers and write internal documents, organize files and hope that we are being effective.

It is with this in mind that I have appreciated so much a few of the trips Ive gone on recently. First, I got to accompany the Asociacion Campesina de Antioquia (the Antioquia farmers Association) to a village in North Cuaca, one of the most several affected regions by the war. Then I was privileged enough to accompany a large, intense, enthusiastic and accomplished group of former FOR volunteers as they made their rounds to the CdP’s different villages. (for a great description of this, see: http://forusa.org/blogs/liza-smith/homecomings-far-away-places/9491) Finally, and though this took place back in May, I accompanied the Red Juvenil to the most violent barrios of Medellin while they did one of their regular peace and non-violence workshops with children, was one of the most inspiring acts of resistance I have seen since moving to the big city.

Considering the importance of the above events, I would like to take the following posts to highlight them and try to explain in more depth why they impacted me so significantly.