Pentagon Plans Latin America-Wide Intervention Ability for New Military Base in Colombia

Click here to send a strong message to President Obama, urging him to break from the tired militaristic policies of the past and to forge a new, hopeful relationship with Colombia.

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The United States is planning to establish a new military facility in Colombia that will give the U.S. increased capacity for military intervention throughout most of Latin America. Given the tense relations of Washington with Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador, as well as the Colombian military’s atrocious human rights record, the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) believes the plan should be subjected to vigorous debate.

“This base would feed a failed drug policy, support an abusive army, and reinforce a tragic history of U.S. military intervention in the region,” said John Lindsay-Poland, Latin America Program Co-director for FOR. “It’s wrong and wasteful, and Congress should scrap it.”

The new facility in Palanquero, Colombia would not be limited to counter-narcotics operations, nor even to operations in the Andean region, according to an Airlift Military Command (AMC) planning document. The U.S. Southern Command aims to establish a base with “air mobility reach on the South American continent” in addition to a capacity for counter-narcotics operations, through the year 2025.

With help from the Transportation Command and AMC, the Southern Command identified Palanquero, from which “nearly half of the continent can be covered by a C-17 without refueling.” If fuel is available at its destination, “a C-17 could cover the entire continent, with the exception of the Cape Horn region,” the AMC planners wrote.

President Obama’s Pentagon budget, submitted May 7, includes $46 million for development of the Palanquero base, and says the Defense Department seeks “an array of access arrangements for contingency operations, logistics, and training in Central/South America.” A U.S. Embassy spokesperson in Bogota told FOR that negotiations were not yet concluded for the base.

The Southern Command is also pursuing access to a site in French Guiana that would permit military aircraft to reach sites in Africa, via the Ascension Islands, according to AMC. SouthCom apparently sought use of facilities in Recife, Brazil for the same purpose, but “the political relationship with Brazil is not conducive to the necessary agreements,” AMC wrote.

The lease for the U.S. “Forward Operating Location” in Manta, Ecuador expires in November 2009, and Ecuador notified Washington last year that it would not renew the lease. The facility in Manta was authorized to conduct only counter-drug operations, but drug traffic in the Pacific, where aircraft from Manta patrolled, has increased in recent years, according to military spokesmen. U.S. forces in Manta also carried out operations to arrest undocumented Ecuadorans on boats in Ecuadoran waters. But public documentation of U.S. operations conducted from Manta does not indicate use of C-17 cargo aircraft, so their use in Palanquero apparently would represent an expanded U.S. military capacity in the region.

The “mission creep” in the proposal for continent-wide operations from Colombia is also evident in President Obama’s foreign aid request for Colombia. While the budget request for $508 million tacitly recognizes the failure of Plan Colombia drug policy by cutting funds for fumigation of coca crops, the White House is asking for an increase in counterinsurgency equipment and training to the Colombian Army.

Colombian and U.S. human rights and political leaders have objected to continued funding of the Colombian army, especially after revelations that the army reportedly murdered more than 1,000 civilians and alleged they were guerrillas killed in combat, in order to increase their body count. The Palanquero base itself, which houses a Colombian Air Force unit, was banned from receiving U.S. aid for five years because of its role in a 1998 attack that killed 17 civilians, including six children, from the effects of U.S.-made cluster bombs. The United States resumed aid to the unit last year.

Colombian Defense Ministry sources said that Colombia was attempting to obtain increases in U.S. military aid as part of the base negotiations. Palanquero offers the U.S. military a sophisticated infrastructure – a 10,000-foot runway, hangars that hold more than 100 aircraft, housing for more than 2,000 men, restaurants, casinos, supermarkets, and a radar system installed by the United States itself in the 1990s.

U.S. law caps the number of uniformed U.S. soldiers operating in Colombia at 800, and the number of contractors at 600. Until last year, a significant number of them were intelligence personnel assigned to the effort to rescue three U.S. military contractors kidnapped by the leftist FARC guerrillas. With the rescue last year of the three contractors, many U.S. intelligence staff left Colombia, leaving space for soldiers to run operations in the prospective new U.S. base or bases.

“That the Colombian government asks for a U.S. base now would be a serious error,” says former defense minister and presidential candidate Rafael Pardo.

FOR believes replacing one military base that was set up for the failed drug war with another base to intervene in South America and to support the abusive Colombian army would be a serious error for the United States as well.

Contact: John Lindsay-Poland, Fellowship of Reconciliation, johnlp@igc.org, 510-282-8983 (cell)

The People's response to the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement

Twenty-one days to make our voices against free trade with Colombia heard

Over the last two weeks, people across Canada and Colombia have mobilized in order to show their rejection of the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Though there are only a handful of organizations in Canada dedicated to informing Canadians about bilateral trade agreements, friends of Colombia, working from their hearts, spoke out about the deal.

Gustavo Ulcué, a Nasa man from the Communications Network in Northern Cauca, Colombia, gave talks in Edmonton and Calgary to students and addressed crowds about his concerns regarding the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

He shared his community's responses to Free Trade Agreements, such as the popular consultation of 2005 and the Social and Community Minga. Ulcué was interviewed on Radio Canada International and campus community radio stations.

While visiting the prairies, Ulcué also met with Colombians living in Canada, activists working on campaigns to shut down the tar sands, and people working in solidarity with Indigenous struggles.

