
viernes 3 de julio de 2009
Novedades sobre el Quimbo
martes 30 de junio de 2009
Black Communities protest over prison construction in Valle / Comunidades negras protestan en contra construcción de un cárcel en Valle
COMMUNITY COUNCILS OF SAN ISIDRO & BOCAS DEL PALO
DIGNITY, IDENTITY AND TERRITORY
DAY OF PROTEST
Starting today Tuesday, 30 June 2009
In El GUABAL (San Isidro) municipality of Jamundí
UNTIL THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR & JUSTICE CONTINUES THE PROCESS OF PRIOR CONSULTATION
WHY:
THIS GOVERNMENT DISRESPECTS BLACK COMMUNITIES...
The recognition of the rights of black communities to a prior consultation with respect to the construction and operation of a medium to maximum security prison in Jamundí is being violated.
WITH THIS GOVERNMENT EVERYTHING IS DONE BADLY
After ignoring the existence of black communities on ancestral lands of San Isidro and Bocas del Palo, the community councils were forced to seek legal measures and on multiple times blockading the road leading to the premises of the prison so that demands would be heard. Finally they were able to bring together the conditions for a prior consultation that was held on April 2. The meeting was held where the community introduced the protocols for the Community Welfare Plan intended to mitigate, compensate, correct and prevent the identified impacts, reaching several agreements:
1. There will be a meeting held with INPEC to know; the safety measures that are planned to be implemented outside of the prison complex, how visitations with inmates will occur, and to establish the measuring of these impacts on the community and reparations.
2. The community councils will send cards outlining the Community Welfare Plan, which was agreed upon that the government would finance the reparations of the 36 impacts (cultural, environmental, social and economic) that were identified in the community process.
3. The government, headed by the Department of Infrastructure within the Ministry of Interior and Justice will send a response to the requests from the community councils prior to the second meeting agreed upon for the first week of May.
BUT THE GOVERNMENT CONTINUESTO DISRESPECT BLACK COMMUNITIES
It has already been nearly two months since the date that should have been the second meeting. The public functionaries are creating reasons for the unjustifiable, first postponing the meeting until June claiming the delay of the document sent by the community councils as the reason. Regardless, at the end of June we have yet to receive a response to the Community Welfare Plan or the notification for holding the meeting.
THEN ... WITH THIS GOVERNMENT... THINGS HAVE TO BE DONE BADLY
After so much delay for the second meeting and seeing that the construction of the jail is very advanced, the government is forcing us to use new measures so that we can be heard. It is the deplorable that the government creates the habit to only listen to people when they have had enough and claims that we have not kept our agreements, then resorting to mechanisms not of their culture and tradition. And therefore, before assuming responsibility for their delay and wanting to put the blame on the community councils claiming that we are true benefactors when we are really the most affected by this prison that we were never consulted on.
BECAUSE OF THIS REPEATED DISREPECT WE DEMAND OF THE GOVERNMENT:
1. The Ministry of Interior and Justice, to address the Department of Infrastructure to respond immediately to the proposal of the Community Welfare Plan prepared by the community and to cite when will the second meetings for the consultation process occur.
2. To the Consultation Team of the Ministry to assume its responsibility of enforcing the agreements of the meeting of the protocols set on April 2. Demanding that the Ministry of Interior and Justice to accept its responsibility relating to the impacts caused and that will be caused to communities San Isidro and Bocas del Palo.
3. To the Department of Black Community Issues, to function as it was intended to and put forth the maximum effort to enforce the recognition of the rights of black communities, in this case the right to prior consultation.
4. The institutions of the Public Ministry to fulfill its duties to ensure that laws are complied with and ensuring mechanisms for participation of Afro-Colombian communities.
ASK
1. For the national and international entities that defend human rights to be solidarity with our just struggle to not be treated with disrespect in this process and so that with the operating of the jail we do not end up obliterated by the complex dynamics that are created around these institutions, for instance with just the inmates (about 4,000) the population of the communities of San Isidro and Bocas del Palo will double.
2. To social movements in general to support this struggle, and to be in solidarity with our fight for the fair application of our rights as an ethnic group.
