April Speaking Tour

Dear friends,

In just a few hours, I’ll be flying from Bogota to Los Angeles to arrange the final details for Nidia Castellanos’ Northwest speaking tour: “Women Resisting War in Colombia” (see schedule at end of message).

Nidia is a single mother of three children who is risking her life to defend human rights here in Colombia. She is the secretary general of the Arauca Peasant Association (ACA), which promotes organic agriculture and defends the rights of its members and their families. ACA has been severely repressed by the Colombian government and has also been attacked by the guerrillas.

Luz Perly Cordoba, the founding president of ACA, was imprisoned for “rebellion” in 2004 and now lives in exile. Jose Caicedo, the following president, went into hiding after an arrest order was issued against him for rebellion in 2007. Carlos Cabrera, a previous secretary general, was killed by the guerrillas in November 2008.

“Defending the rights of small farmers and their families in our state of Arauca means facing a lot of risk,” said Nidia. “I’m willing to suffer those consequences because I want a better future for my children – Melisa, Camila and Brandon.”

“We hope that the Obama administration will represent a change in U.S. policy towards our country,” continued Nidia. “Colombia doesn’t need any more guns and bombs - there are already enough to kill all of us. We’re also aware of the serious economic problems in the U.S. Instead of spending your tax dollars on more weapons, that money could be used to create jobs and support health care and education – in Arauca, as well as Montana.”

The U.S. government is providing Colombia with more than $1 million per day in military aid. Some of that aid is used to protect Occidental Petroleum’s oilfield and pipeline in Arauca – which produce and transport 100,000 barrels per day. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have repeatedly documented the human rights abuses committed by the Colombian military.

We hope you’re able to join us for one of the presentations. Please also help us spread the word about Nidia’s speaking tour.

In love and solidarity,

Scott

Monday, April 6 – Helena, Montana

7 P.M. – Wiegand Amphitheater, Simperman Hall 101-202, Carroll College

Tuesday, April 7 – Billings

7 P.M. – St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, 180 24th St. West

Wednesday, April 8 – Red Lodge

7 P.M. – Regis Cafe, 206 16th St.

Thursday, April 9 – Bozeman

7 P.M. - Strand Union Building 235, Montana State University

Monday, April 13 – Hamilton

7 P.M. - Hamilton Library, 306 State Street

Tuesday, April 14 – Arlee

6:30 P.M. – The Hangin’ Art Gallery, 11 Hwy. 93

Wednesday, April 15 – Kalispell

7 P.M. – Blake Hall Board Room 140, Flathead Valley Community College

Thursday, April 16 – Missoula

7 P.M. – North Underground Lecture Hall

Monday, April 20 – Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and Spokane, Washington

Noon – Todd Hall, Molstead Library, North Idaho College

7 P.M. – Wolff Auditorium, Jepson Center, Gonzaga University

Tuesday, April 21 – Ellensburg

7 P.M. – Room TBA, Central Washington University

Wednesday, April 22 – Bellingham

Noon – World Issues Forum, Fairhaven College Auditorium

7 P.M. – Whatcom Human Rights Task Force, 13 Prospect St.

Thursday, April 23 – Twisp

7 P.M. – Confluence Gallery

Monday, April 27 – Portland, Oregon

7 P.M. – Portland Mennonite Church, 1312 SE 35th Ave.

Tuesday, April 28 – Corvallis

Time and room TBA, Oregon State University

Wednesday, April 29 – Eugene

Time and location TBA

Free at last!

Dear friends,

My friend Flor Diaz was released from the Arauca City prison last month and was finally able to return to her home here in Arauquita. We went out on the Arauca River with her youngest children, Viviana and Fernando, on March 10 to watch the herons returning to roost for the evening. There were hundreds of herons in the trees along the river and it was wonderful to enjoy that beauty and freedom with her.

Flor spent three years and four days in prison for “rebellion.” She was the secretary general of the Arauca Peasant Association and she told me that she was imprisoned because of her work in support of human rights. “I can’t ignore the suffering of others,” she said.

Marcela, her oldest daughter, was 18 years old when Flor was detained by the secret police on February 14, 2006. Marcela had to assume the responsibility for her three siblings: Viviana (who was just 8 years old), Fernando and Edwin. “It was very hard when they would call me and tell me there wasn’t any food in the house,” Flor said. “I would ask myself, ‘What can I do?’”