Ulcué is currently in Vancouver, and will take part in a series of events in advance of the Liberal Party Convention at the end of April in Vancouver.

In Montreal, more than fifty members of the SOS Colombia Coalition protested the free trade deal in front of the Guy Favreau Complex. Members of SOS Colombia performed street theater and music to make their rejection of the deal clear.

Also in Montréal, the Salsa Descalza group did salsa-street theater to manifest their opposition to the deal.

Folks in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, held a "creativity jam" night of poetry, music and guest speakers; a film and discussion night; and a panel event on Colombia. They also launched a postcard campaign targeting Liberals in Ottawa, and continued their ongoing political work supporting the NDP in their work against the free trade deal.

In Kelowna, BC, activists confronted Conservative MP Ron Cannan, a member of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, about his support for the deal. They were forced out of his office, as Cannan defended himself by claiming that he did not have to address their concerns because they live outside of his riding.

Dr. Manuel Rozental, a Colombian surgeon and social justice activist, toured Vancouver Island, speaking to hundreds of people about the people's agenda and resistance to free trade. "In my talks, I help place the Free Trade Agreement in the context of a failed economic model leading to economic, ecological crisis and a crisis of social reproduction and the reproduction of life," he said. Rozental was invited to Canada by the BC Teachers' Federation.

"People have been shocked to learn that on November 21st 2008, the day the Minga (an enormous peaceful mobilization against the neoliberal economic model and free trade agreements) arrived in Bogota, President Uribe and Prime Minister Harper signed the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement in Lima. That day, President Uribe offered to open 50 per cent of Colombian territory to mining and hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation before the end of his term in 2010," said Rozental.

Journalist Dawn Paley toured five cities in BC and talked with hundreds of people about the links between Canadian mining, oil and gas companies operating in the Alberta tar sands and the Canada-Colombia FTA.

On the East coast, the Atlantic Region Solidarity Network did a letter writing campaign against the FTA, and in the US, the organization Mingas launched a campaign against the Canada-Colombia deal.

The Council of Canadians launched a nation-wide Action Alert online, urging Canadians to get in touch with their MPs and speak out against the FTA in their communities.

Press releases denouncing Bill C-23, which contains the Canada-Colombia deal, were issued by CUPE and USW.

"We are urging opposition parties to reject this bill. I cannot understand why Prime Minister Harper is prepared to sign agreements with a country that sees trade unionists murdered at a rate more than the entire world experiences in total, or with a country where the drug trade, and the paramilitary forces have a grip on a $6 billion illegal business," said CUPE National President Paul Moist.

CUPE, CUPW, PSAC, NUPGE, OPSEU, OSSTF, BCTF, CAW, USW and the CLC have been distributing a comic Top Ten Reasons why Canada should Not Ratify the FTA with Colombia to their members along with a petition calling for a human rights impact assessment. Union members are sending letters to Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and key liberals and met with them in their home ridings during recess.

Upcoming events across Canada

Vancouver

Saturday, April 18

Film Presentation and Discussion:

"Country of the Peoples without Owners"

A documentary produced by the Communications Network of the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca (ACIN) about the recent popular mobilizations in Colombia. 45 Minutes; Spanish with English subtitles.

Speakers include: Doña Vicky (CIPO, Oaxaca), Manuel Rozental (Hemispheric Social Alliance, Polo Democratico Alternativo, Colombia) and Gustavo Ulcué (ACIN).

Location: UBC Robson Square (Downtown Vancouver), Room C215,

Time: 3-5pm

Presented by: CIPO, Grupo Atarraya, La Chiva Collective, and UBC Latin American Studies

Sunday, April 19, Time: 10am-5pm

Public Workshop - Colombia, the Conflicts and Beyond: Perspectives on a Canadian Ally

Location: SFU Segal School of Business (Downtown Vancouver), 500 Granville Street

Toronto

Sunday, April 26, 2009, 10:00am - 7:30pm

Undermining Sustainability Conference, featuring Justin Podur of El Camino on the Canada-Colombia FTA

Earth Sciences, Room 1050 (ES 1050), University of Toronto, 5 Bancroft Avenue

Sault Ste Marie

Wednesday April 22, 8:00 pm

A Country of People without Owners

Arcadia Coffeehouse, 823 Queen Street East

Background on the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement

On March 26th, Member of Parliament Jay Hill introduced Bill 23 and Bill 24 to Parliament on behalf of International Trade Minister Stockwell Day.

Bill 23, called the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act is the enacting legislation for the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. Bill 24 is the Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, the enacting legislation for the Canada-Peru Free Trade Deal.

Following the tabling of the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, NDP MP Peter Julian made the following statement to Parliament:

More than a dozen human rights defenders and 46 trade unionists were killed by paramilitaries in 2008 alone, double the number in 2007... Thousands of paramilitaries with ties to the government are forcing poor peasants off the land and taking it over with the regime's complicity... More than 1,500 peasants have been massacred so far by the Colombia military as so-called “false positives”. This is no less than the cold-blooded murder of innocent people.... We oppose the blood that is on this agreement.