3. In general to forward this statement, sending certified copies to:
Attorney General's Office (quejas@procuraduria.gov.c
the Ombudsman's Office (defensoria@defensoria.gov
JUSTICE AND THE MINISTRY DELINTERIOR (reclamos@mij.gov.co ) FONADE (fonade@fonade.gov.co),
Vice-President (ppdh@presidencia.gov.co)
AND THE PRESIDENCY OF THE REPUBLIC.
ONE NEWS: quetalesto@noticiasuno.com
Community Councils of San Isidro and Bocas del Palo
Association Ku-Mahan-PCN
DIGNITY, IDENTITY AND TERRITORY
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CONSEJOS COMUNITARIOS DE SAN ISIDRO Y BOCAS DEL PALO
DIGNIDAD, IDENTIDAD Y TERRITORIO
JORNADA DE PROTESTA
INICIADA HOY MARTES 30 DE JUNIO DE 2009
EN LA VEREDA EL GUABAL (SAN ISIDRO) MUNICIPIO DE JAMUNDI
HASTA QUE EL MINISTERIO DEL INTERIOR Y DE JUSTICIA CONTINÚE EL PROCESO DE CONSULTA PREVIA
PORQUE:
ESTE GOBIERNO IRRESPETA A LAS COMUNIDADES NEGRAS…
El reconocimiento de los derechos de las comunidades negras a la Consulta Previa por la construcción y funcionamiento de la cárcel de mediana y máxima seguridad en Jamundí esta siendo vulnerado.
CON ESTE GOBIERNO TODO ES POR LAS MALAS
Después de desconocer la existencia de las comunidades negras en territorios ancestrales de San Isidro y Bocas del Palo, los consejos comunitarios se vieron obligados a interponer recursos legales y a realizar varias tomas de la carretera que conduce a los predios de la cárcel, para ser escuchados en sus exigencias. Finalmente se generaron las condiciones para la Consulta Previa y el 2 de abril se realizó la reunión de protocolización donde la comunidad presentó el Plan de Bienestar Comunitario concebido para mitigar, compensar, corregir y prevenir los impactos identificados, llegando a varios acuerdos:
Se realizaría una reunión con el INPEC para conocer las medidas de seguridad que se piensan implementar al exterior del complejo penitenciario y el tema de las visitas a los/as reclusos/os. Y poder establecer impactos de esas medidas para la vida comunitaria y sus reparaciones.
Los consejos comunitarios enviaríamos las fichas de proyectos del Plan de Bienestar Comunitario, que acordamos debe financiar el gobierno para reparar los 36 impactos (culturales, ambientales, sociales y económicos) que en un proceso comunitario se identificaron.
El gobierno, en cabeza de la Dirección de Infraestructura del Ministerio del Interior y de Justicia enviaría la respuesta de esas peticiones a los consejos comunitarios, previo a la segunda reunión acordada en acta para la primera semana de mayo.
PERO EL GOBIERNO CONTINUA IRRESPETANDO A LAS COMUNIDADES NEGRAS
Ha pasado ya casi dos meses de la fecha en que se debía realizar la segunda reunión y los funcionarios ubicando razones para nada justificadas de demora en la recepción del documento enviado por los consejos comunitarios propusieron realizar esa reunión en el mes de junio. Sin embargo ya a finales de junio no hemos recibido la respuesta al Plan de Bienestar Comunitario ni la notificación para la realización de dicha reunión.
ENTONCES… CON ESTE GOBIERNO… TODO ES POR LAS MALAS
Después de tanta dilación de la segunda reunión y viendo que la construcción de la cárcel va muy avanzada, el gobierno nos está llevando nuevamente a tomar medidas de hecho para ser escuchados. Es el colmo que para el gobierno se vuelva costumbre escuchar al pueblo cuando este ya no aguanta más y siente como nosotros/as que no se cumple con los acuerdos establecidos, teniendo que acudir a mecanismos no propios de su cultura y tradición. Y antes de asumir la responsabilidad de esta demora, quieran endilgar la culpa a los mismos consejos comunitarios que somos los más interesados siendo los más perjudicados con esta cárcel que nunca se nos consultó.