Flor worked for 14 years as a health practitioner in the rural communities of Arauca and also served as a catechist. She continued with her vocations while she was in prison. She would care for the other prisoners when they were ill, and she also helped organize prayer and mass.

“Suffering makes you strong,” Flor said. “If you’ve never suffered, you can’t be strong. I would get very disappointed when I received bad news about my case. I would argue with God: ‘You abandoned me! I don’t want anything more to do with you!’ But then I would remember the gift of my children.”

Flor’s first grandchild, Camila, was born on December 20, 2006. “I saw her for the first time on January 21, 2007,” said Flor. Marcela would take Camila to visit Flor in prison every three months. “For the first two years of her life, ‘Grandmother’s house’ was the largest mansion in Arauca,” Marcela said jokingly.

Being in prison for three years was a very hard experience but it’s also an adjustment being outside of prison after all that time. “I couldn’t see long distance,” Flor said, because there aren’t any open views in the prison. “I also wasn’t used to the noise in town. All I heard in my cell was the sound of the fan.”

Flor told me about a conversation she had recently with a fellow prisoner who had also just been released. They talked about the process of adjustment. Flor said to him, “I’m not doing well either (she’s unemployed and in debt), but I am free.”

As we were alongside the river, Flor explained “Oil and war are the cause of poverty here. What do we get from supplying the war machine?: widows and poverty. We’re going to stop supplying that machine. It already has enough. Let’s look at the situation of poverty and invest that money to meet the needs of the people.”

In love and solidarity,

Scott

Armed transportation stoppage

Dear friends,

The “Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army” (FARC) declared an armed transportation stoppage here in the state of Arauca that is causing hardship for the people they claim to be defending. FARC guerrillas called the transport companies on March 16 and threatened to burn their vehicles if they didn’t obey the order to halt transportation.

I’m currently in the town of Arauquita – which lies along the highway that runs through the north of Arauca. The route to Saravena (35 miles west) was the first to be suspended early on the morning of March 16. The last taxi for Arauca City (65 miles east) left town around 2:30 that afternoon. Two armed men on a motorcycle halted a bus on the highway that day and forced it to turn back.

There are no longer any taxis circulating in Arauquita. The motorized canoes that take people across the Arauca River to La Victoria in Venezuela have also been suspended. School bus service in the towns of La Esmeralda and Fortul was suspended this morning due to threats from the FARC. Local stores are running out of fruit and vegetables, and the remaining food is increasing in price because of the scarcity.

Defense Minister Juan Santos flew to Arauca City on March 16 for a public meeting about the security situation in Arauca. Government authorities decided to fine the transport companies that are refusing to risk their drivers and vehicles during the stoppage. The military and police also announced that they were launching “Plan Meteor” to prevent the guerrillas from paralyzing transportation.

FARC guerrillas have burned a cargo truck and a tanker truck, halted a vehicle on the Arauca-Tame highway and placed it across the roadway blocking traffic, attacked a tractor-trailer, and also attacked a caravan of oilfield workers.

The military and police launched the “Arauca Moves” plan on March 17. The plan consists of armed escort for transportation caravans. One caravan of vehicles leaves Arauca City every morning for Arauquita, Saravena, Fortul and Tame. Another caravan travels daily from Tame to Arauca City. The caravans are accompanied by a large contingent of soldiers, police and secret police. Three of the caravans have been attacked by the FARC.

The United Nations’ World Food Program planned to deliver food supplements for pregnant women and nursing mothers, and children at risk of malnutrition, in Arauquita on March 19. The delivery was cancelled because the food packets couldn’t be brought here due to the transportation stoppage.

According to United Nations’ reports, FARC commanders ordered the “Black March” campaign (which includes the stoppage in Arauca) to commemorate the death of three of their top leaders in March 2008. Raul Reyes, the second-in-command, was killed along with 25 other people when his camp inside Ecuador was bombed by the Colombian military on March 1. Ivan Rios was killed on March 3 by his own bodyguard, who then cut off Rios’ hand to present to the government as proof to collect the reward money. Manuel Marulanda, the legendary leader of the FARC, died of natural causes on March 26 – after fighting against the Colombian government for more than 50 years.