The fact that the bill was introduced immediately to Parliament instead of having the treaties tabled first, as was the case with the Peru Agreement, shows that Stephen Harper's Conservatives are keen to fast-track the deal. Less than a week after Bill C-23 was tabled, Members of Parliament went to their constituency offices for Easter Recess, leaving them with a few short days during which to oppose the deal when Parliament resumes again. All of this despite the fact that an all-party report about the deal written by the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade last summer recommended not going ahead with a Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement until an independent human rights assessment is carried out.

The NDP has opposed the Canada-Colombia FTA since its inception. The Bloc Quebecois, while not opposed to "free trade" in principle, has gone on the record to say that they oppose a deal with Colombia. While the Liberals initially condemned the CCFTA, their new leadership appears to have had a change of heart. Scott Brison, Liberal member of the Standing Committee on International Trade, has demonstrated his support for the agreement. It is expected that other members of the Liberal party will follow suit and support the Conservatives.

Click here to read an exhaustive report on the devastating effects the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement will have if implemented.

La Chiva is a collective of people working in solidarity with Colombian and Canadian social movements and communities.

http://www.canadacolombiaproject.blogspot.com

lachivacollective@gmail.com

Yolombo - Un pueblo más que el oro / Yolombo - A people more than gold

Despidiéndonos de nuestrxs amigxs, lxs hijxs del agua, salimos de Wampia y nos eovicamos por el río ovejas y seguimos hacia el municipio de Suarez, donde volvimos a una comunidad que hace poco conocimos: el Palenque Andino de Yolombó. Aunque fisiológicamente difícil de imaginar, a nosotras abejas, se nos pone la piel de gallina al estar nuevamente en un lugar tan especial y de una historia de lucha y resistencia de más de 450 años.

Aterrizamos donde nuestras viejas amigas y al llegar los niños nos pidieron sacar el telón grande para ver los imágenes y recontar la historia recordando sobre “las larvas del consumismo, que Monsanto hace venenos y las hormigas de la fiesta de hoy no comparten”. Esta vez se pudieron hacer las charlas de una manera más apropiada, ya que, después de estar varios días en la comunidad, se hicieron sólo hasta el último día. Como toda la miel que necesitamos para nuestro trabajo de polinizaciones es autogestionada y hemos estado en esta segunda gira por el suroccidente colombiano desde hace casi dos meses, ya casi todos nuestros recursos se nos han agotado. Pero acá se nos facilitó la posibilidad de trabajar unos días para conseguir recursos al tiempo que nos acercarnos más a la realidad de esta comunidad con la que hemos compartido y creado alianzas. Por dos días igual que lxs paisanos y paisanas de la región, entre tierra y piedra, agua y sudor, trabajamos en una mina de oro al lado del río Ovejas. Este trabajo no se entiende sólo viéndolo, hay que vivirlo para saber que el trabajo de la mineria es duro, agotador y doloroso.

Después de nuestra anterior visita, el alcalde del municipio desalojó a los mineros de las minas que venían desarrollando su labor de forma cooperativa por equipos. Ahora, esta mina está siendo trabajada por una retroexcavadora y los pocos mineros que quedan logran sacar migajas de lo que deja la maquina pesada. Esta vez trabajamos en un lugar a dos horas de camino de Yolombó, subiendo por el río Ovejas hasta llegar a una vereda llamado San Juan. Allí, los mineros forman sus equipos con cajón, pala, balde y batea trabajando en jornadas de 8 o 10 horas antes de regresar caminando otras dos horas. En este lugar, también había una retro trabajando que cada rato se acercaba a donde los mineros estábamos baruequiando y si no estábamos pendientes de agarran nuestras cosas y moverlas, la maquina las aplastaba. Era fuerte ver el contraste entre el blanco y gordo montado en su tecnología moviendo toneladas y temblando como gelatina pero sin botar sudor y el de todxs lxs otrxs minerxs afros con el barro por encima de sus botas pantaneras camellando muy duro con su cuerpo con tan sólo las herramientas básicas manuales que tenia. Sentimos y vivimos la dignidad de un pueblo que trabaja día tras día en condiciones extremas para proveer la materia cruda del capitalismo global y a la vez sostener a sus familias con las boronas que reciben y con las que ayudan a que un sistema mundial de parasitismo funcione. En esos dos días encontramos como 2 gramos - a $120 mil pesos dividido entre tres - que nos ayudaron a seguir polinizando. Lo que realmente ganamos fue el valorar mucho más su forma de vida por haber podido vivir su realidad.

El primer día que estuvimos en la mina, nuestra compañera amiga de la región se fue a una reunión en Popayán con otros líderes comunitarios con representantes de INGEOMINAS. Allá, irrespetuosamente la entidad les dijo a las comunidades de los municipios mineros que tenían la propuesta de crear “distritos mineros” en donde cada uno, incluyendo Suárez, tendrían la posibilidad de desarrollar por lo menos dos proyectos mineros al año. Lxs líderes presentes opusieron rotundamente que si el desarrollo implica que las grandes multinacionales se metan en la región con maquinaria pesada y químicos peligrosos como cianuro y mercurio, poniendo en peligro la territorialidad y autonomía de las comunidades ancestrales de afros e indígenas al no ser respetadas, es mejor no tener ese desarrollo en su región. Lo que se ha visto en Suárez es que la maquinaria como las retros han significado la apropiación extranjera de los metales preciosos y el aumento de accidentes y muertos en la minera, como los 21 que fallecieron en un derrumbe por una retro en octubre del año pasado. También el uso de químicos fuertes han contaminado las fuentes hídricas, envenenado la tierra, las plantas, los animales y otros seres.

