The gasoline! Bring it down!
The gasoline!
Let's go down boys, go down, go down!
Let's go and help!
We now turn to Colombia where President Juan Manuel Santos
talked yesterday about the agreement
that was made between his government and FARC
The Havana Agreement includes a strategy to halt the production of cocaine
through a voluntary substitution program,
but in indigenous territories...
...and aims for peasants who work on more than 90.000 hectares
to participate in alternative economies.
The objective is to liberate Colombia from illicit crops, from coca,
and from the production of cocaine.
It means to work with the people,
transform the countryside...
and guarantee rights for rural Colombians.
It is a bet for Colombia
It will mean a big leap
in access to, and use of land.
It means to distribute land to peasants without land,
or with insufficient land,
which will allow them to live in dignity.
It means to reconstruct the most affected regions
with plans that will truly generate a shock...
...so that our countryside will never again
be a death-trap for our children.
In 2016, the guerrilla of FARC-EP and the Colombian government signed a Peace Agreement
that was to end the longest armed conflict in Latin America.
The agreement consisted of 6 chapters that guaranteed access to land for the poorest peasants (chapter 1)
and the substitution of illicit crops (chapter 4).
In the north of Cauca, many peasants depend on illicit crops, which financed the war for decades.
The agreement promisedrural reform, the substitution of coca and marihuana
and finally end the cycle of poverty and violence.
UNDER FIRE
It is not a secret many peasants
and indigenous households depend on coca.
There are people who don't have these crops,
that don't like to work with these crops,
but their children are illiterate, they run around with nothing to do.
same thing for their grandchildren, they do not have their own house,
If you look at some of those houses, there may be 3 or 4 families in there.
For better or for worse, we don't have a choice!
We almost do not pay attention to our coffee,
we are more into our coca, our marihuana,
because coffee has its difficulties.
Sometimes you have to beg for them to buy it.
It is humiliating!
And over there, where we have coca, I have been thinking to grow flowers.
That's what I dream of.
But it also implies to look for commercialization,
because just to grow them to...
we have to be able to sell them.
And over here is where I have the marihuana.
To change this crop... it is going to be very hard
to get used to other crops.
Because we are used to these crops.
We are used to them,
so it will be difficult
to take them out and grow something else.
We have survived with these coca plants
for more than 30 years.
So when they come we will weigh it and they take it with them.
Here we have more than 40 pounds, so that’s about $60.000 pesos
$60.000 or $70.000 pesos ($18 USD).
If you grow 1 hectare, or 1/2, that’s enough to sustain yourself.
I don't have to go anywhere to bring it or sell it.
They buy it here.
So we pick it, we weigh it and sell it.
And it is something that has access to the market.
What is also important is when it gets very hot
well, they may dry a little bit, but there is always a harvest.
It's more: it is has been very hot, and look how they are.
Our coca is always producing.
When my mum and dad separated,
I had to stay with my mum taking care of the house,
I had to leave school
and started picking coca.
So we started this coca farm.
My mum did not want to grow coca
because my sister had already been to jail,
she got caught.
But I said: What else are we going to grow?
So we started his coca farm.
And as it was always a lot, we would pay workers to help.
And when we were done I would go to other farms to pick coca.
That's how people do it here.
You finish work on your farm, and you continue with the neighbours.
That's how I did it since I was 9 years old.
In 2017 the national substitution program (PNIS) was initiated.
Coca growing families were promised 6 payments
of $2.000.000 pesos ($540 USD) each...
over the course of one year to support the household.
To replace the coca for other crops, the PNIS included technical assistance
as well as finance for an agricultural project.
The price has been so low, I was getting a bit lazy.
I have been avoiding to cut them.
But I thought, any of these days I will have to cut them.
Well, if it was used to make medicine, because you can do a lot with this.
But when it is just for that other, well no.
We have entered the substitution program
and we are now waiting for it to be implemented.
It gives a sense of relief.
Now that the program started...
It started on the 22nd of November for the first inscribers.
