Colombia: A Country Stalked By Violence

Colombia is a place where, day in and day out, even ordinary citizens are in danger. To an outsider, as I was, visiting Trócaire projects there recently, it is incredible to observe the level of threat that hangs over so many people, be they small rural farmers, trade unionists, human rights defenders, priests, lawyers or even judges.

In a country with a population of 44 million people, the statistics tell their own story. Over the past twenty years, more than 70,000 people have been killed in Colombia; 30,000 people have been “disappeared”; and somewhere between 14,000 and 17,000 were recruited into armed paramilitary gangs.
Since 1986, a total of 2,782 trade unionists have been murdered.
The level of brutality and degradation is in fact more extreme than even those horrifying figures suggest. The relatives of those killed tell stories of mutilation and torture confirming that paramilitary groups and narco-terrorists have sunk to desperate levels of inhumanity. My clear impression is of a country ground down by fear.
As part of an Irish delegation that included deputies Tom Kitt, Pat Breen and Senator Mark Daley – there at the invitation of Trócaire – we were given the opportunity to hear such stories directly from the relatives themselves. We spoke to the families of those that have disappeared too; and we learned of the continuing impoverishment and mistreatment of those who have been displaced. It is a shocking catalogue of injustice heaped on injustice.
As things stand, towards the tail end of 2010, Colombia has the third largest refugee population in the world and is second only to Sudan in terms of the number of people specifically displaced. For those living there, in so many respects, it has become a kind of hell on earth.
And yet it is a country of enormous natural beauty. The sheer variety of minerals and the abundance of natural resources in general is obvious. It is a country, however, that is structured on deep inequalities. Again, the figures do not lie: 0.4% of landowners own 61% of rural land; 1% of people own 58% of urban property.
These fundamental inequalities are further exacerbated when one contrasts the living standards of the regions surrounding the capital Bogota with the areas on the pacific coast, where 80% of the population are of African or indigenous ethnic origins.
Inevitably, it is in these impoverished areas that the terror is at its greatest, and where the standard of impunity is at its worst. Colombia has the largest number of landmine victims in the world next to Afghanistan and the use of landmines is at its most dangerous in these areas also.

TERRIBLE COST
A new president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, took office on August 7, 2010. He was bequeathed this legacy of terror by the outgoing government of President Álvaro Uribe, who had served eight years in the highest office. But Santos also served in that Government and it is unclear just how successfully he can detach himself from its failures.
The new Colombian president is anxious to sell a message to the international community that he intends to usher in a fresh regime of human rights; that land may be returned to the dispossessed; that victims will be heard, and that the issue of impunity will be addressed. As ever, however, actions must be viewed as more important than words and so far the situation is not encouraging.
In the first 75 days of the new government, five trade unionists, seven indigenous leaders, two community educators and a further two leading members of the organization dealing with sexual minorities have been registered as having been killed.
Not everyone seems to view the drastic measures against perceived dissidents as being horrific or unnecessary. Polls in Colombia have indicated as much as 70% support for those steps which are presented as actions against terrorism.
If these figures are reliable, what we can conclude is that the society is so shaken by fear and terror that it seeks stability even at a terrible cost in terms of human rights.
The European Union is active in Colombia, not just through its annual €160 million of aid, but also with reference to the EU-Colombia Agreement. You might think that this gives the European Union leverage in the fight for human rights but when we questioned the EU representative in relation to this, the answers were far from clear.
There are some progressive measures in place. For a start, the Vice President of Colombia has been given specific responsibility for human rights. But, while he assured us that legislation on the issues of land, victims and impunity would be enacted in 2011, the killing and the terror continues.
The connection between the paramilitaries and elected parliamentarians is a source of ongoing concern. Seventy members of parliament are currently under investigation for alleged connections with the paramilitaries.
EXTRACTION OF RESOURCES
Cocaine, and the value it has attained as an illegal drug in affluent societies, is at the root of many of the problems. Managing the production and export of cocaine is a key activity for the narco-terrorist organisations. In remote areas, which can be up to six hours from the nearest road, the transport of coca is more remunerative than any conventional crop. This disparity is destroying a country in which small rural producers are traditionally responsible for 40% of Colombia’s food.
Side by side with this distortion of the economy is the presence of multinational corporations who are themselves engaged in the extraction of resources, which is dangerous and unscrupulous, be it via open-cast mining, logging or indeed creating clearances for palm-only development.
The problems in Colombia are complex. But they are urgent and need to be addressed as such. Making the transition to a society beyond terror is something with which the people of Colombia should be assisted. There must be an end to impunity and, even more immediately, an end to exemplary terror.
Of the 2,782 dead trade unionists since 1986, 1,000 were teachers. Some were nurses or doctors. No-one has been charged for these murders, which were committed in order to terrorise the population. In President Uribe’s time, the Vice President of the Congress of Trade Unions was assassinated. Trade union membership is now 50% of what it was 20 years ago. The terror has had its consequences.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions will host a delegation from Colombia in early December; this follows a valuable visit by Jack O’Connor and indeed a number of visits by Colombian trade unionists to Ireland. These visits are important as they indicate not just solidarity, but also they serve as a form of protection to human rights defenders.
It is important that the story of Colombia is not hidden, or that the recent change of President be spun in such a fashion as to hide these terrible realities. The international community should assist as best it can in the short term by deepening the solidarity between such groups as trade unionists, human rights defenders and frontline workers on the structures of inequality and poverty. That at least would be a start...

Michael D. Higgins is the Labour Party President and its Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs. He was part of a delegation which visited Colombia in late October 2010.