Esta vez realizamos dos talleres, uno de ellos con lxs estudiantes de 3º, 4ª, y 5º de la Institución Educativa de Yolombó. En el primer taller con los estudiantes, lxs niñxs mencionaron que les pareciera más importante que el gobierno “usara ese dinero de la guerra para ayudar a los desplazados, construir más colegios y dar herramientas a lxs campesinxs en lugar de semillas transgénicas”. Un profe de la escuela contó en el taller que en 15 días iban a venir personas de UniCauca enviados por la Unión Fenosa para hacer la tercera ronda de estudios hidrológicos que buscan canalizar y desviar el río Ovejas para que alimente el embalse Salvajinas. Pronto van a llegar las personas que van a comenzar la consulta previa con la comunidad sobre este proyecto y es importante que no solamente se pronuncien los adultos sino también lxs jóvenes, niños y niñas en la consulta de este proyecto que si se realiza, seguramente cambiaría la comunidad y todo el territorio de manera irreversible y en su detrimento.

En el taller con los jóvenes se contextualizó la problemática del telón con lo que se está viviendo en la región. Un joven dijo que “acá vivimos rico. Podemos sacar oro cuando queramos, sin patrón, uno tiene su rancho con tierrita pa’ sembrar plátano, yuca y café. Pero por la envidia y el egoísmo, nosotros los jóvenes estamos perdiendo lo que tenemos acá. Los niños ven cosas en la televisión como la telenovela El Cartel que glorifican el narcotráfico y la violencia y los niños se ponen a copiar y desafiar eso. Necesitamos ponernos las pilas con lo que está pasando acá. Esta loma, pamba, entre Yolombó y Suárez la quiere comprar la multinacional Kedhada. No solamente para sacar oro sino también otros minerales como uranio. A la vez, Cartones de Colombia la quiso compara para implementar monocultivos de pino y eucalipto. Hay que valorar lo que tenemos, luchar por ella, sino, pues salir de acá para terminar en los barrios populares de las ciudad sin oportunidad de trabajo.”

Escuchar un joven hablar con tanta determinación nos tranquilizó. Un palenque, una comunidad, un pueblo como el de Yolombó hoy está enfrentándose a desafíos como multinacionales, no distintos a los amos esclavistas de hace más de 450 años. Sin embargo, mantiene sus raíces y herencia para seguir luchando como los demás. La asociación de mujeres de Yolombó está buscando acceder a la mismas loma de pamba para crear una granja integral y agroecológica como una fuente de ingresos autogestionados para ellas y sus familias. Entre sus tradiciones ancestrales y la innovación del presente, es evidente con ese ánimo de lucha que Yolombó puede seguir creciendo y expandiéndose como una comunidad libertaria de y para los descendientes de los ancestros africanos.

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Saying farewell to our friends, the children of the water, we left Wampia and found our way to the River Ovejas which we followed towards the town of Suarez, returning to a community that we met recently: the Andean Palenque of Yolombó. Although physiologically difficult to imagine, we bees get goose bumps to be back in a place so special with a story of struggle and resistance of more than 450 years.

Landing where our old friends live, as soon as we hit the earth the children asked us bring out the banner to see the big picture and remember the story about mentioning "the larvae of consumerism, that Monsanto makes poisons and the ants from the kareaoke party do not share." This time the talks could be done in a more appropriate way because, after several days of being in the community, the story tellings were done the final day. Being that all the honey that we need for our work is created through self-pollination and we have been on this second tour of southwestern Colombia for almost two months, almost all of our resources have been exhausted. But here we were provided the opportunity to work a few days to get resources while we get closer to the reality of this community with whom we have shared and developed alliances. For two days like the other compañerxs in the region, between earth and stone, water and sweat, we worked in a gold mine near the River Ovejas. This work is not understood just seeing it, we must live it to truely know what it is like to work in a mine, its hard, exhausting and painful.

After our previous visit, the mayor of the municipality evicted the miners in mines that had been developed through cooperative work in teams. Now, that mine is being worked by a backhoe and the few miners who were able to gather crumbs of what the heavy machine ry extracts. This time we worked at a place two hours away from Yolombó, going upstream by the River Ovejas to reach a rural area called San Juan. There, the miners formed their teams with drawer, shovel, bucket and wooden washing plate working days of 8 or 10 hours before returning walk another two hours. In this place, there was also a backhoe that all the time was nearing where the miners were washing and if we were not quick to grab our things and move, the machine we crush us. It was intense to see the contrast between white, over weight person mounted on his big technology moving tons yet trembling like jelly, but without the sweat and meanwhile all the black miners with mud above their boots working every last reserve of energy in their body with only the basic manual tools. To live and feel the dignity of a people who work day after day in extreme conditions to provide the raw matter of global capitalism and simultaneously support their families with crumbs while others receive the bulk of the wealth through the present global system of parasitism. In these two days we gathered about 2 grams - to $ 120 thousand pesos divided among three - that helped us to continue pollinating. What really earned was the appreciation for the way of life of our friends here and being able to live their reality.