The vast majority of people here in Arauquita have no idea why the FARC is imposing this transportation stoppage – they just want it to end soon. According to those same UN reports, the stoppage is going to continue until March 30.

In love and solidarity,

Scott

Letter to Montana Congressional Delegation--Colombia

Dear Senators Baucus, Tester, and Representative Rehberg,

As advocates for sensible, just and humane US foreign policies ,and residents of the great state of Montana, we would like to draw your attention to the issue of U.S. involvement in Colombia and ask that you consider the human rights impact of U.S. policy as you determine your position concerning upcoming funding requests.

Colombia is caught in a complex web of violence resulting in the most severe humanitarian crisis in the hemisphere. Approximately 3 million people have been forced to flee their homes in recent years, and human rights violations continue by all armed actors. (as documented by Human Rights Watch). Since the inception of Plan Colombia in 2000, the U.S. has supported a military solution to Colombia’s armed conflict and illegal drug trade, which are in many cases interrelated. Over 80 percent of nearly 5 billion in U.S. assistance has gone directly to Colombian military and police forces but the war continues unabated and there has been no reduction of the availability of Colombian drugs on U.S. streets. Despite the many destructive consequences of U.S. policy in Colombia and the drastic failure of the War on Drugs, Plan Colombia has not changed. Recently, members of the Colombian government and the Uribe administration’s cabinet have been implicated in secret support of death squads.

We urge you, as our representative in Congress, to shift the U.S. focus in Colombia from funding the military, which has been implicated in human rights abuses, to assisting in negotiations for a lasting peace. We would ask that you support all legislative efforts to direct funding toward increased alternative development programs, judicial reform and aid for internally displaced persons, including Afro-Colombian and indigenous populations. Rather than the ineffective, often indiscriminate and inhumane aerial herbicide spraying, we must work to reduce demand at home and support programs to move Colombian farmers away from illicit crop production.

We further believe that in light of the Colombian governments poor record regarding its close ties to those implicated in the persecution, harassment and even murder of union leaders, social justice activists, and community leaders, as well as their failure to improve investigations and prosecution of these crimes, the US must not sign the Colombia FTA. The US must demand accountability from its trading partners.

As your constituents, we encourage you to help seek a new direction for U.S. policy in Colombia, one which is based on respect for human rights and justice.

Thank you for your consideration of this important issue.


Sincerely,

Summer Language Exchange and Accompaniment

Originally, when I was thinking through my learning objectives for students when traveling to Spanish-speaking regions of the world, I wanted their experience to be more meaningful than your run-of-the-mill museum/castle-visiting-tour. I wanted to bring students to regions of the world that starkly contrasted with theirs and to make a central component of these experiences socially-conscious travel. With trips to Chiapas, Mexico in February of 2008 through Witness for Peace, and a more recent trip to Nicaragua last November through Global Exchange, I was able to accomplish a great deal of what I had hoped for as students were challenged to engage in economic, political, social and cultural issues. However, even as I found that what I was doing with students was unique among most high school experiences, I realized I wanted to go beyond this level of challenge for students engaged in the act of learning.

These two delegations of students to Chiapas and Nicaragua were amazing experiences for the students and me. It is evident in their successful community presentations around Missoula in schools, churches and the University of Montana, that they learned a great deal about the economics, politics, history and culture of Latin America. Two of the students who participated on these delegations are newly inaugurated board members with CAJA!

However, I believe there exists another level of learning and participation for us that goes beyond the experiences Global Exchange and Witness for Peace can provide. One of my goals is to critique the idea that travel experiences, even “socially-conscious” ones, should be viewed by the participants as a product to be consumed. Secondly, both Global Exchange and Witness for Peace presented our delegations to the communities of Nicaragua and Chiapas as consumers, albeit “fair” consumers learning about the advantages of Fair Trade over Free Trade. In both cases, we gave our money and in return we received an “experience” (i.e. a product) to “witness” firsthand the effects of global economics, U.S. foreign policy, etc. In return, we committed to telling our/their story upon return, which included a plea to our consumer society to buy Fair Trade.

