I attended a meeting today where there was much heat, some laughter, and in which many straight forward questions about human rights were asked. The place was the office of the Vice President, and the occasion was a meeting between representatives of the human rights (HR) organizations of Barranca and government officials: Carlos Franco, formerly an ELN guerrilla, who is now the head of Human Rights; the police commander of Barranca; Army commander Rios; and a person from the Mayor’s office.
I was impressed with the directness of the questions the HR groups put to government officials, especially in light of the fact that they are strong adversaries of each other. The HR´s are advocates for the people and watch dogs of the government in many ways. They also are helping the government to find safe ways to stop the assassinations and threats that cause people to displace.
One of the most difficult things that they are dealing with is that police information is passed “under the table” to the paramilitaries. The result of this is that if a person reports suspicious or criminal activity, the reporter might likely be assassinated. As a result, the civilian population is afraid to say anything; yet, the police can’t apprehend anyone if the people don´t report to them. During this meeting, the members of the HR´s insisted persistently that the police and army needed to be cleaned up. This was not exactly what the government officials wanted to hear. I prayed during this part of the discussion.
It seems that there is no easy answer to such problems, but they must be worked on to forge a space for peace here. I was impressed by the obvious strong commitment of everyone there, especially the HR’s steady diligence in pressuring the government to find a good way to stop the violence.
Many of the government officials, including Carlos Franco, knew HR people by first name. At times the interchange got very pointed and heated and yet at other times they could laugh with and at each other. The existence of both heat and laugher gives me hope, for they were signs of healthy exchanges and relationships. As a friend related to me afterwards, peace is not going to happen overnight, but is a process that will happen only over time. And it seems this meeting was an important part of that process.
CPT played an important role in this meeting; we let everyone know we are watching.
I was impressed with the directness of the questions the HR groups put to government officials, especially in light of the fact that they are strong adversaries of each other. The HR´s are advocates for the people and watch dogs of the government in many ways. They also are helping the government to find safe ways to stop the assassinations and threats that cause people to displace.
One of the most difficult things that they are dealing with is that police information is passed “under the table” to the paramilitaries. The result of this is that if a person reports suspicious or criminal activity, the reporter might likely be assassinated. As a result, the civilian population is afraid to say anything; yet, the police can’t apprehend anyone if the people don´t report to them. During this meeting, the members of the HR´s insisted persistently that the police and army needed to be cleaned up. This was not exactly what the government officials wanted to hear. I prayed during this part of the discussion.
It seems that there is no easy answer to such problems, but they must be worked on to forge a space for peace here. I was impressed by the obvious strong commitment of everyone there, especially the HR’s steady diligence in pressuring the government to find a good way to stop the violence.
Many of the government officials, including Carlos Franco, knew HR people by first name. At times the interchange got very pointed and heated and yet at other times they could laugh with and at each other. The existence of both heat and laugher gives me hope, for they were signs of healthy exchanges and relationships. As a friend related to me afterwards, peace is not going to happen overnight, but is a process that will happen only over time. And it seems this meeting was an important part of that process.
CPT played an important role in this meeting; we let everyone know we are watching.
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