The first day we were in the mine, our friend in the region went to a meeting in Popayan with other community leaders with representatives of INGEOMINAS. There, the entity told the communities , in a very disrespectful fashion, that the mining municipalities were proposed to be created into "mining districts" where everyone, including Suarez, would be able to develop at least two mining projects a year. The leaders present objected strongly that if development means that the multinational companies are getting into the region with heavy machinery and hazardous chemicals such as cyanide and mercury, threatening the territorial autonomy of theafro and indigenous communities not being respected, that it would be better to not have development in their region. What has been seen in Suarez is that the machinery as the backhoe have enabled foreign ownership of precious metals and the increase of accidents and fatalities in the mining, as the 21 who died in a landslide by a backhoe in October last year . Also, the use of harsh chemicals have contaminated water sources, poisoned the soil, plants, animals and other creatures.

This time we did two workshops, one with the students from 3rd, 4th and 5th of the Educational Institution of Yolombo. In the first workshop with the students, the children mentioned that they thought it more important that the government "use the money for the war to help the displaced, build more schools and provide tools to campesinos instead of genetically modified seeds." A teacher from the school told the workshop that in 15 days people from UniCauca were coming sent by the Union Fenosa to make the third round of hydrological studies that seek to channel and divert the River Ovejas to feed the reservoir Salvajinas. Soon they will reach the people with who they are going to start the prior consultation with the community on this project and it is important that not only adults but also the youth participate in the community consultation of this project, which if done, will surely change the community and region irreversibly and negatively.

The second workshop was contextualized with youth issues relavent to what is being lived in the region. A young man said that "we live here rich. We can get gold when we want, without a boss, we have our land and our rancho to plant banana, cassava and coffee. But because of the envy and selfishness, we're losing young people what we have here. Children see things on TV like the soap opera The Cartel that glorify drug trafficking and violence and children are set to copy and immitate that. We need to get our act together with what is happening here. This hill, Pamba, between Yolombó and Suarez is being solicited to be bought by the multinational Kedhada. Not only to get gold but also other minerals such as uranium. As if not enough, Cartones de Colombia wants to implement monocultures of pine and eucalyptus on the same hill. We must appreciate what we have, fight for it, because if we don´t we will be forced to leave here and end up in the poor neighborhoods of the city without any opportunity of work. "

Listening to the young man speak with such determination reassured us. A Palenque, a community, a people like those of Yolombó, today are facing challenges as multinational companies which are really not much different from the slave masters of more than 450 years ago. However, this community that maintains its roots and heritage to continue fighting as they always have. The women's association of Yolombó is seeking access to the same hill, Pamba, to create an agro-ecological farm to serve as an integral source of income and food for themselves and their families. Among their ancestral traditions and innovation, it is evident in that spirit of struggle that Yolombó can continue to grow and expand as a libertarian community of and for the descendants of African ancestors.

Yolombó: Entre agua y tierra / Yolombó: Between water and earth

Después de la humedad y del bosque tropical de Buenaventura, la mula, la pantera negra y la abeja, cruzamos la cordillera occidental y subimos por el Valle del Río Cauca al municipio de Suárez, departamento del Cauca. En las afueras del pueblo de Suárez pudimos quedarnos en la vereda de Yolombó, el Palenque más antiguo del norte del caucao. Arriba del Río Ovejas, esta comunidad sigue presente y en resistencia después de una historia larga de opresión desde hace más de 400 años en esta región, sin mencionar su robo y secuestro desde África. Como la cultura de las comunidades de esta zona, la región es rica en bienes naturales que han causado que la tierra haya sido constantemente amenazada por intereses económicos extraños.

En los días que estuvimos en la región, pudimos aprender sobre muchas de las luchas de épocas anteriores al igual que de las que se están realizando hoy en día. Un día que hubo un intercambio un poco mas formal, pudimos conocer la organización de mujeres de la vereda con quien compartimos el telón de Plan Colombia y las experiencias de lucha de las compañeras de “Take Back the Land”. Aunque hablamos mucho al comienzo, poco a poco las mujeres se animaron a compartir lo que han vivido, lo que piensan y lo que sueñan sobre cómo mejorar su situación y seguir desafiando las múltiples discriminaciones a que se enfrentan como mujeres negras campesinas.

Una de las primeras historias que escuchamos es que después que los ancestros de la comunidad, traídos desde el Ecuador, pudieron escapar de la esclavitud, se asentaron alrededor del Río Ovejas. En los años 1890’s con la construcción de la antigua línea del ferrocarril que pasaba por la región, los constructores desplazaron a muchas familias diciéndole a las personas que su montaña estaba en una falla geológica por lo que en cualquier momento la montaña se les iba venir encima (los constructores no mencionaron que una gran parte de Colombia es una falla geológica y esta zona no era de mayor riesgo que muchas partes de la región andina).

Ya en los 1980’s, 90 años después, comenzaron los problemas con los intereses hidroeléctricos en el territorio. En 1983 se comenzó la construcción de la represa de Salvajina por el Río Cauca arriba del pueblo de Suárez. En 1985 cuando la represa se terminó, y el embalse empezó a llenarse con agua, las familias que no vendieron sus tierras porque no quieran perder su territorio ancestral, salieron corriendo con las cosas que pudieron cargar mientras que el nivel del agua los perseguía. Debajo de la superficie de la Salvajinas quedó un cementerio Afro ancestral que tiene más de 400 años. Además se perdieron más de 3,000 trabajos de minería artesanal que eran un gran aporte económico para las familias de la comunidad. También con la construcción de la represa llegaron muchas personas que no eran de la región trayendo problemáticas sociales que no existía antes como la prostitución juvenil y drogadicción.