A PARTIR DE ESTE IRRESPETO REITERADO DEL GOBIERNO, EXIGIMOS:
Al Ministerio del Interior y de Justicia, a su dirección de Infraestructura que responda a mayor brevedad a la propuesta del Plan de Bienestar Comunitario elaborado por la comunidad, citando la segunda reunión en el proceso de Consulta Previa.
Al Equipo de Consulta Previa del mismo ministerio que asuma su responsabilidad de hacer cumplir los acuerdos establecidos en la reunión de protocolización del 2 de abril, exigiéndole al Ministerio del Interior y de Justicia que asuma su responsabilidad por los impactos causados y que causará a las comunidades de San Isidro y Bocas del Palo.
A la Dirección de asuntos de comunidades negras, que funciona para lo que esta creada y siendo su máxima de hacer cumplir el reconocimiento de los derechos de las comunidades negras, en este caso al de la Consulta Previa.
A las instituciones del Ministerio Público que cumpla con sus funciones de velar por que las leyes se cumplan y se garanticen los mecanismos de participación de las comunidades afrocolombianas.
SOLICITAMOS
A los organismos de defensa de los derechos humanos nacionales e internacionales que se solidaricen con nuestra justa lucha para no ser tratados con irrespeto en este proceso y para que con el funcionamiento de la cárcel no seamos arrasados por las complejas dinámicas que se generan alrededor de estas instituciones, que además solo con los internos (de aproximadamente 4.000) duplica la población de las comunidades de San Isidro y Bocas del Palo.
A los movimientos sociales en general que se solidaricen y apoyen esta lucha justa por la Comunidades negras protestan en contra construción de un carcel en Valleaplicación de nuestros derechos como grupo étnico.
A todos en genral circulen esta comunicado, compulsando copias a:
PROCURADURÍA GENERAL DE LA NACIÓN (quejas@procuraduria.gov.c
Consejos comunitarios de San Isidro y Bocas del Palo
Asociación Ku-mahaná-PCN
DIGNIDAD, IDENTIDAD Y TERRITORIO
viernes 26 de junio de 2009
Nuevas Amenazas hacia las comunidades negras del Norte del Cauca / New Threats against the black communites of the north of Cauca

(en español)
THE PROCESS OF BLACK COMMUNITIES IN COLOMBIA PUBLICIZES THE FOLLOWING ACTS BEFORE THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY:
OCURRENCES:
1. The north of Cauca, specifically the municipalities of Suarez & Buenos Aires, is inhabited by a population that is 70% Afro-Colombian. These descendents of past slaves who now subsist from agriculture & mining are communities that have been an example of the construction of a grassroots peaceful resistance for the entire country.
2. Many Afro Colombian leaders have sacrificed their lives and personal interests to help in the construction of a national project that would help create the reconciliation needed within our society but with respect for our differences.
3. The north of the Cauca is a geographically strategic area that historically was a transportation corridor and still is of utmost environmental and mining importance. These reasons have caused that the region often finds itself in constant dispute with legal and illegal armed actors in addition to the particular interests of the companies such as AngloGold Ashanti, Union Fenosa and numerous timber companies.
4. In the region their are numerous organizations that are parts of the Process of Black Communities in Colombia- PCN- such as: Communal Councils, women's organizations, victims' organizations, groups of communal action, agricultural organizations and mining cooperatives. These groups constitute an invaluable and active defense of human rights and the promoting of initiatives seeking to better the quality of life for Afro Colombians.
5. It is note worthy the long tradition of struggle of these communities that have been mobilizing for hundreds of years for the right to freedom, of the most recent struggles it is important to take into account:
* The fight against the Salvajina Dam because of its negative impacts towards local communities. Since created in 1986 there have been several broken promises from the government towards the communities.
* The process of prior consultation in regards to the EPSA project of the canalization of the River Ovejas to enlarge the Salvajina reservoir.
6. In 2004, derived from these struggles, the Integrated Inter Ethnic Commission is constituted by local delegates from indigenous and black communities in the municipalities of Suárez, Buenos Aires & Morales. This is done with the accompaniment of the Association of Indigenous Cabildos from the North of Cauca- ACIN and the Process of Black Communities- PCN.
