click to view invite (PDF)

Riohacha , Guajira 21 de Marzo de 2010

Compañer@s:

Via CAROL MOSLEY (USA)

Receive this brotherly/sisterly greeting from the Wayuu community of Bahia Portete.

This event commemorates the anniversary of the Sixth year of the massacre of our community that constitutes the genocide against our town, which was the greatest affront to our culture in all our history, because it touched those most sacred in our community: the women and the children.

Our Wayúu community of Bahia Portete will host “SIXTH YANAMA, LAPÛU SAU^U WOUNMAIN, DREAM OF OUR TERRITORY, FOLLOWING STEP BY STEP the TRACKS TO LOOK FOR the TRUTH AND JUSTICE, united by the civil resistance of the indigenous towns, weaving day to day and committed to the memory and the dreams of future generations for our return.

In Bahia Portete, Alta Guajira – Colombia, during days 15 to the 20 of April of 2010, we extend this very special invitation. For the Wayúu community it is important to have your support and solidarity and we count on your presence, as regional delegates, national and international, in this most significant Commemoration as an indigenous community.

With gratitude,

DEBORA BARROS FINCE

Organizadora del evento | Email: wayuumunsurat@yahoo.com | Celular: 3002773822-3102388988

TELEMINA BARROS C.

Rte. AKOSHIJIRRAWA | Email mujertejiendopaz@yahoo.es | Celular: 3004229793

In USA call: Bridges Across Borders

Email: office@bridgesacrossborders.org | (352) 485-2594

Wayuu Solidarity Campaign: A Woman’s Struggle for her People

Débora Barros Fince is an indigenous woman campaigning within Colombia and the United States to gain recognition of the massacre that took place against her people in April 2004. Débora’s family has been living in the area of Bahia Portete, Colombia for more than 500 years and considers this area to be her ancestral and cultural land, although the government has refused to recognize their claim. The Cerrejon Norte coal mine, the largest open pit mine in the world, is in the immediate area and the village is in the way of a planned mine expansion. Due to pressure from the World Bank and the international monetary fund to restructure its economy, the Colombian government sold its interest in the mine to a consortium consisting of Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Glencore (all multinational mining companies). This consortium then bought the remaining interest in the mine from Exxon in February 2002. Since the change in ownership Cerrejon has participated in the brutal intimidation of the local people in order to expand their mining interests, displacing whole villages without providing any restitution while publicly claiming to be deeply committed to the welfare of not only the local people but the local environment as well.

The massacre on Debora’s family took place in April 2004 leaving 12 people dead, 20 missing and another 300 displaced (they fled to bordering Venezuela). The massacre occurred early in the morning when about 150 military and 30 paramilitary came to the village. After summoning the tribe, they murdered 2 children and told them to leave their traditional land or there would be more killings. Among those killed by paramilitaries were Débora’s two brothers, aged 18 and 24 years. Her 24-year-old brother was shot dead in front of his mother. The Colombian government has denied any participation in the massacre and has yet to further investigate the situation, while Cerrejon is claiming that the people have peacefully returned to their land, although two years later the land is still abandoned with the majority of the villagers too afraid to return. Debora has also placed her life in danger by naming military officers who participated in the massacre and daring to speak out against the Colombian government and the paramilitary, while questioning Cerrejon’s possible involvement. Meanwhile her people are unable to return to their homes or to fully participate within their culture and yet nothing has been done to guarantee their safe return home. The slaughter of innocent people in any part of the world is tragic and infuriating. When it’s occurring with the support of the military and the government, it makes a mockery of the so called ‘international community’s’ commitment to peace and human rights as well as making a mockery of the US government’s commitment to freedom and human rights. Debora is pleading with the international community to recognize her people’s plight so that the Colombian government will be forced to take action in support of their claim.

