The peace community of San José de Apartado was created in 1997 by five hundred displaced villagers from seventeen different towns in the wider region, following a wave of massacres perpetrated mostly by paramilitary groups. While forced out of their homes, these farmers were determined that they would not give up their lands. The only way to do so, they resolved, was through self organization and refusing to take part in the conflict in any way.
A dirt road leaves the city of Apartado, in the region of Urabá, in the Northwestern Colombian province of Antioquia, making its way up into the mountains. The surrounding land hosts banana plantations as far as the eye can see, owned by subsidiaries of the Chiquita, Del Monte and Bonita brands, as well as plantations of African Palm, which have recently made their way as a lucrative cash crops. The road enters a deep emerald forest, crossing small villages with wooden houses, farm animals roaming in the mud and heavily guarded military check points.
Urabá has been major theater in Colombia’s forty years long and ongoing armed conflict. All armed actors are present in the region: the Colombian army, left-wing guerillas and, since the mid 1990s, ultra-right wing paramilitaries. The arm carriers are not only fighting for these fertile lands, but also for the control of this strategic corridor to Panama and the Pacific region of Chocó, indispensable to international drug traffic. Stuck in the middle, thousands of civilians have been killed, disappeared and displaced, stripped of their lands, accused of or forced into collaboration with one or another group. In this sea of violence however, there is an attempt to create an island of calm.
Proceeding for one hour up the bumpy road, an opening in the tropical vegetation reveals a small group of houses surrounded by hills and a river. This is where the Peace Community of San José de Apartado begins. At its entrance, barbwire keeps animals in, and a sign decorated by children’s art work spells out:
The Community freely: participates in communal work, says no to injustice and impunity, does not participate in war directly or indirectly and does not bear arms, does not manipulate or provide information to any of the actors in the conflict.
The peace community of San José de Apartado was created in 1997 by five hundred displaced villagers from seventeen different towns in the wider region, following a wave of massacres perpetrated mostly by paramilitary groups. While forced out of their homes, these farmers were determined that they would not give up their lands. The only way to do so, they resolved, was through self organization and refusing to take part in the conflict in any way.
The community is based on the principles of transparent dialogue, respect of plurality, solidarity, resistance and justice; it demands that all the parties to the conflict not enter the boundaries of the community, respect residents’ right to life and decision of not participating or collaborating with any of the arm bearers, and to recognize their status as non-combatant civilians. Their courageous decision has lived on.
Today, the community counts nearly 1500 members, and has been able to slowly re-conquer portions of land of which they were illegally expropriated.
In order to join, new members must first agree with the principles, and then they are provided with a portion of land to cultivate. After a trial period of three months, the newcomers can decide to stay or leave by consensus basis with the community. While each farmer is responsible for his or her own plot, a community fund deals with the commercial aspect of the agricultural products, working towards nutritional self-sufficiency and to export organically certified cocoa, juice and jam as cash crops to Europe.
The community also autonomously provides education, water and sanitation, conflict-resolution mechanisms, food for single mothers and the elderly, and sports and cultural activities. In 2004, it created the Universidad Campesina de la Resistencia (the Farmers University of Resistance), to promote traditional and ecological agriculture as well as forms of civil resistance, bringing together other peace communities world wide to share strategies and lessons learned.
The Community’s plans for the immediate future include the creation of a medical center with community health workers, as well as strengthening political projects against impunity and violence.
San Josè de Apartado has become a model, symbolizing that alternative, peacefully communities are possible outside the zero sum “with us or against us” game imposed by armed groups.
“In their eyes, not buying into this culture of death, so integrated in Colombia, means being crazy” explained Jesus Emilio, one of the community leaders who was displaced with his family two decades ago and since has survived multiple assassination attempts. “Well, we insist on being crazy. And the only possible path for our survival is international recognition.”
Jesus Emilio is not only referring to the economic and social projects implemented with non-governmental organizations such as Oxfam, Doctors of the World, Swiss cooperation, TAMERA or Kitchens Without Borders, but also the physical protection provided by Peace Brigades International and Fellowship of Reconciliation. These policies of international presence as deterrence, non-armed escort and pressure on political and diplomatic agents, have indeed made murder and intimidation harder. Unfortunately, it has not made them disappear.
Despite the symbolic power and the international attention that the Peace Community of San José de Apartado has been able to garner, 176 of its members have been assassinated since its foundation twelve years ago. A monument honoring their memory is placed in the center of the village of San Josecito, and their names are also written on the external wall of the school.
This alone should give an idea of the overall level of impunity and lawlessness that takes place daily in thousands of rural communities throughout Colombia. According to UNHCR, with between 2.5 and 4.3 million internally displaced citizens, Colombia hosts one of the world’s largest Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) populations in the world. Mathematically, that means that, on average, for the past 40 years, over 300 people have been displaced every single day. Furthermore, according to the International Displacement Monitoring Center, the first semester of 2008 recorded the highest level of forced displacement in twenty-three years.
Forced displacement is just one of several methods used as political means and/or to the economic ends of land occupation. “There are multiple strategies do divide us: legally, militarily, economically” explained Jesus Emilio, inside the wooden guesthouse reserved for international workers and visitors, bearing the Peace Brigades International flag at the entrance. “They do their best to foster internal division, to degrade us from being human beings, with intimidation, pay offs. For example, new mining projects for coal and copper by South Korean and Brazilian companies are under discussion, for an area of over sixty-thousand hectares. This would mean the end of our community.”
It is uncertain what the future will hold for the Peace Community of San José de Apartado. On the one hand, it has the potential of furthering its role as a symbol and an alternative model for conflict resolution outside the state structure, just like the other fifty peace communities that have sprung up in Colombia. On the other hand, however, these courageous people who have rebuilt and created a new life after having been displaced might be forcefully displaced yet again.
“We feel tired,” Jesus Emilio confessed. “It’s so complicated and exhausting, especially when you don’t know that things will get better. But despite the repression and all the obstacles, we have to insist; we have no other choice.”
Pictures by Carlota Valverde and Raimondo Chiari