7. All the implemented or planned mega development projects for the region have contributed to the forced displacement and the deterioration of the economic, environmental, social and cultural rights of local communities. This has also deepened the inequality that exists between the region's inhabitants and populations in other parts of the country.
WE DENOUNCE:
1. In June 2000 the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia- AUC paramilitary group, took a public presence in the area of Buenos Aires and then Suarez. It maintained control of the area until 2004. As a product of this we have had a long history of massacres, selective assassinations, forced rationing of food, massive displacements, forced disappearances, the raping of women, and forced recruiting as some of the actions that were implemented against the population with the support of public security forces. One of the more well known massacres from the south of our country is one that happened in this territory, in Naya. In the case of Buenos Aires, these acts are part of a process of discussion and work around some pilot projects of collective reparations being promoted by the National Commission of Reparations and Reconciliation- CNRR. In spite of the previously mentioned acts, towards the end of 2007 there has been evidence of a paramilitary reorganization process in the region.
2. On October 9, 2007, 10 armed men from the Calima Bloc came to the residence of Clemencia Carabalí, member of The Municipal Association of Women of Buenos Aires –ASOM, located in the countryside of La Balsa, municipality of Buenos Aires. Clemencia, was interrogated for about 20 minutes about her personal activities. Clemencia, at this time was pregnant and the above mentioned encounter caused the death of her unborn child and forced her to relocate to the town of Santander de Quilichao where she remained for three months. When she returned to La Balsa, she was once again was forced to leave her home to go live in Santander de Quilichao in Feb. 2008 because of the frequent harassment from unknown individuals regarding her activities and where about.
3. In the month of May 2008 the compañero Robert de Jesús Guacheta was killed in the municipality of Morelos. He was the supplicant governor in his community and a member of the Inter Ethnic Commission.
4. The compañera Francia Elena Márquez, member of the Community Council for the countryside of La Toma in the municipality of Suárez is a dynamic youth organizer and member of the Association of Women of Yolombó and of the Inter Ethnic Commission has been subject to continued threats after her speaking in a communal hearing that was held with the government.
5. On May 29, 2009, in the office of the Municipal Association of Women located in La Balsa, an unknown man appeared asking for Clemencia Carabalí: "What has she been doing and where is she?" When the women said that she was not in the region, the man said that she better "take care of her family and mind her own business". A similar message was also left for the compañera Liliana Sandoval, also a member of ASOM, after he asked if she worked with Clemencia Carabalí. In the same way, various compañeras of ASOM have been threatened by means of phone calls on their cellular phones. All are asked if they work with Clemencia Carabalí and then they are told to take care of their families and to mind their own business.
These acts show that there is an insistent persecution against the relentless effort of peaceful resistance that these organizations do in defense of the communities' rights'. This persecution is brining drastic and irreparable consequences for the leaders of these organizations. From the intensification of the armed conflict in the regions inhabited by Afro descendent populations, the large number of assassinated leaders, family members and the more then one million people who are victims of internal forced displacement.
In recognizing the grave situation of the Afro descendent population in Colombia, the Constitutional Court regulated Auto 005 of 2009, in which it prioritizes the region of the North of Cauca, as an emblematic case in which there are specific orders that include:
* The Office of Social Action, in coordination with the territories it must design and put into action a specific plan for the protection and assistance of these communities, that must be functional by October 30, 2009.
* The Ministry of the Interior & Justice, must design no later then October 30, 2009, a plan to chart the collective and ancestral territories that are inhabited by the Afro-Colombian population.
* ORDERS that the Director of Social Action as coordinator of the National System of Attention to the Displaced Population, and CNAIPD, design a holistic plan for the prevention, protection and assistance of the Afro Colombian population. This must be done with full participation of the communities themselves and full respect of all selected authorities, those constituted and those from the respective territories. The Plan of Prevention, Protection and Assistance to the Afro Colombian population should be designed no later the January 18, 2010. The director of Social Action on July 1, 2010 should present a report regarding the advancement of the application of the holistic plan.
WE DEMAND:
1. The national government adopt the necessary measures to protect the lives of the leaders from the black communities of the municipalities of Suarez & Buenos Aires and the guarantee the right to a free, open and informative prior consultation, regarding any projects that would affect the communities' rights' and territory.