Please see:  The Context of the Wayuu’s Struggle: A Brief History of Colombia

SAND TEARS OF THE DESERT WAYUU:
To commemorate the 2nd anniversary of the Bahia Portete massacre

Lágrimas de arena del desierto WAYUU (click here for Spanish version)

Between the 18th and 20th of April in the “Media Luna” sacred territory of the Wayuu people, located in La Guajira, we gathered for the second Yanama in memory of the massacre that occurred in Bahia Portete in April of 2004 at the hands of paramilitaries. To this event came the ONIC organization, other indigenous of Colombia, national and international NGOs, human rights organizations, environmentalists and unions, at which we shared meals, drinks, customs, hopes, the sea, the landscape, and the strength and magic of our territory. The objective of this encounter was to accompany the survivors of the massacre and share solidarity with all the Wayuu people in their struggle and determination that the victims of this massacre not be forgotten and that there not be impunity for the perpetrators.
This genocidal act was perpetrated by the paramilitary structure headed by Rodrigo Tovar “Pupo,” known as Jorge 40, assisted by Chemna Bala, Josemaria Ipuana, and his nephew Adrian Agustin Bernier.

This massacre killed women, children, young people, men, and elders, and the survivors have been forced to live outside their ancestral territory and outside the country to reside in Venezuela. But we are not renouncing our intent to return to our salty land. We thirst and hope to again feel the winds of the sea in our own desert land.

The barbarism against the Wayuu has not stopped, even though the zone has been militarized under the excuse of protecting this town and despite the promise of Colombian Vice-President Santos that he will not allow one single more death to the members of this community. Yet, the government continues to turn a blind eye to the murders that have occurred after the massacre. Such is the case of Edilia Epinayuu, one of the witnesses of the massacre and murdered by the paramilitaries on the 13th of July of the year 2005. The government refuses to acknowledge the complicity of the military and paramilitaries that we were able to observe and it does not have ears to listen to the threats that are raised constantly against the Wayuu people and its leaders. In the zone of this scene of torture, where the Colombian military is posted to “take care of” the houses, where torture rape and death occurred in the middle of the burning desert of salt and sand, appeared vulgar graffiti reminders of the acts of rape and other crimes that were committed against a dignified people. We also saw recently made threats written on the walls against their leader, Debora Barros Fince, who has fought to assure that the horrible acts committed against her people be not forgotten or fall in impunity.

Though the massacre occurred two years ago, there continues to be exerted physical, moral and psychological violence against this town, without intervention by the government forces purported to protect it. In this visit to Bahia Portete, the participants to the Yanama encounter were able to observe that, in the area controlled by the government, the indigenous houses are being destroyed and roofs, water tanks and doors are being dismantled. With this action the government attempts to erase the memory of the landscape and dwellings from the minds of the people.

THE UPROOTING OF THE WAYUU PEOPLE AND THE LOSS IN TOTALITY OF THEIR TERRITORY IS A REAL AND GRAVE SITUATION. Only four families still live in Bahia Portete. The process of return of the displaced people, promoted by the vice president of the republic, Francisco Santos in 2004, was a false return where people who were not from the area at all were brought only for public relation purposes, to give a false appearance of return by the victims.
Also of grave concern is the presence of the multinational mining corporations, Glencore, Anglo American, and BHP Billiton that have been exploiting the resources of the Guajira for the last twenty years, removing the coal from the heart of the Mother Earth, without benefiting in any way the indigenous people. This multinational conglomerate formed when they purchased the “rights” from Hillock in 2002, which was then operated by Exxon. Though the government offers no guarantee of security for the return of our Wayuu people, these mining activities have been the justification of militarization of the ancestral territory by the Colombian Army, who protects the mining interests such as infrastructure. In Media Luna, for one example, they have installed barb wire around the territory and the indigenous people can not walk freely and cannot visit their cemetery. The military has not been able to protect the Wayuu but the wall of iron protects foreign interests.

The participants in this Yanama gathering shared with us the tears of the women, the breakers of the sea that broke in our hearts as the waves did on the beaches, the breakers of sea that in each tide approached and washed away the memories of their parents, children, grandsons, spouses, brothers. We went to claim the rights of the Wayuu people to feel the breezes of the sea in their own desert home and so that the infamous history of death, torture and disappearance perpetrated by the paramilitary in the territory of the Wayuu is not left in forgetfulness and impunity; so that the transnational companies do not profit from the war in this country by state complicity; so that they do not imprison with fences the indigenous territory and inhabitants. We find that the government has great heart for the multinationals and strong arms against the Wayuu.

In this document the organizations below affirm their commitment to engage their organizations in support of the secure return of the displaced Wayuu and to inform their respective communities of the violence committed against the indigenous people of La Guajira and of the close relationship between the Colombian military and the paramilitary.