From June 19-July12, 2009, I will be co-leading a group of 10 Montanans (5 graduating seniors, 3 returning seniors, 1 graduating U. of Montana student and my twin-sister who will be graduating from Carroll College in May) to Chiapas, Mexico for the first-ever Summer Language Exchange in the Zapatista community of Oventic, Chiapas, Mexico. Big Sky High School senior, Gabriel Doherty, will be co-leading this group as he approached me four months ago offering to make his co-direction his high school Senior Project.

It is my contention, that while this kind of travel is certainly valuable, it is through the act of accompaniment that learning goes beyond the intellectual absorption of ideas (including “walking a mile in another’s shoes”). Accompaniment, instead, embodies the concept of mutual aid. In this case, the students and the Zapatistas are pushed to stay open to divergent ideas and accompany each other as they work through the real lived history of their respective moments in time. The Zapatista language school does not provide a structure for learning, but instead expects learning to be self-generated (an aspect of their school that has frustrated misinformed revolutionary travelers). Again, their expectation is that if one is going to learn, they need to begin by asking what it is they want to learn, and no one will be there to prod one to ask.

The language school in Oventic offers Spanish and Tzotzil. I will be studying Tzotzil and the students will study Spanish. Our daily lessons consist of only a couple of hours of morning grammar and an hour of afternoon activity, while the biggest challenge provided in Oventic, as many who have gone through this experience claim, is figuring out what to do with oneself for the rest of each day. The Zapatistas are inviting us to generate for ourselves what we will learn. At the same time, our presence in their community for the three weeks provides much needed accompaniment, as U.S. military aid has resulted in the increased militarization of Mexico in general and Chiapas in particular. Moreover, we must also recognize that it is we, U.S. Americans, who could benefit a great deal from the accompaniment of Zapatistas; having their support as we face our own struggle for justice at home in the U.S. Instead of reinscribing the global economic order by using our economic privileges to consume one more product (even if those products are “greener and fairer”) we must, as is the mission of CAJA, “seek to fundamentally alter the unfair distribution of wealth, power and resources.” Accompaniment transcends the deficiency of consuming our way out of our current predicaments by doing our transformation. “We need to walk together. We need to do history together. We need to journey side by side, confronting whatever comes” (Staughton Lynd, Wobblies and Zapatistas).

Becoming a godparent

Dear friends,

My friends Alba and Eulices asked me to be the godfather for their son Kuss Bryan, who was baptized on December 8 (photo below). It was a joy and an honor to become part of their family that day.

Alba is an amazingly strong and resilient person. Her left shoulder was shattered in the bombing of Santo Domingo in December 1998 when she was 16 years old, her father was killed by FARC guerrillas in March 2006, and her spouse Eulices was imprisoned during the mass arrest in Fortul in August 2006.

Residents of Santo Domingo were holding a bazaar on December 13, 1998 to raise funds for their community. Planes and helicopters began circling overhead and the people gathered on the highway that runs through town, waving white cloths to indicate that they were civilians. Two cluster bombs were dropped alongside the highway – killing 17 people (including seven children) and wounding 25 others. Yesterday was the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the bombing.

Shrapnel from the bombs tore into Alba’s shoulder and into the right leg of her sister, Xiomara. As we sat in their kitchen after the baptism, they began talking about that day. “We’re lucky to be alive” said Alba. Xiomara then showed me the large scar on her upper leg.

Wilson Garcia, their father, was the community president. “There wasn’t a phone in Santo Domingo,” said Alba, “so he went to Betoyes (when the planes began flying overhead) to call the Red Cross. He saw us as he was coming back and we were leaving on the truck with the wounded. He didn’t know which one of us he should attend to first.”

The cluster bombs were manufactured in the U.S. and the coordinates for the bombing were given by U.S. crew members operating a surveillance plane for AirScan. Occidental Petroleum (based in Los Angeles) contracted AirScan (based in Florida) to provide security for the pipeline that transports oil from Occidental’s Cano Limon oilfield in the state of Arauca to the Caribbean coast. I found myself thinking about those connections as I looked at the scar on Xiomara’s leg.