They are now calling for technical assistance,
which is planned for the 13th of this month,
so they will start with the technical assistance
for the people who were accepted by the program...
They will now begin the substitution.
There is hope, a lot of hope that we can do something.
It looks very encouraging because ,
who was there to help me planting my marihuana and coca?
I did it by myself.
So, now we hope, if happens what never happened before,
it can really make a difference.
Before, these territories were controlled by FARC.
It was abandoned by the government,
but we did have a government.
They told us: “you have to grow plantain”,
and they would organize meetings and they’d tell us:
“grow food, you should not have too much coca,
grow coffee, do not abandon your culture.”
They were the government that we never had.
So we lived with this fear,
but we knew hey were in power.
They were the government of the poor.
And we obeyed.
Here is Cobra, here is Cobra. How is everything over there?
With the peace process robberies started to go up.
We did not know where they were coming from,
or if they were coming from the village.
They were strangers, that would go up,
do their damage, and go down again.
So that’s why we started the guard to regain territorial control.
How are you my mother in law? - Good.
Ah ok, good to hear.
I know everyone by name or alias.
But I know everyone because I grew up here.
I was born and raised here in a place called ‘Carrisales’, up there.
I liked to play soccer, go to parties in the farms where we would throw parties.
I would always join so that’s why everybody knows me.
Everyone knows me for looking for a good time.
I like to party, and joke around, and they joke around with me.
Brother in law!
Between 2016 and 2017 more than 7.000 members
of FARC guerrilla left their territories.
With the guerrilla out, peasant and indigenous organizations
are trying to recuperate territorial control.
FARC would always look out for everyone.
That the army or police would not come in, or criminals or robbers,
that no one would be fishing here, or keep livestock without permission.
So I miss that a little, because in a way we felt backed up by them, you know?
Because we could just leave our animals,
our farms, and we would say: "we have a back up"
And now it is up to us as an organization,
as peasants, to defend our territory from strangers.
I have known coca since I was 14 years old,
when I first arrived in coca territory.
And in every place where I worked since, there was always coca.
Just as a way to survive, nothing else.
Youngsters these days are smoking a lot of drugs.
For me it is a source of income, but for many people,
rather than send it somewhere else, they sell it here.
So we want to be part of that change, because we have children
and we want our children to have other options.
And that’s what we all want over here. We want a change.
Because everything aside, it’s doing a lot of damage.
No, the ones that buy, they don’t want to.
For them it is very good business.
To be able to export to other countries is great!
But it is not just any poor guy that comes here to buy.
We are the poor ones!
And that is why we read the peace agreements, because...
Over there you see coffee farms, they have taken loans,
and they have avocado.
Whenever we are out of money, we take some plantain,
when there is no juice, we make lemonade from the garden.
Everything you plant here will produce.
So we said, we have to defend and socialize
the agreements, we said: “it is our only hope”.
It is just a small light at the end of the tunnel.
That’s how we see it.
Just ½ hectare of Coca and Marihuana can sustain a single household.
To produce the same value growing coffee, one needs at least 3 hectares of land.
The majority of families inscribed in the Substitution Program
have less then ½ hectare or land.
The solution to end with coca is land.
The government needs to give land to the peasants,
indigenous and afros so that
they can grow some crops.
So that they have enough to send their children
to a good university and receive some education.
Since about 5 years, we have been trying to buy a farm called ‘el Tablón’.
As you can see, it goes all the way down to Corinto.
It starts there with the big trees.
There is a multinational over there, they have a marihuana project,
they produce medicinal cannabis,
so they are trying to buy in on the same farm.
It is a very good piece of land.
But the thing is, those with a lot of land do not want to get rid of it.
Hey my boy, how are you doing?
- All good my son. All good?
Uf, some days there are a lot of people going up and down.
When the peace process began, that was just pure happiness.
We would get home and everything was quiet,
the kids could go to the village by themselves,
and there was no fear to be shot on the way,
that they could bomb you at any moment,
nothing like that.