We call for the Colombian government to: 1) guarantee the life and integrity of all the members of the desert town of the WAYUU, especially of its leader De
bora Barros Fince, who received new death threats during this second Yanama; 2) respect the territory and property of the Wayuu; 3) work to guarantee the existence of economic security of the resources worthy of this town; 4) join the Wayuu in seeking justice in the 9th Circuit Court and officially condemn and seek punishment of the perpetrators of this attempted genocide against the Wayuu people and community so that these facts are not left in impunity and forgetfulness.

Subscribing Organizations:
Pueblo Muisca, Corp. Siemprevivas, Association Ecate, Ecological org. OE, Sintraminercol, Sintramin, Fenasintrap, Bridges Across Borders.
Please send communications to the Colombian authorities with copy to Organization Wayuu Munsurat; Email: wayuumunsurat@yahoo.com:

• President of Colombia Dr. Alvaro Uribe Velez, Cra. 8 No. 7-26, Palace of Narino, Santa Fe de Bogota;
  Email: auribe@presidencia.gov.co

• Vice-President Francisco Santos;
  Email: fsantos@presidencia.gov.co
• Minister of Mines and Energy;
  Dr. Luis Mejia Castro;
  Email: minas.energia@minminas.gov.co

• Advocate general judge Dr. Mayan Villazon;
  Email: anticorrupcion@presidencia.gov.co
• Defensoría of Town Dr.Volmar Antonio Perez Ortiz;
  Email: secretaria_privada@hotmail.com
• Permanent mission of Colombia before the Nations United in Geneva.
  Email: mission.colombia@ties.itu.intmission.

Please also send notice to Bridges Across Borders, PO Box 103, Graham, FL, USA 32044 (352) 485-2594 office@bridgesacrossborders.org

Government:

Colombia officially became a state in 1810 when it gained independence from Spain. In the late 1840s the Spanish elite who had remained in control even after Colombia’s separation from Spain formed the Liberal and Conservative parties which to this dominate Colombia’s political and social institutions. The Liberal party was formed on the platform of a secular federal state, whereas the Conservatives were interested in developing a stronger centralized Roman Catholic state. These two political parties have fought each other throughout Colombia’s history resulting in the death of thousands of innocent civilians and indigenous peoples, and catalyzing much of the instability and warfare that still present in modern day Colombia. The elite’s desire for land has resulted in the mass oppression of social and human rights movements, causing the displacement of hundreds of thousands of indigenous peoples and peasants, as well as the murder and imprisonment of union leaders, indigenous leaders, human rights workers and the exploitation of the working class. This is not a situation of the past as people continue to be murdered within the state of Colombia for working with and advocating for human rights and social reform. The constant struggle involving the needs of the peasant and indigenous peoples versus the power of the wealthy and elitist government has resulted in the formation of right-wing paramilitary and left-wing guerilla groups that have been participating in civil warfare in Colombia for over forty years.

Due to the complex nature of Colombia’s internal conflict, finding a solution seems nearly impossible. But as citizens of the country that is supporting a government which is responsible for the death and displacement of millions of people, it is our responsibility to question to ethics of our own government’s involvement. By educating ourselves to the context in which these situations take place and by becoming aware to our governments role in them we can be better prepared to help those within the international community. It is our responsibility as fellow humans to do our best to insure that all people around the world are afforded cultural freedom of expression and the right to life. By petitioning our state legislators, congressmen, senators and even the president we make it known that we will not sit by silently while our government continues to support the countries that are known to violate human rights laws. By speaking to others about these issues and openly supporting people like Debora we create a collective consciousness geared at seeking sustainable solutions to the various struggles that the worlds poor and indigenous face on a daily basis.

Ajiaco Recipe: A Solidarity Meal

Colombian potato soup

Ingredients:

3 bunches of scallions

1 thick bunch of cilantro

2 half-chickens, or 5 pounds of chicken

(Or for vegetarians, 4 squares of tofu)

1 1/2 lbs of red skin potatoes

3 lbs of yellow potatoes

1 1/2 lb of guascas (possibly not available in your area, so skip it)

5 tender ears of corn

5 cloves of garlic

Salt and pepper to taste (For vegetarians, add more scallions and garlic)

Directions:

1. Peel all of the potatoes.

2. In a big pot, combine: scallions, cilantro, and chicken (trim the fat). Make it boil, then turn to low temperature. Cook until chicken is tender, and remove the foam constantly.