2. The local, departmental and national governments must protect as mandated the Colombian Law, the Convention 169 of the OIT and the Auto 005 of 2009, the right of black communities to remain in their territory. To comply; communities, organizations and leaders should be coordinated with to assure that the mechanisms and guarantees for the accomplishing of what is mandated by Auto 005 of 2009 and other measure related to the issue.
3. The government and the CNRR, adopt the necessary measures to guarantee the lives of the leaders, organizational members and communities that accepted to participate in the Pilot Program of Collective Reparation. Equally that measures be adopted that guarantee this exercise can advance without back track in regards of the right to autonomous participation of the communities, organizations and leaders.
4. We demand that the wave of threats, intimidation and assassination of community leaders and members of the Inter Ethnic Commission be investigated and that the appropriate measures be taken against those responsible.
El Proceso de Comunidades Negras –PCN urges the national and international community to demand that the Colombian government completely follow in compliance with the Auto 005 of 2009.
Human Rights Team
Proceso de Comunidades Negras en Colombia PCN
http://www.renacientes.org
viernes 19 de junio de 2009
ANOTHER WAYUU YOUTH KILLED/ OTRA JOVEN WAYUU ASESINADA
The organizational alliance SUTSUIN JIYEYU WAYUU-FUERZAS DE MUJERES WAYUU (FORCE OF WAYUU WOMEN), denounces before national and international public opinion the killing of wayuu youth LUZMILA BARLIZA EPIAYU
THE ACTS
-July 17 at 7:30 pm an unknown assailant shot her in the head and killed the youth LUZMILA BARLIZA EPIAYU while she was within her place residence in the neighborhood of San Francisco in the city of Riohacha, La Guajira.
- BARLIZA EPIAYU had not recieved any threats of any kind and the incident is unexpected amongst her coworkers at the Hospital Nuestra Señora De Los Remedios in Riohacha and has also caused anger and sadness for the Wayuu people of la Guajira.
- There is preoccupation amongst the indigenous organizations, in particular SJW-FMW. This act of violence against a Wayuu woman has the same characteristics as different selective assassinations have ocurred recently in the city.
- Once again we make a call, though more then a call a clamor, and we all know that a clamor is something silent, something painful before a situation of frustration and impotence caused by this new act of blood. It is an assault against the integrity of a people that is known for the work of its women in defense of their territory and the fight to continue to existing as a nation within a country so plagued by an armed conflict. In which indigenous peoples find ourselves immersed in the cross fire of the actors of the armed conflcit. These same actors pervert the personal values of our people such as the giving of a DOWRY, and have used it as a strategy to permeate our social organization and enter into our territories.
- We demand that the SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE REPUBLIC, open an urgent and thorough investigation to bring those responsible for these acts to a hault and impede that this lamentable act stay in impunity.
- Once again from the North of Colombia we launch a cry of clamor for solidarity towards a people who have lived the genocide of over 250 members by actors of paramilitary groups that today continue to persist in our region even though the national government denies their existance and looks to silence the voices of those that denounce and demand the Right to Truth, Justice and Reperations for the Wayuu victims.
- We make a call to human rights organizations, the Constritutiotnal Court, and Diplomatic entities acredited in Colombia to address and demand that the Colombian government follow the material commitments to Human Rights that it is contracted to on the international level, as well as to look into and follow the desperate situation of the Wayuu people.
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La alianza organizativa SUTSUIN JIYEYU WAYUU-FUERZA MUJERES WAYUU, denuncia ante la opinión publica nacional e internacional el asesinato de la joven wayuu LUZMILA BARLIZA EPIAYU
jueves 11 de junio de 2009
URIBE DESTRUYE LA DEMOCRACIA PARA REELEGIRSE
Asociación de Cabildos Indígenas del Norte del Cauca - ACIN
Telefax: 0928 - 290958 - 293999
Email: acincauca@yahoo.es
web: nasaacin.org
Dirección: Calle 3 No. 7A-20
Santander de Quilichao Cauca -Colombia
viernes 5 de junio de 2009
EMGESA S.A.: Con licencia para el ecocidio y el daño medioambiental

El 15 de mayo de 2009 será recordado por los huilenses como un día nefasto. Hay quienes dirán lo contrario, en un pomposo vocabulario ambientalmente conveniente. Este día el Ministerio del Medioambiente, Vivienda y Desarrollo Territorial, ahora presidido por Carlos Costa Posada, otorgó la licencia ambiental 0899 al Proyecto Hidroeléctrico El Quimbo. Una autorización administrativa otorgada por el Gobierno Nacional, que justamente debe interpretarse como una autorización para la destrucción de 842 hectáreas de bosques riparios y con ellos los ecosistemas que sostienen la vida de cientos de especies de flora y fauna, algunos de ellas incluidas en los libros rojos de especies amenazadas en vía de extinción. Pero esta realidad al parecer poco parece importarle al Gobierno y menos a la multinacional española Endesa-Emgesa, concesionaria del proyecto.