So that was just beautiful. We had a few very nice months.
[radio] The Cauca province is turning into
a battleground over the control of production
and transport of cocaine, that is sold to international drug cartels.
The intelligence agencies report
that part of the strategy of the armed groups
is to contribute to the crisis in governability
to take control over the province in the long run.
According to the intelligence agencies they are approximately 500 men in arms…
If before it was horrible, now it’s terrible
because there is no longer any trust.
What’s coming now is a complete distrust of anything and anyone.
They disappointed us with the peace agreement,
and what’s coming now is a war.
A war...
in which the same ones will die as in the war we had before.
A message was released that talked about more than 18 groups,
and 28 groups nationally,
that occupied former FARC territory.
And they are groups that have no idea, do not have clear policies.
So, this peace no longer works for us,
because these people come with other ideals,
they come here to defend a territory with narcotraffic,
With illegal mining, they are getting richer,
and they don’t care about getting in the way of anybody.
If they have to kill, they will kill.
If they have to kill social leaders, or whoever, they will kill anyone.
[President] Santos only cared about the Nobel prize
and leave the country without guerrilla,
but filled with other groups.
Our fence is looking good, isn’t it Saulito?
I have to fix something there.
- But we have no meter, we need a meter
And who has the meter?
We are military objectives.
I am a social leader.
In 2015 I participated in a big meeting where it was necessary to say the truth.
And the truth was that there were groups
and that we did not agree with those groups.
As a result the leaders received threats, and I was taken hostage.
If I do not have two armed guards, and a bulletproof vest,
and a blinded car, I wouldn’t be able to go anywhere.
I wouldn’t be able to go anywhere.
It has been tense.
It has been very tense, because FARC at least had an ideology.
And still, so many ugly things happened, we suffered the war so much.
So hearing and feeling this tension, knowing that people are rearming,
it makes you think: where is this heading?
Of the 1325 families inscribed in the PNIS in Miranda,
just 20% received the first payment after eradicating.
None of the families has yet been visited by the technical assistance.
[television] .. he insisted that he would not end the peace agreement,
but it will have corrections.
Ivan Duque, 10.373.080 votes...
and today Iván Duque Márquez is the new president elect of Colombia
They programmed the second payment for the 26th.
But it was delayed because the technical assistance had not arrived yet,
and because they had not verified
to see if we had really removed all our coca,
and that we are sticking to the agreement.
So they delayed us, and up to now we have been like this.
After eradicating their coca, Sandra and Albeiro’s family
have waited for more than 4 months on the second payment.
We are in trouble,
because now that we removed all of our trees
where are we going to get our food from, our children, everything,
we don’t know where to get it from.
Well, perhaps it has been difficult for them, but how much do they really know?
It is not as chaotic as is it for their dad and for me.
We are always pushing and pushing.
But not our children, they are...
but up to now we haven’t seen anything.
The 23rd of January they were supposed to pay,
and by now we should have been visited by the technical assistance.
In the meantime, we struggle.
Little by little I am planting coffee,
but nothing can replace coca.
The price may go down, or whatever,
but every three months it gives you some cash,
however little it may be, we could always save up.
But not coffee. It gives you barely enough to eat,
and makes you have to work in other places to earn enough.
They did not fulfill their promise to FARC,
and they will not keep their promise with us.
The government focused on Chapter 4, which deals with illicit crops.
But they have not touched Chapter 1 that deals with land reform.
They should have started with Chapter 1.
If they do not keep their promise, we will be forced to go back to coca.
The Colombian government has broken so many promises,
has told us so many lies, it has generated so many false hopes,
the people just don’t believe it any more.
The payments were supposed to happen every 2 months,
and today it is 6 months, and they only made one payment.
We hope that they will keep their word but people do no longer believe in them.
I will tell you the truth, it has been difficult
for everyone to get rid of their coca,
because even though it is illicit, we do not look at it like that.
It is our daily sustenance.