3. Add the Red Skinned Potatoes and salt, and cook for 30 minutes.

4. Remove the chicken from the pot when it is cooked.

5. Shred the chicken into small pieces by hand and take away bones.

6. Add the other potatoes and keep on cooking

7. Cook the corn on the side.

8. Serve the meal with the chicken and the corn on the side.

(For vegetarians serve it with the tofu on the side and add seasoning to the tofu)

9. Put avocado, cream and capers for people to add to their taste

10. Enjoy!

Worsen Colombia’s devastating war and human rights crisis:
Plan Colombia bolsters Colombia’s military despite its persistent ties to right-wing paramilitary forces who represent the gravest threat to peace and democracy in that country. The paramilitaries commit the vast majority of human rights abuses and actively engage in drug trafficking. In early 2001 the paramilitaries increased their massacres of civilians and violently took control of territory in southern Colombia ahead of fumigation operations. The escalated war effort also undermines fragile peace negotiations, which are widely recognized as the only hope for lasting peace and a reduction of the violence associated with drug trafficking. Plan Colombia has emboldened efforts to solve the 35-year internal conflict on the battlefield while undermining government and civil society leaders seeking a peaceful resolution.

Poison food crops, and damage human and environmental health:
Last month, governors from four of Colombia’s southern states came to Washington to demand a halt to the U.S. backed campaign of aerial defoliation in their region. They described how subsistence farmers – not large coca plantations – were the most common targets of fumigation. Many families in the southern states have lost some or all of their food crops and been forced to leave their land. U.S. and Colombian officials insist that the defoliant chemicals being sprayed do not threaten human or environmental health. Yet the governors, as well as human rights monitors, report widespread respiratory and skin problems among people who have been directly sprayed. Environmentalists warn that defoliation threatens plant-life and animals in the fragile Amazon ecosystem.

Force drug production into neighboring regions:
As Colombia suffers the consequences of Plan Colombia, the economic and social factors will remain unchanged: massive poverty and a nearly inexhaustible supply of cultivatable land that guarantee new supplies will emerge to meet undiminished U.S. demand for drugs. Cocoa cultivation is already moving to new areas within Colombia and across its borders.

Three years later, the critics of Plan Colombia have been vindicated on all accounts. Plan Colombia has worsened the human rights situation in Colombia, poisoned people and the environment and failed to reduce the supply of narcotics into the United States. Take action today by urging your legislators to end this failed and counter-productive policy

Adapted from an article on the Washington Office of Latin America website: www.wola.org

Hello everyone,

For youth, it is very important to read because it gives them the opportunity to learn about different things. I sponsor a small, one-room library in Bogotá, Colombia. We call this project “Libros Para Soñar”(or “Books to Dream,” in English.)

In this library we have approximately 30 children who use this space to complete their homework and learn about our world. But it is very hard to continue this project because of financial issues.

One simple thing that we need to continue this project is to find sponsors to donate $50 for a month or as much as $600 per year. Or you can help by donating whatever you can toward this reading

project.

Thank you,
Adriana Salinas

BRIDGES Intern, Bogotá, Colombia

WAYUU SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN: We just returned in April from a visit to the Wayuu indigenous community of La Guajira, Colombia, for the Fourth Yanama: Women and Territory. This community suffered a massacre at the hands of paramilitaries and Colombian military on April 18, 2004. For the last three years, BRIDGES has hosted North American solidarity tours by Debora Barros Fince, Founder and Director of Organizacion Wayuu Munsurat and international spokesperson for her people of Bahia Portete, who now live in exile in Venezuela. We hope to host Debora or another representative again this fall.

Our little BRIDGES delegation to the Yanama was a diverse group, including three of “our girls” from various regions of Colombia along with our USA contingent and even a Yaqui woman from Sonoras, Mexico. We went to participate in a temporary re-occupation of Bahia Portete to honor the dead and assert the Wayuu people’s right to a peaceful return to their ancestral homeland. Invite us to speak with your group or class and give a visual presentation of our remarkable journey. We are exceedingly grateful to the RESIST Foundation for their $1,500 grant in support of our international solidarity work here in the U.S.