Uno de los agravantes, ignorado por arte de tinterillos, es el hecho que el 95 por ciento de las más de 8500 hectáreas que se inundarán forman parte de la Reserva Forestal Protectora de la Amazonía, creada mediante la Ley 2 de 1959. En la licencia 0899, el Ministerio autoriza la “sustracción” de estas áreas naturales protectoras, para que Emgesa pueda proceder a la tala de los bosques y a la remoción de los suelos. Nos han dicho la falacia que la multinacional “compensará” el desastre ecológico y ambiental. Son falacias, porque la destrucción de un ecosistema es irreversible. No puede compensarse. No puede mitigarse. El Quimbo y las subsiguientes represas proyectadas sobre la cuenca Alta del Río Grande de La Magdalena, significan la muerte del Río de La Patria, iniciada desde hace más de cinco lustros con la construcción de Betania. Debemos detener este plan ecocida, que con el tiempo arrasará sin lugar a dudas con uno de los más importantes ecosistemas del Sur, el Macizo Colombiano.
A cambio de qué. De nada. Las compensaciones, lo que paguen por la compra de las tierras, toda esa sarta de promesas sobre turismo y desarrollo, las limosnas de las tasas de retribución y las regalías por la producción de energía eléctrica, el dinero gastado en medios de comunicación y en el soborno de las autoridades, todo sumado, es ínfima parte del valor real de nuestros recursos naturales. Mientras los ministerios de Relaciones Exteriores y de Ambiente, ratificado en sentencia de la Corte Constitucional declaran que, sin lugar a dudas la principal ventaja competitiva de Colombia en el contexto internacional, es nuestra diversidad biológica y genética, los gobiernos, uno tras otro, entregan el territorio y pisotean la soberanía nacional. Los únicos que ganarán, además de Endesa-Emgesa, serán los áulicos del proyecto que andan tras las limosnas para asegurar su mezquino presente ignorando la responsabilidad con las generaciones venideras.
Pero además, el megaproyecto Quimbo destruirá la agricultura, el patrimonio cultural inmaterial y material del Huila y las comunidades. Y cuando la bulla de los supuestos tres mil empleos temporales pase, solo nos quedará la miseria, el desempleo y un pedazo más de suelo patrio en manos de los extranjeros. De Betania nos hablaron maravillas, pero hoy los campesinos que labraban las tierras que se inundaron en Yaguará y Hobo, están aguantando hambre y el pueblo, pese a las regalías del petróleo, no es ningún emporio del turismo.
Solo otra perspectiva puede garantizarnos un presente y un futuro mejor para todos y todas: el desarrollo humano integral y sostenible; la generación de energía a través de fuentes limpias como la eólica, geotérmica, y las corrientes marinas, por ejemplo; un modo de producción basado no en la competencia sino en la cooperación y la solidaridad humana. Lo demás son mentiras que la historia de la humanidad y el conocimiento científico acumulado se han encargado de desvirtuar.
Neiva, 5 de junio de 2009
NO AL QUIMBO. SI AL DESARROLLO HUMANO INTEGRAL Y SOSTENIBLE PARA EL HUILA
POR LA PRESERVACIÓN DE NUESTROS ECOSISTEMAS, LA SOBERANÍA TERRITORIAL Y UN MEJOR PRESENTE Y FUTURO PARA TODOS: NO AL QUIMBO
PLATAFORMA SUR DE ORGANIZACIONES SOCIALES