With this we have been able to buy medicine that is not covered...
...we have bought our clothes with this.
And now, without our trees, everything is gone,
there is no money for new projects,
the technical assistance does not arrive,
The government promised to help,
to implement projects, but today there is nothing.
Everyone got rid of their coca in December,
People are going to be starving around here
The government is not carrying out the peace agreements,
and the guarantor countries are doing nothing about it.
After having suffered the war so much, they could at least say:
“they don’t have roads so let’s give them something to remember us”
Or: “what they need there is money for agricultural projects!”
We thought, maybe this peace process would bring something good,
we will have different crops, help from other countries...
But they said: “We love you all but we have nothing to give.”
So, having suffered the war so much, and now to realize that...
no, nothing will happen.
Just a few small jobs for
several community leaders,
that they did do, but any investment... ?
Everyone comes here telling us that they want to make workshops.
last week we had five of them, meetings with them or the other,
but it is all chit-chat, nothing concrete.
They bring inspectors, people working on peacebuilding,
they want to talk about peace, let’s talk about peace
all sorts of things!
But to tell us “what you need is...
let’s carry out a development plan for the region…”
Nothing. Nothing like that.
[AUGUST 2018] More than one year after signing
to participate in the substitution program
Briceida and Leider still have their coca crops.
The substitution program in their part of the municipality
has been postponed until further notice.
AUGUST 2018:
2 Former members of FARC-EP were
assassinated close to a reintegration camp.
A sign of the Paramilitary AUC was left behind.
So this is the welcome we get as former guerrilla.
At 300 meters from our base they murdered two colleagues.
So there is a correlation here, or they want to send a message with that sign,
to intimidate and let us all know that this is what awaits us.
When we arrived, there were already some people here,
they cleared some bamboo, and got to the place
where they found the dead bodies of two youngsters.
There were bullet shells lying around.
The first body was face down and showed signs of torture.
This zone is controlled by the army,
so I don’t understand how they allow this to happen,
to have a sign up like that.
And did they call the family?
- Yes, but as it was a violent murder, it needs time according to protocols.
Now we see the desolation, the displacement,
we are seeing the death threats again.
It is worrying that in such a short time
we are already seeing these things coming back.
It’s not a secret that since the new president
Iván Duque took over the mandate,
there have been more assassinations of leaders,
more assassinations of former guerrilla,
of indigenous colleagues, more threats,
more extortion, pamphlets,
it is all a form of pressure and terror for everyone here.
Of course, I got scared, I got very scared.
Friday 22nd, I think it was?
Briceida was in the house with the kids.
When I arrived to the house I left the motorbike outside.
So I organized the motorbike,
and the dogs were outside, next to the house.
And when I was about to enter the house, the dogs barked and were biting someone.
So, Briceida was inside, and she signaled for me to come in,
that there were people in the back.
They were armed, all three with pistols.
So, she closed the window and went to the living room to get the kids.
In that moment my wife sees one of them and asks:
“what are you doing here, what are you doing here?”
The guy did not say anything, they just looked at her.
They looked at her with their hands on their backs.
To see three armed men, dressed in black, at the back of the house...
I thought the worst was going to happen.
We had to leave our house and look for another place where we could stay
and protect our family and ourselves.
This is the room where we stay with the entire family.
We sleep on those mattresses, this is where we are ..
that’s our bed, the mats are borrowed, that’s where we have our television.
Here we have some clothes that we managed to bring from the house,
and this is where we sleep with the entire family.
These are the conditions in which we live.
I do not lose faith, because with the help of the people …
you know, what they signed were agreements,
but the people went to sleep.
“Peace has been signed, so everything is ok now”.
But what was signed were just agreements,
they did not sign peace.
We still have to build peace.
And all the governments that signed the agreements,
and all future governments should abide by the agreements.
When we were in wartime, we knew that there
was a group called FARC and the military,
but now, everything is mixed up.
In the midst of everything we no longer know who is who.