El embalse es 32 Km de largo por un Km de ancho y tiene aproximadamente 150 m de profanidad. Produce electricidad para vender al Ecuador mientras que las familias de la región producen su electricidad por medio de una pequeña planta que queda por el Río Ovejas que pertenece a la empresa Colombiana Cedalca. En el año 1990 la Salvajinas fue privatizada por Unión Fenosa que también tiene intereses de apoderarse de la planta que queda por el río Ovejas. Aunque hay un embalse gigante que produce electricidad para Ecuador, el Salvajinas está rodeado por casas en las montañas que no tienen ni electricidad ni agua. Por otro lado, esta fuente de agua artificial ha causado cambios climáticos a nivel local ya que en días nublados el frío del agua ha causado que muchos cultivos de tierra caliente como la yuca ya no se dan con tanto éxito como antes.

En 1993 se anunciaron los planes para desviar el Río Ovejas para que desembocara en el embalse. Este peligro causó movilizaciones de las comunidades de la región en protesta en contra este megaproyecto tan dañino para el territorio y sus habitantes. Por medio de la Ley 70, las comunidades Afros pudieron demandar un estudio de impacto del proyecto que declaró que éste tenía apenas cinco aspectos positivos pero más de 50 consecuencias negativas. Gracias a este estudio, el proyecto fue archivado ese año, pero desafortunadamente, en 2004, el proyecto fue desarchivado por Union Fenosa que sigue impulsando el desvío del río. Veintidós años después de la Salvajinas, el río Cauca no se usa casi para pescar, bañar, beber, irrigar u otros usos que sostienen la vida. El río Ovejas es el único río que mantiene muchos de las especies nativas de peces de la región de los que dependen las comunidades al ser su alimento. También mantiene la ecología natural que sirve para el bienestar y subsistencia de los que viven a su alrededor. Fue la relación con este río y la lucha protegerlo lo que motivó a muchos de los jóvenes de la región a rescatar y mantener las costumbres y tradicionales ancestrales de su comunidad.

Por las montañas, alrededor del embalse, se ven tierras bastante taladas y erosionadas de su flora natural. Los únicos bosques que se ven son de pino sembrado en monocultivo. El pino, una especia que no es nativa, seca y degrada los nutrientes de los suelos en una zona de topografía muy variada que ya sufre problemas de erosión. Son estos bosques, como los de eucalipto y los de palma aceitera para crear agro combustibles, los que están siendo impulsados y apoyados por el gobierno en los dudosos proyectos de reforestación. El pino de esta zona, como el de muchas otras partes, se usa para producir productos de papel y cartón con métodos que desperdician el agua y el suelo, usando bastantes químicos como blanqueadores en su producción. Los bosques alrededor de la Salvajinas son para vender la materia prima a la empresa Cartón de Colombia. Encima y a los alrededores de la represa hay dos batallones de alta montaña del ejército Colombiano. Desde que estos se ubicaron allí, los soldados han disparado hacia los campesinos que siempre cultivaron y practicaron la minería en estas tierras. Es así como se ve que por la represa no solamente se han perdido estas prácticas tradicionales en la zona que quedó bajo el agua del embalse, sino también en todas las tierras que quedan en los alrededores de las instalaciones de la represa.

Explorando más la región y sus problemáticas, abajo del pueblo de Suárez visitamos una mina artesanal explotada de forma tradicional por los habitantes de la zona. Está ubicada entre los acueductos y una piscina que antes era el campamento donde vivían los obreros que construyeron el embalse. Aunque la represa ya tiene 22 años y la lucha relacionada con ella es en contra el desvío del Río Ovejas, también hay otro desafío en este territorio. Las comunidades de esta zona se identifican como Agromineros que viven de cultivar la tierra pero también de la minería artesanal de oro. Pero ahora, este mineral que les ha ayudado a sobrevivir desde siglos atrás, es la razón para que esta tierra y sus habitantes estén amenazados por intereses extraños. Además de los intereses energéticos relacionados al embalse, están los intereses de las empresas mineras industriales.

El corredor en donde queda el embalse, el pueblo de Suárez, la vereda de Yolombó y el Río Ovejas es de aproximadamente 7,000 ha. La infame empresa minera sudafricana Anglo Gold Ashanti, localmente conocida como Kedahda, está solicitando al Estado colombiano una concesión de 6,500 ha para explotar el oro con grandes minas a cielo abierto en la región. Aunque la minería artesanal tiene los riesgos de derrumbes, el peligro al que se exponen los mineros nunca alcanza a ser de la misma escala al que se exponen los que trabajan en las grandes minas que usan maquinaria pesada y químicos peligrosos. Hace casi un año, debajo de la represa, más de 20 personas murieron cuando una retroexcavadora causó un derrumbe en una de estas minas no tradicionales. Además, con minería de esta escala, los peligros no son solamente para las personas que van a trabajar en las minas, sino también para todos los seres, el agua, la tierra y el aire de la región. La practica de destruir montañas, canalizar y envenenar ríos, masacrar y desplazar comunidades humanas y no humanas, es la más destructiva que podría suceder a cualquier comunidad.

