Conflict in Colombia uncovered

SNPS provides training for women and ethnic groups to rediscover their cultural identities in order to cope better with the pressures of Colombia's ongoing conflict [SNPS/CAFOD]

Francis McDonagh, CAFOD’s programme officer for Colombia, explains the country's conflict and how CAFOD's partners are working for peace

How did the conflict in Colombia begin?

Colombia has been in the midst of an internal armed conflict for about 40 years. It started when small farmers were driven off their land by large landowners, and this created the initial support for a guerrilla movement.

The main guerrilla group fighting at the moment is the FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).

There is also a smaller guerrilla group known as the ELN (the National Liberation Army) and more recently another group known as the paramilitaries, which started out as private militias formed by the rich landowners to defend their property.

Today the paramilitaries have developed into an almost independent army who claim to be fighting to defend law and order. But what they mean by law and order is a highly unequal society, where criticism and protest are discouraged or even met by violence.

Journalists and trade unionists are killed, as are community leaders. In areas they control they discourage women’s movements and try to impose conservative dress codes. There is evidence of collusion between the paramilitaries and the army and police in atrocities.

How does the drugs trade influence the conflict?

Colombia is a major producer of coca, the raw material of cocaine, and poppies, which are used to produce heroine. Increasingly these illegal armies, the paramilitaries and the guerrillas, depend on the drugs trade to keep themselves going, to buy their weapons and to finance themselves.

They either force people to grow drug crops or they tax drug crops. These sources of income are one of the factors that makes the conflict so enduring.

Why are they fighting?

The guerrillas and the paramilitaries fight for control of territory either because there are resources like diamonds or oil there or because they are corridors – entrance and exit routes – to bring in weapons or to export drugs.

In this conflict the people who suffer most are the civilians and mainly those in rural areas.

What has happened to people in those areas?

As a result of the conflict at least two million people have been displaced in Colombia since 1984. But "displaced" is one of these bureaucratic words, like "decanted", that doesn’t indicate the suffering and trauma this process involves.

What it means is that an armed group has come to their community, or their farm, and threatened them, maybe threatened to take their teenagers away to fight, sometimes killed one of the men. The rest of the family then has to get away with anything they can carry.

They have to find transport to the nearest town and beg for help. They put together a shelter out of plastic sheeting, bits of boxes and wood, and hope it doesn’t rain too hard.

And every day they have to find milk for the baby, food for the children, try to keep clean and healthy, often in indescribable squalor. And they may be in mourning for a father, a husband, a brother, or wondering what has happened back home.

Is the situation improving at all?

In some ways the conflict has got worse. Between 1998 and 2002 the Colombian government started a peace process with the FARC and tried to negotiate but the negotiations broke down. Probably neither side was acting in good faith.

In 2002 the government halted negotiations. President Alvaro Uribe was elected later that year and came to power on the promise of taking a hard line with the guerrillas.

He increased military spending and launched an offensive called the Patriot Plan intended to root out the FARC from strongholds in heart of the jungle, mainly in South East Colombia.

For the moment, this is making the situation of the local population worse. The army regards them as guerrilla supporters, while the guerrillas suspect them of betraying them to the army, and treat them roughly.

The guerrillas murder people on the slightest suspicion, sometimes because a neighbour with a grudge has told lies about them.

Bombing by the army is sometimes indiscriminate. Whole communities have been forced into the horror of displacement, and those that stay are trapped: the army and the guerrillas limit the amounts of food and basic supplies they can bring in. It’s a cruel situation.

At the same time President Uribe has started a process of demobilisation with the paramilitaries. The theory is that they hand in their weapons and are registered and then reintegrated into civil society.

There’s a lot of criticism of this process because there’s no serious process of investigating what these people have done in the past and we know that the paramilitaries have been guilty of the worst human rights abuses and massacres and so there’s a lot of unease about that process

There’s also concern from senior diplomats that the paramilitaries have a lot of economic and political power. One paramilitary leader has claimed that they control about one-third of members of the Colombian congress.

Many people are concerned that what is happening is a disguised take-over of Colombia by the paramilitaries while the army, the state, the government tries to carry on the war against the guerrillas.

What is CAFOD doing in Colombia?

Children in Arauca, Colombia welcome the arrival of the cross from Casanare with a paper dove. This is the final stage of the Stations of the Cross [Annie Bungeroth]

CAFOD works through Colombian partner organisations. Currently we support ten organisations, including women’s groups and indigenous organisations. They work on community development, both urban and rural.

Over the last few years, though, we have developed a close partnership with the social department of the bishops’ conference, and they are now our key strategic partner. The department has been promoting work for peace and reconciliation – an international campaign, adopted by Caritas Interationalis, of which CAFOD is a member.

For true peace Colombia needs fairer income distribution, land reform, and more investment in social services. We are trying to strengthen our partner organisations. As the government’s military campaign has been intensified, the humanitarian crisis has worsened, and our Colombia budget has virtually doubled over the last few years.

Is CAFOD also involved in advocacy work?

CAFOD works with other British and Irish development agencies as part of ABColombia group, which was formed seven years ago. It has been recognised by the British government as a source of accurate information and pressure on the government to defend and work for the protection of human rights organisations in Colombia, and to try and protect the communities where we have projects.

Has this work been successful?

When we started the work with ABColombia the British government had a fairly simple view of Colombia. They accepted the Colombian government’s version of events that were happening in Colombia, that it was just one version of terrorism.

We’ve helped them to see that, even if the groups use terrorist methods, sometimes there are issues of injustice, exclusion and inequality underlying this conflict.

President Uribe has tried to put the country on a war footing, calling development agencies, community organisations, and human rights groups supporters of the guerrillas. He’s basically tried to curb free speech and limit dissent.

People are also paid to report anything they regard as subversive - a system obviously open to abuse and setting people against each other. The situation is complicated and we must protect civil society and free speech.

What is the EU doing?

EU peace laboratories are an attempt to achieve peace through development; the idea is to set up a development programme that is transparent and involves all sections of the community whatever their views.

The best known of these is the Peace and Development programme for the Magdalena Medio based in Barrancabermeja, run by Jesuit partners of CAFOD. The EU adopted that as a peace laboratory and since then it’s given funding for three more peace laboratories.

What are your hopes for the future of Colombia?

Colombia is such a beautiful country, with such a wealth of natural resources, and such energetic and creative people, that it could be a paradise, a powerhouse of development in the region. I hope that Colombians can find a way of coping with their disagreements without violence, but put their talents into building a new society. Only they can do it, but we can help.

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