So you may be an objective from one side,
or the other, we are mixed up in the middle.
So that’s why we had to leave the community.
Nevertheless, we continue to contribute and help the process.
The day before yesterday I was in Corinto,
yesterday in Caloto,
I continue with my community work, just like my wife.
And we look after the kids, and try to do the best we can.
These are exercises, I am studying French.
Because the idea is to get to Canada and ask for asylum.
Two years ago we made a petition to the embassy
but we have not heard from them yet.
they say that Colombia has this Peace process, and now supposedly is in peace.
So they give priority to other countries like Venezuela or others that are in war.
You never know.
This weekend they killed an older man who lived with his wife and child.
They came from a trip or something,
and when they got to the house, their car was stopped
and they did not care that his wife was there,
their child, they killed all three of them.
So, when these things happen we never know when it will happen to us.
There are times when we go with him on a trip, with the kids,
and I leave with my heart in my throat because we never know
in what moment they may attack him.
So, we live with this constant fear that something may happen.
I know it is going to be difficult.
But to know that we will have some tranquility that we do not have here,
is what helps us, or it helps me to continue in this process.
It’s the only option I see.
It is the only option I see!
Economically I was not doing well.
I needed to change the oil of my motorbike and things like that.
So, I got a pigs head, to make stuffed pigs head,
So I prepared it, that was the 18th.
The 19th I went to sell it to some people to whom I had offered it.
So I got to the village and started to part it.
I got together with a friend, and we talked by the side of the road,
we sat down in a bar in Corinto.
When, I felt my leg shake, the flesh of my leg was shaking.
So I got nervous, I thought “what is happening?”
When two motors passed, with two guys in jackets and helmets.
It was about 10 or a quarter passed 6.
They passed me and I realized that I was scared
I felt this fear.
So, while being careful I followed them.
So I waited a short moment, turned around
and I saw they went up and turned around as well.
And, well I admit I was nervous. So I left down the hill,
to go to the house of my daughter where she lives with her mother.
So I went to bring them the pigshead, and their neighbours,
when I saw that they were speeding up.
When immediately my heart rushed and I got scared.
When they blocked my motor and got a weapon out, and held it up like that…
Like from here to where you are.
“Eh! What happened!? What’s wrong!?
And another motor arrived and stopped
instantly and they put a gun right in my face.
They put a gun in my face and told me to stop fucking around with that farm,
that I should not fight for what is not mine.
That I should not be a son of a bitch... better said, a lot of nasty words.
So I said, they are going to kill me right here.
“You better listen! Don’t get yourself killed, don’t be a son of a bitch.
And they hit me here.
And I said, “if you are going to kill me do it right here and now!”
“because I will not leave the community behind,
I am not stealing nothing from nobody...”
So, one of them said, “those 20 hectares, you have to know that they are sold.
Don’t fight any longer for those 20 hectares, they are sold.
And he repeated it several times, when I realized
that he was talking about “el Tablón”.
Do you remember what was agreed on the issue of illicit crops?
What was agreed upon and signed into the agreements?
Listen, to find a definitive solution to the problem of illicit drugs
it is necessary to build a durable and stable peace.
This agreement aims for a differentiated treatment to this problem,
promoting the voluntary substitution of crops
and the transformation of the affected territories.
So, that is where they broke their promise.
And, what are they saying now?
They are talking about aspersion, they want to eradicate,
use glyphosate to fumigate, because
after the signing of the agreement coca plantations have tripled...
And that is not a lie. But!
Why did they triple?
Because they did not keep their word.
Had they implemented the agreement,
today those with illicit crops would not have had any excuse.
What we are demanding is the implementation, now!
Without tricks, or jokes, and without modifications.
So, considering the situation in our region and the nation,
they decided to start actions on Sunday, ok?
So we assume that in the meantime we get prepared, and gather food,
so that there are vegetables, that we save up rice,
in other words, so that we have enough for a strike until December.
Peasants, Indigenous and Afrocolombians from all over the country decide
to organize a national strike (la Minga)
to pressure the government to implement the peace agreements.