Al visitar la mina, la pantera negra y la abeja nos adentramos por los túneles a una de ellas. Colgados por un lazo, descendimos aproximadamente 10 metros bajo la superficie de la tierra, para después, agachados entre arcilla, agua y oscuridad, empezar a sacar a la superficie tierra por estos túneles de 5 metros de profundidad en baldes que se cuelgan del mismo lazo. Aunque estuvimos poco tiempo en la mina, pudimos ayudar y compartir con mujeres y hombres trabajando junto a ellos la minería hombro a hombro. El trabajo es pesado no solamente por el riesgo de las minas sino también por el desgaste físico que implica trabajar en esas condiciones. Sin embargo, a pesar de estas condiciones, los grupos de trabajo son de familias y amigos que mantienen un tejido de apoyo y colaboración muy fuerte. Las personas pueden trabajar a la hora que escogen, y el trabajo al igual que las ganancias, se comparten entre todos.

Desafortunadamente, el día antes de que visitáramos la mina, es decir el 30 de agosto, llegó la policía municipal con una orden de desalojo de los mineros que estaban trabajando allí. El Alcalde del municipio dice que supuestamente la orden está fuera de sus manos y que se dio tal orden por que esta mina es ilegal y por sus condiciones representa un riesgo para todos los que trabajan allí. En términos jurídicos los bienes públicos del municipio están bajo el control del Alcalde y esa persona es la única que puede decidir si los mineros pueden quedarse o no.

Esta semana nos llegó la noticia de que la policía desalojo a los mineros que estaban trabajando allí. Muchas de las personas creen que tras el desalojo están los intereses de la Kedahda que quiere apropiarse de esta mina creada con el sudor de las personas que allí trabajan. Ya se sabe que van a llevar retroexcavadoras en el área para seguir explotando el oro. Con las técnicas de la minería industrial, no solo se pierden las practicas tradicionales de minería que tienen un bajo impacto ambiental, sino que también el apoyo, la dignidad y la colaboración entre los y las minerxs, es decir, el tejido social construido sobre las relaciones que imponía la explotación de la mina.

Cuando estuvimos en la mina un minero nos dio la bienvenida, como todos siempre hacían, y nos agradeció por venir a ver la realidad de su comunidad. En un momento nos dijo que "esto es de lo que podemos vivir, si nos sacan de acá ¿qué otras opciones quedan?, ¿cultivos ilícitos?, ¿integrarse a un grupo armado? Nos van quitando las opciones de una vida digna. No hay nada más triste que un padre o una madre que no puede darle de comer a sus hijos." Por ahora seguimos pendientes de los compañeros y compañeras de Yolombó para saber cómo sigue la situación de la mina, cómo se les puede apoyar y esperamos volver para continuar compartiendo conocimientos y experiencias.

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After the humidity and tropical forests of Buenaventura, the mule, black panther and bee crossed over the cordillera occidental and went up the Cauca river valley to the municipality of Suarez, Cauca where we stayed in the countryside of Yolombó, the oldest Palenque in the north Cauca region. Just uphill from the River Ovejas, this community continues to be present and in resistance after a long history of over 400 years of oppression in this region, without mentioning their theft and kidnapping from Africa. Parallel to the areas culture, the region is also rich in what are called natural resources, which have caused the land to be constantly threatened by foreign economic interests.

In the days that we were in the region we were able to learn a great deal about struggles from past times as well as those struggles that are being lived today. One day that we had a more formal exchange, we were able to meet with Yolombó’s women’s organization and shared the Plan Colombia Graphics as well as the experiences from the struggle of the compañeras with “Take Back the Land”. Even though we spoke a bit much at the beginning, lil by lil the women stepped up to share what they had lived, what they thought and what they dreamed to better their economic situation as well as face the multiple discriminations that they encounter as black campesina women.

One of the first stories we heard about was that after the ancestors of the locals of the community, who were brought through Ecuador, were able to escape slavery they settled all around the River Ovejas. In the 1890’s with the building of now gone train line that passed through the region, the construction displaced many families who were told that their homes were on a geological fault line and at any moment their mountain would fall on them (the construction company did not mention that most of Colombia lay on a fault line and this area was no more at risk then many areas in the Andean region).

In the 1980’s, 90 years later, the problems associated with hydroelectric interests came into the region. In 1983 the construction was started on the Salvajinas Dam on the river Cauca above the town of Suarez. In 1985 when the Dam was finished and the reservoir began to fill, the families that had not sold their lands because they did not want to loose their ancestral territory had to run with what they could carry as the water level rose. Under the surface of the Salvajinas remains an ancestral Afro cemetery that is over 400 years old. In addition more then 3,000 traditional mining jobs were lost, a massive blow to the income of the families in the community. Also with the dam’s construction a lot of people arrived from other regions bringing new social problems like adolescent prostitution and drug addiction.

The reservoir is about 32 Km long, a Km wide and about 150m deep. It produces electricity to sell to Ecuador while the families from the region affected produce their electricity by means of a small plant on the River Ovejas that belongs to Colombian company Cedalca. In 1990 the Salvajinas was privatized by company Union Fenosa that is also interested in taking over the plant that is on the River Ovejas. While the giant reservoir produces electricity for Ecuador, the surrounding mountains are scattered with homes that do not have electricity or running water. Also this artificial body of water has caused local climate changed to more frequent cloudy and cold days which has been the cause for many warm weather crops like yuca to not cultivated as plentifully as before.

