“You've said that agro-industrialization is very important and you've made a commitment to them. You emphasize the value of social and community organization, but Mr. President, there can be no agro-industrialization without the possibility of association, and there can be no association without social leaders. They are killing us, Mr. President.
The assault we have suffered has been brutal.
We demand a review of the collusion between the structures of the security forces and groups such as the FARC dissidents who have reconstituted the paramilitary project”.
The crimes committed in Arauca and throughout the country cannot continue to go unpunished."
On March 14, at the “Territorial Meeting of Economies for Life” held in Arauquita, Sonia López, leader of the Arauca social movement, once again denounced to her people, the international community and President Gustavo Petro the murders perpetrated by paramilitary groups, including so-called FARC dissidents and the Autodefensas Gaitanistas Colombia (AGC): linked to the EMC - Estado Mayor Central -] and the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC), in complicity with the Colombian military forces present on the territory.
In fact, since 2022, paramilitary violence has focused its criminal actions on people belonging to the Community Action Councils of Eastern Colombia, the José Antonio Galán Zorro National Peasant Association (ASONALCA), the Joel Sierra Human Rights Foundation, radio stations and community and cultural projects in the region, as well as the Peasant and Popular Interethnic Guard. A total of 9 people belonging to the associative network known as Movimiento de Masas de Centro Oriente were murdered. This terrifying situation is compounded by the murders of ex-members of the former FARC guerrilla group, who signed the peace agreement with the Colombian state.
This entire criminal wave was preceded by a campaign to stigmatize the regional social movement, orchestrated by prominent members of political parties such as Centro Democratico and major media outlets such as Caracol radio, part of the Spanish Prisa group. Recently, when the Arauca social movement presented a list of demands to the national government, calling for rights in education, health, the environment and better use of the financial resources generated by mining in their territory, journalists Laura Saavedra Martínez and Diana Giraldo of this media outlet wrote articles claiming that these organizations and their proposals were guided by the political wing of the ELN guerrilla group, which is present in the region.
These accusations are extremely serious, because in the regions where the insurgency that opposes the Colombian state is present, the civilian population is the victim of all kinds of violence at the hands of paramilitary groups and the military, who act jointly in the regions. Banishment, torture, damage to community projects and to the way of life of the population in these areas seem to be justified when the targets are accused of being a guerrilla social base. As in Cauca, Nariño and Chocó, communities in the east-central part of the country are deprived of the most basic rights, including the right to life, and state indolence and impunity are commonplace.
In the cases of Arauca and Casanare, it is particularly significant that acts committed by FARC - EMC dissidents, such as the attacks on the Joel Sierra Foundation house, the explosion of the community aqueduct and the assassinations, have become “normalized” and that large sectors of Colombian society and the international community look the other way when they occur. The recent assassination of Josué Castellanos, social leader of the community banana production project created by the people of Arauca as an alternative to prevent the establishment of the drug-trafficking economy in the region, was particularly painful for the region. It is important to underline that this fact, just like the assassination of Mayor Carmelina Yule in Cauca or the war against the Nasa people in the Southwest or the black or peasant communities, is led by FARC - EMC dissidents. They have also launched a military campaign against the associative fabric in the regions that oppose the implementation of projects associated with drug trafficking or mining practices that plunder their territories.
We call on President Gustavo Petro, who advocates making Colombia a global powerhouse of life and total peace, to respond as head of state with concrete measures to dismantle paramilitarism and protect the social fabric and popular leadership. In the specific case of the dissidents known as FARC - EMC, we cannot be equidistant. We need to be aware, both in Colombia and abroad, that this group is waging a campaign of extermination against communities that oppose their totalitarian plans to control society.
Red de Hermandad y Solidaridad con Colombia Internacional
REDHER