In the Cauca province, the communities aim to block the PanAmerican Highway
that connects Colombia with Ecuador.
The objective is to maintain the blockades until President Iván Duque arrives
to the Cauca to dialogue with the communities.
The people believed in the peace process,
and seeing the will of FARC, that participated in everything,
it is the government that is not keeping its word.
So this trip is to pressure the government, that we peasants want peace,
the indigenous communities, people from the countryside, they want peace,
we don’t want to continue in war.
When you join these protests you never know if you will return.
We know what repression is like: to claim rights
means repression in Colombia.
They use all the tools available to oppress the people,
even though the people have every reason to be angry.
The peasants from Corinto and Miranda travel more than 120km to Cajibío,
where they join other peasant and community organizations.
They are shooting!!
Let’s go guys! Let’s go down there.
Remember what we said yesterday, do not separate from each other.
The food is more important! The plastic we will recuperate!
Wrap it up, wrap it up.
The food, guys!!
This is part of the job! it’s part of the job!
Let’s go, let’s go guys!!
We have organized with different communities and social sectors
in different provinces throughout the country
and we are demanding the implementation of the peace agreement.
The ESMAD [riot police] made a charge against the communities
who are peacefully organized in el Caíro, Cajibío.
At this moment confrontations with the security forces continue.
Regardless, we continue our resistance,
and we are demanding the presence of president Duque,
so that he comes and listens to the communities
that are organized, and have a dialogue.
We will stay here for as long ...
We are open to dialogue; it is what we want, for him to come so that we ...
- Let’s go, let’s go guys!! Come up, come up!!
- Hurry up, hurry up!!
Our indigenous colleagues are in ‘el Pital’,
on the first day of the strike they had 13 injured,
one of them, a minor, was hit by a firearm.
There are 3 people injured by firearms.
In the three sites …
- What are we peasants? Strong!!
- Let’s go guys!
Every single one of us knows what we sacrificed to be here.
Each and every one knows what it costs
to represent our families,
to represent our communities, and to represent our people.
We cannot avoid them to hurt us.
But I swear, if we maintain our positions,
sooner or later, the government will start to negotiate with us.
Don’t doubt it!
With our chest up, let’s fight! Don’t lose faith!
Together! We have social organizations, peasants, afros, together we will stand!
Let’s go guys, let’s go!!
- OK, listen up everyone …
During the first week of “la Minga” more than 15.000 indigenous, peasants
and Afrocolombians join to demand the implementation of the Peace Agreements.
The PanAmerican Highway remains closed with multiple blockades.
After the charge by the riot police, the peasants decide to move further away
from the PanAmerican Highway.
Continuing on the PanAmerican, yesterday the riot police and army...
- ai damn!
...intervened in “El Patico”...
The report from the communities is that there are 3 injured.
The report from the army is that there is one soldier injured
after an attack with a machete, and one soldier kidnapped.
Give me a cup please
Everything we managed has been the result of struggle.
The government never told us: “let’s think about the peasants”.
“Let’s give them a call,
let’s give them some land,
or a farm... let’s get this law in place”
No, we had to fight for everything.
We want the president to come here, to touch ground in Cauca.
We will continue this strike until the government starts keeping its promise.
What day was that? The day it rained?
The first or second day? - The first.
So what we are saying is: let’s leave our territories, let’s get together,
Join all these experiences of injustice, join that resistance, and send it out.
- We will stay on the road!
...Coordinator of the Peasant Guard.
Can you tell us what the work has been like in this place?
Good afternoon.
Yes, well here we have been together with municipalities from north and south Cauca
and we have been focusing on pedagogy.
The road between Cauca and Huila is blocked on two routes:
through Coconuco and Totoró.
There is no connection through el tranversal del Libertador.
There is no connection through these roads,
which are the most important arteries in the region,
and that connect the southwest of Colombia with the interior of the country.