In 1993 the plans were announced to rechannel the route of the River Ovejas and have it feed into the reservoir. This threat caused mobilizations from the region’s communities against the environmentally destructive mega project. By means of the Law 70, Afros communities have a right to an impact study of the project which reported only a mere five positive impacts compared to over 50 negative consequences from the project. Thanks to this study the project was shelved though unfortunately in 2004 the project was revived by Union Fenosa that continues to pressure to be able to reroute the river. Twenty-two years after the Slavajinas, the river Cauca is barely used to bathe, swim, fish, drink, irrigate or for other life sustaining practices. The river Ovejas is the only river that maintains many of the regions native fish species that the communities depend upon for food. The river is also in an ecological balance that it can serve for the well being and subsistence of the surrounding communities. It was the relation to this river that prompted the struggle to protect it as well as motivate the youth to start rescuing and maintaining their ancestral traditions and customs in their communities.

On the mountains surrounding the reservoir the land is very deforested of its native flora and affected by erosion. The only forests are monocrops of pine, a species not native to the region that dries and degrades the soils nutrients in an area with varied topography that already suffers from problems of erosion. It is these forests, as those of eucalyptus and those of the oil palm that is used to make agro fuels, that are being pushed and supported by the State in very suspicious projects of “reforestation”. The pine in this area, as in most places, is to produce papers and cardboard with methods that are wasteful of water and soil and use chemicals like bleaches in their production. The forests around the Salvajinas are to sell raw material to the company Cartón de Colombia. On top of and around the dam there are two high mountain army battalion bases. Since these were located here the soldiers have fired upon campesinos that were planting or mining on these lands. In that way even the land that the dam did not leave under water has been lost to the projects installations.

Exploring more of the region and some of its other confrontations we went below the town of Suarez visiting a traditional mining site being worked by the people of the region. It is located between some aqueducts as well as a swimming pool in what was once the camp where the dam’s construction workers lived. Even though the dam is 22 years old and the struggle against it as well as the re routing of the river Ovejas continues, there is also another threat to the region. These communities identify as Agrominers that live from agriculture as well as small scale traditional gold mining. Though now, this mineral that helped them survive for so long is the same reason that this land and its inhabitants are faced with the threat of new foreign interests. In addition to the energy interests surrounding the dam, there are also the interests of industrial mining companies.

The corridor where the reservoir Salvajinas, the town of Suarez, the countryside of Yolombó and the river Ovejas are located is approximately 7,000 ha. The infamous South African mining company Anglo Gold Ashanti, locally known as Kedahda, is soliciting the Colombian State for a concession of 6,500 to perform strip gold mining in the region. While traditional small scale mining has its dangers like landslides, the danger that miners are exposed to never reaches the scale that the miners in large industrial mines that used heavy machinery and dangerous chemicals. It has almost been a year when just below the dam more than 20 people died when a bulldozer caused a land slide in a large mine. In addition, the mining of this scale brings dangers that are not only threatening those who are working in the mine though to all the beings, water, land and air in the region. The practice of destroying mountains, canalling and poisoning rivers, to massacre and displace communities of humans and non humans, is of the most destructive things that could happen to any community.

In visiting the mine the Black Panther and the bee entered one of the openings into the tunnel below. Hanging by just a single rope, we descended about 10 meters from the surface of the Earth to later be kneeling down in clay, water and darkness. Once adjusted, we went down another 5 meter tunnel to start taking the outer crust of the Earth in buckets that were pulled up by the same rope. While we were only in the mine a short time, we were able to help and share with women and men working together in the mine, shoulder to shoulder. It is a hard work, not only cause of the risk of being in the mines though also the physical wear and tear of the working conditions. Regardless of these conditions the work groups are families and friends that maintain a strong weaving of mutual aid and collaboration. People can work when they want and the work as well as the earnings is shared amongst everyone.

Unfortunately the day before we visited the mine, August 30th, the municipal police came giving orders for everyone to vacate and that the mine was being closed. The municipality’s mayor claims that it is out of his control and that the order was given because the mine is illegal and the conditions of the mine are dangerous to the people who are working there. In judicial terms the public goods of the municipality are under control of the Mayor and this is the only person that can give the order for the miners to go or stay.

This week we were informed that the police returned to the mine and forced all the miners from the site. Many believe that Kedahda is interested in the mine and attempting to appropriate the mine that was discovered and created from the labor and sweat of the people who worked it. It is already known the bulldozers are going to be put into the site to continue extracting the gold. With the industrial mining techniques not are only the traditional self subsistence, low environmental impact mining practices lost, though also the support, dignity and collaboration amongst the miners. In other words the social weaving created through the mining are now replaced with domination and exploitation.

When we were in the mine one miner gave us a special welcome, as everyone did, and he thanked us for coming there and seeing the reality of his community. In one moment he said that "this is what we are able to live from. If they take us out of here, what other options do we have? Grow illicit crops? Join an armed group? They are taking away the options we have to a life with dignity. There is nothing sadder then a father or mother that can’t give their children something he eat." For now we are in contact with the compañeros and compañeras of Yolombó to know how their situation evolves, how they can be supported and hope to plan a return to continue sharing skills and experiences with them.