when it rains it...gets really wet

Exhausted and hasty, but it needs to be said:
The commemoration trip to Mulatos and Resbaloza was: up hill, sweaty, full of evidence of military presence (including food trash with “Made in USA” labels), really cold at night swinging in our hammocks under a brilliant night sky, a powerful pilgrimage of remembrance. We left on Tuesday around 9am and our group of 68 members of the Peace Community and four international accompaniers arrived in Mulatos around 6pm. Even though we were lucky to avoid rain I, of course, managed to soak my clothes and hammock by not screwing tight my water bottle cap. (As seen here)

The next morning we gathered at the sight of the massacre of Luis Eduardo Guerra, his 9 year old son Deiner and his partner Bellanira Areiza. Now, two years later, a small chapel stands were a commission of Peace Community members and international accompaniers (including FOR) found their bodies. Deiner had been decapitated by a machete and Luis Eduardo and Bellanira killed brutally, also with machete. Luis Eduardo was one of the founders of the peace community and one of the most respected and energetic leaders. At the rememberence service, which fell on Ash Wednesday and 2 years to the hour of the massacre, Padre Javier (who has long accompanied the PC) reminded us all that we are mud, that we are weak. He then marked us with the mud from the river we stood next to, the river by which these three were so brutally and horrifically murded and reminded us that the mud from this river was consecrated with the blood of Luis Eduardo, Bellanira and Deiner. Padre Javier is a Jesuit priest and when I later asked him if he was moved to the theology of liberation beginning with the Medellin Conference in 1968 he said, Oh no, long before then. He brought to that sight not a style of high church, but the highest. In his botas, clean white robe and brightly colored stole, he talked about the experience of true faith and belief in one another as bringing us closer to God. The communion he offered to us was one of true peace and love.

After the moving service we breakfasted and then a smaller group of us started out on the two hour hike up to Resbaloza, a neighboring area where the remaining five people were massacred. We walked straight uphill to arrive at the sight. There was a moment towards the end during which a few of us commented that it didn´t seem possible to go any higher. We arrived at the top of one of the mountains and found a lone house situated near cacao fields. It was a few minutes walk away in these cacao fields in which the family of Alfonso Bolivar was killed. Alfonso, his wife Sandra Milena and his five year old daughter Natalia and his 2 year old son Santiago were also brutally killed with machetes. At the same time Alejandro Perez was also murdered. The murderes buried the bodies in a common grave after severely mutilating them. On this sight again, a small chapel was constructed by the comunity and names and crosses remember the lives so mindlessly lost. Padre Javier lead us through another service of rememberence at this sight as well. A cacao tree grows in the middle of the chapel as the common grave where the bodies were found is ringed with stones.

After the sevice we trekked down the mountain to return to our camping sight and dinner, to rest up and prepare for the long hike home. We left by 7:30, following the Mulatos River back to La Union and San Josecito. On the way back we recieved news of a terrible article that had been published by the Colombian weekly magazine ¨Semana¨. It was directly attacking one of the community leaders, accusing her of decrying violence while having all five children in the FARC. It was the most ridiculous piece of slander ever poorly written. The woman in question was Doña Brigida Gonzalez, who is the main reason I decided to spend this year with the Peace Community. Doña Brigida had flown to the US in November of 2005, when I worked in the San Francisco FOR office, to speak at the annual vigil at the School of the Americas in Ft. Benning, Georgia. I was lucky to be one of her translators and hosts. My first five minutes with this spirited, artistic, articulate and passionate leader was more than enough to convince me that I would soon be headed to San Jose de Apartado. Doña Brigida´s 15 year old daughter was soon after tragically murdered in her sleep while attending a holiday party on December 26th of that same year. This was a case of the Colombian Army, with the help of ¨reinserted¨FARC members, attacking supposed FARC supporters in the middle of the night the day after Christmas. As I walked along the Mulatos River with Brigida this past week we talked about her daughter and the incredible sadness she still carries and the strength with which she feels her daughter´s continued presence.

This article was a crude and almost unbelievable attack, published on line the day before the PC commemorated the massacre of 8 of it´s members, as we were making the long hike there. If you read Spanish and would like to see the disgusting piece you can view it here: http://www.semana.com/wf_InfoArticulo.aspx?idArt=101153
Just yesterday Mireille and I accompanied Doña Brigida and her son and grandaughter to their farm about 40 minutes away from San Josecito. Mireille and I watched as they packed up all of their possessions and most of their chickens into a couple of large burlap bags and displaced. It is not safe for Brigida or her family to be in the more vulnerable out-lying areas right now. As always, Brigida is strength and wisdom, wishing to continue forward in powerful and peaceful resistance.
(Here is a picture of us both at the massacre site in Resbaloza.)

This article also made the broad reaching speculation that it was FARC who were responsible for the Feb 2005 massacre and that FARC supporters were found all over the Peace Community. I hate this article.

This awful news was soon transformed into surprised elation as that same night we found out that the Colombian equivilant of the Attorney General´s office was releasing a report that clearly blamed the 17th Brigade of the Colombian Army (the Brigade operating in our zone) for the Feb 21 2005 massacre. The first reports said 56 soldiers were under investigation, now the number is up to 69. Our teammates in Bogota say everywhere you go, this is the biggest news. Colombian news reports are calling this the most important human rights case in the country. Up in the Peace Community we are reeling. It now is obvious the online smear article was more about discrediting the community via one of its leaders in order to create a bulwark against this newest news.

One of the many articles, for you Spanish readers is found here:http://www.semana.com/wf_InfoArticulo.aspx?idArt=101219

Please note this is from the very same magazine as the first article, ¨Semana¨. Seems they are suffering from a split personality disorder. We have posted a translated article of this (thanks to my teammate Janice) on the FOR Colombia Program Website. Check it out here: http://www.forcolombia.org/news/charges


We just bought the newest print version of ¨Semana¨ and found the article about the State´s findings, entitled simply ¨The Massacre¨. In a country riddled with human rights abuses and frequent masssacres of civilian population, this is quite a powerful distinction. This finding of the Attorney General´s office is only the first step to what will surely be a long and dramatic investigation. But, for the first time in the history of the community, one of its hundreds of human rights violations and over 180 brutal murders has hope of no longer languishing in impunity.

These last couple of weeks have been long and intense. I feel completely alive and completely exhausted. A tense meeting today with the General of the 17th Brigade has left my shaking and angry since walking out of his office hours ago. The US Congress is about to go through its annual ritual of ¨human rights certification¨ for Colombia in order to release the annual aid package. And Bush is set to visit Bogota in the next week.

Admidst all of this I was also lucky to return from our trip last week to the news that one of my oldest and dearest friends, Veronica, had given birth to a her first child, a baby girl named Saniyah Elise McBeth. Congratulations to Veronica and Howard and welcome to the world baby wonder! Thanks for reminding me of all that is good and pure in our world and Auntie AJ will see you soon.