I met Wilson my first day here in Saravena in June 2004. I was impressed by his soft-spoken manner and deep commitment to his community. He told me what had happened to Alba and Xiomara, and it was obvious that he loved them both very much. Two years later, on March 22, 2006, Wilson was killed by the FARC. As Alba and Xiomara talked to me about their father, tears welled up in their eyes.

Alba gave birth to her first child, Kuss, on December 1, 2005. Eight months later, Eulices was arrested along with 15 other people in Fortul. I met Eulices in Arauca City when I traveled there with a human rights lawyer, two days after the arrests, to visit the prisoners. I met Alba two weeks later when she came to the Joel Sierra Human Rights Foundation office in Saravena to discuss his case.

Eulices was charged with rebellion and terrorism, and the prosecutor’s office alleged that he was an ELN militia member and recruiting for the FARC – not a very plausible accusation given the fight between those two guerrilla groups in Arauca. He was in prison on Kuss’ first birthday and he was finally released on June 9, 2007.

After Kuss was baptized, Eulices turned to me and called me “Compadre” (the godfather of my child). During the reception in their home, Alba also started calling me Compadre. I expressed my appreciation to them for inviting me to be Kuss’ godfather and Alba responded, “We couldn’t think of a better person.”

In love and solidarity,

Scott

Death of a Friend

Dear friends,

My friend Carlos Cabrera was killed in Arauquita on November 28. He was forcibly removed from his home, taken to the outskirts of town, and then shot and killed. He was the secretary general of the Arauquita Displaced Persons Association, which represents people who have been forced to flee from their homes because of the violence. He had a spouse and two young daughters, and it appears that he was killed by ELN guerrillas.

The situation here in the state of Arauca is deteriorating rapidly. The week before Carlos was killed, an explosive was set off in the entrance of the social organizations building in Saravena – shattering windows on the first and second floors. A fragmentation grenade was thrown over the front gate of the Saravena Community Water Company on November 25 – causing slight damage to the exterior of the building. Eight people were killed, and two people were wounded, between November 23 and 29 in Arauca (total population is less than 300,000 people).

The two guerrilla groups in Arauca (FARC and ELN) have been fighting against each other for the past three years, and that conflict is worsening. Both groups have targeted civilians that they view as supporting the other side. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands have had to flee from their homes in the countryside.

I traveled in a bus filled with Carlos’ friends from Arauquita to Fortul for the wake and funeral on November 30. I met his spouse Luz Mila and their two daughters – Luz Linney (8 years old) and Clara Lisbet (3 years old).

I was overwhelmed by the intelligence and insight of Luz Linney. She came up to me and very politely asked if she could ask me a question. She wanted to know where I was from and I responded by asking if it looked to her like I was from Colombia – which elicited a smile and laughter.

She asked me later on why I was taking so many photos and if I was a reporter. I told her that I’m somewhat like a reporter in that I send reports to people in the United States about life here in Arauca.

The next day, she sat down next to me and said, “Yesterday was hard. Today is better...How have things been going for you?” She then asked if people in Colombia receive my reports. She has relatives in Bogotá who weren’t able to attend the funeral and she was concerned that they would see the photos. “If they see the photos, they’ll be very sad,” she told me.

She then asked to see the photos. Some of the images reflect intense pain and sadness, and at one point I told her we could look at the photos some other time. “Let’s keep going,” she replied.

After we looked at all the photos, she said “You didn’t get a photo of my uncle when he was crying so hard.” I replied that I try to take a few photos that show people’s emotions but I also try to respect their privacy (a balance that is difficult to achieve). She seemed to understand because she said, “Some of the photos are sad, some are happy, and some are neither one nor the other.” We then looked at a few of the photos in reverse order as she told me which were sad, happy, or neither one.

The conversation with Luz Linney took place in the home of Maria Ruth (where I stay in Arauquita). Maria Ruth and Carlos were close friends, and she is very concerned that she and her spouse Armando could also be targeted by the ELN. Maria Ruth is the Arauquita representative of the Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, a member of the Arauquita municipal council, and a leader of the Democratic Alternative Pole opposition party. She traveled to Montana and the Northwest for a speaking tour in April. Maria Ruth and her family will be leaving Arauca for a while because of the increasing threat against them.

In love and solidarity,

Scott