In Augustina, where our indigenous colleagues are,
there were confrontations.
As a result, they managed to open the road.
But there was one soldier injured.
One man of the public security forces was inured,
and we just received the news that he passed away.
We want to be clear with you, and that’s why we are here:
to evaluate what to do.
Ok guys, I hope we keep our heads up, and I hope that the days
following the charge by the ESMAD [riot police]
has done us good, and that we are prepared this time.
And I start there, because we have to be ready for any attack.
And the attack may come, regardless of whether
we go the PanAmerican Highway or not.
And the circumstances have changed,
and they are changing because they are treating us
as if we were an army.
And that’s why we are here. Let’s take a breath,
reorganize our forces and let’s make decision.
After more than 4 weeks of blockades on the PanAmerican Highway,
president Duque agrees to come to Cauca.
The confrontations end with more than 50 people injured,
and one police officer (30) and one indigenous (19) dead.
In Caldono (Cauca) “the Minga” prepared
a protocol event in which the communities
proposed to talk with the president and
negotiate the terms on which to lift the national strike.
Friends, authorities and “minga”.
As promised by the authorities we have selected a commission.
The president has arrived here in Caldono.
He arrived her to this municipality just like the Minga had asked him to.
So we want the guarantors to send him a message
that we will wait for him right here.
The message of the Minga is clear
we will wait for the State’s attorney to send the message.
Make it happen mister Attorney.
We will wait to start the protocol until the president is here.
Friends, we will wait here. The attorney will talk to him,
We will wait for his message.
Although President Duque arrived to Caldono,
he decided not to talk to the Minga,
and boarded his helicopter on route to Bogotá.
[Anthem of the Cauca province]
♪Cradle of fertile waters♪
♪Mountain ranges filled with sunlight♪
♪the sea gently touching the coast♪
♪of gold, mangrove and drums♪
♪Ready to receive life♪
♪A wild island, a station♪
♪Where the wind settles♪
♪To rehearse your song♪
♪A valley soil♪
♪fertilized by a volcano♪
♪Jungle and clouds♪
♪in a green melting pot.♪
♪Whites, Indians and Blacks♪
♪a single dream♪
♪Sons of the same land♪
♪Fruits of the same flower♪
♪Cauca, Cauca♪
♪We are united by a past♪
♪a purpose and a goal♪
♪A shared willingness to find a way♪
♪towards a better world ”♪
Good morning everyone. A revolutionary greeting,
I appreciate you all being here.
First of all, I want to thank God, for enabling the majority of us to meet again.
We have to analyze the security situation, we cannot neglect our territory
because at any moment the paramilitaries can come in.
What they call “the peace process” is a farce,
in which they only wanted to disarm a guerrilla so that our territories
would be without protection,
so that they can allow the multinationals in
and become owners of our territory.
This struggle is of all of us, and we have to strengthen it every day.
Hey my friend, what’s up?
Gustavo has been lost for several weeks.
No one knows his whereabouts.
-Ok, Sjoerd my friend.
You know that I have received threat upon threat …
but nothing like this one.
They are not playing, they kill whoever, they disappear anyone.
So to stay in Colombia, to stay in Miranda...
I said: “No longer in Colombia, no more of this”.
So I left because there are no guarantees for us.
So we decided to leave the country.
I realized that this time they were going to kill us, so we went to Spain.
We are in Madrid, and they will keep us here
until they decide who can give grant us asylum.
We are under protection of the Spanish government.
Taking advantage of the Peasant Guard temporarily
leaving the territory during “the Minga”,
the illegally armed groups take even more position in the north of Cauca.
That afternoon we heard shots, it was horrible!
In the part where he lived, some 300 meters from there.
They saw people running away,
so he went there with his father and brother.
His father took a different route to call for back up,
and the boy continued to see what was happening.
He was in charge of the guardia so he went for it.
When he arrived to a football pitch they immediately shot him.
It’s very difficult because his death is just so unjustifiable.
It’s a boy of only 18 years old, just starting his life
who was very committed to help the community
he had a good heart,
he had not studied, and he felt this was his vocation.
Everyone has been very affected by it.
They say, “we have to take care of ourselves,
what if we are hit by a grenade that kills us...
what if they shoot like they did with our friend ...”
After the murder of their fellow member of the peasant Guard,
the others decide to postpone their work and cease all activities.
A former member (18) of FARC-EP was murdered by an armed group.
When his mother finds out, she instantly died of a heart attack.
in Psalm 23 it says: “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Lord, thank you.
We give these bodies back to you as your preaching teaches.
Thank you Lord, for the life you have given, thank you for our family,
may you heal their sorrow, in the name of Jesus Christ,
Amen.
The war has always been fought by the poor, god damn it.
Had they been the children of the other sons’
of bitches, I would have said, very well.
But when it is with the children of the weak and vulnerable.
It is very easy to make war with borrowed children.
They create these places of hunger and misery
to be able to buy a vote for $150.000 or $100.000 pesos.($45/30 US)
It makes me feel hopeless to see this government and know,
that changes will not be possible through democratic ways.
Colombia has grown despite its people having been abandoned
by every single presidency.
As [Jaime] Garzón said: “No one will come to rescue us”,
It will come down on us, right?
Look, he is chasing the little flower.
Ah it’s beautiful.
More than 2 years after eradicating their coca,
Sandra & Albeiro finally receive their new trees.
- Lunch!
- You arrived late! but enter!
- Thank you.
- Let’s see those trees that they got you.
These are the trees that they gave us.
Apparently, this is the $9.000.000 pesos ($2.500 US) project. These are …
- Of the substitution program ..
- According to the government, these are part of the $9.000.000 pesos.
I have regretted so much to have signed up for the program.
I would have preferred for them to come and eradicate by force
Because I would have been able to harvest several times
and I know I would have been able to do something with that money.
But now, I cannot harvest and I have nothing else
And we had to eradicate ourselves and everything.
The whole process has been …
When you look at these substitution projects
and how the government has implemented them …
the national government is responsible for a disaster,
and will force the peasants to go back to growing coca.
That’s where it is headed.
The idea behind changing all of our crops was for the future of our children,
to have something good, but now we no longer see a future.
Life is very well difficult.
My daughter is 11 years old, it is very hard.
Of the agricultural projects, the only that arrived have been these trees.
Two years after they eradicated their coca.
To build a better future for our children, to better our living conditions.
That’s what we signed up for!
To the transformation of our territory, to have good roads, to have health clinics,
to improve the situation with regards to land,
that’s what we signed up for.
The problem that is behind those 50 years of war, is not being addressed: land!
When you revise the peace accord...
the implementation of agreements should start with the first chapter [land]
and if not, well then there is nothing.
The thing we should have fought for is Agricultural Reform.
There is no other way.
We should have done what Caloto [Cauca] did.
Caloto first signed an agreement on Agricultural Reform.
First they address that issue, and thereafter they eradicate their coca.
Those were the rules over there,
and the only municipality that
signed rural reform was Caloto.
It got their governor killed, it generated huge problems for them,
but .. they have not moved and still have their coca.
If they do not implement an Integral Rural Reform,
no just for peasants, but the entire nation,
we will never have peace.
The Peace Accord guaranteed 3 million hectares
of land to peasants without, or with insufficient land.
At the end of the year 2020,
4 years after the peace agreement was signed,
there has been no sign of the start of the program for Rural Reform.
In 2017, more than 99.000 families inscribed in the
Substitution Program (PNIS),
showing their will to eradicate and change their ilicit crops.
With the first cases of COVID19 in Colombia identified in March 2020,
the PNIS was suspended in all 56 municipalities.
In April, the government started the forced eradication
with military and police forces, and the aerial sprayel of the carcinogenic
Glyphosate aiming to eradicate 130.000 hectares of coca in 2020.
The government has not contemplated an alternative
plan to sustain the families’ economies.