Image taken from: Colombia Informa
GROWER COMMUNITIES IN SOUTHERN BOLIVAR PROTEST AGAINST NON-COMPLIANCE WITH SUBSTITUTION AGREEMENTS AND VIOLENT ATTACKS OF FORCED ERADICATION
For more than 15 days peasant communities in the municipalities of Simití, San Pablo, Santa Rosa and Cantagallo, in the south of Bolívar, have been protesting and mobilizing as a result of non-compliance with the PNIS substitution programs, PDET programs and the serious human rights violations, acts of violence and extortion that have been occurring in the forced and violent eradication operations in the region1 .
The peasants denounce that there has been a failure to comply with the substitution programs for several years and that members of the army and police are constantly extorted in exchange for not failing to cultivate their crops. In retaliation, if these rents are not paid, they are attacked with disproportionate use of force.
Specifically, in the village of San Joaquín in the municipality of Simití, they denounce attacks by the security forces who have fired directly at the growers. They also report shots from a helicopter in the village of Patio Bonito, where a woman was wounded in one of her breasts. In total, an estimated five people were wounded. Prior to these eradication operations, there has been no information and socialization as foreseen in Point 4 of the Final Peace Agreement.
Although hundreds of peasants have mobilized to the urban centers and there have been dialogues and dialogue with the mayor’s offices and other local entities, these have been unsuccessful. In particular, after a meeting held on March 17 with the participation of these governmental entities and the presence of Army colonels, the response was that none of the participants had decision-making power and that the intervention of the National Government was required.
Likewise, the farmers report that after denouncing to the public forces that “the people had become tired of giving money to the Army, Police and the blue forces in the midst of the fact that there is no compliance with the substitution agreements or alternatives to coca crops,” and asking them to suspend the operations at least while they were in the dialogues of agreement and search for alternatives, their claims had the opposite effect, since the response of the public forces was to attack with greater violence in different eradication points.
These mobilizations took place in a context of armed confrontations in the village of El Paraíso de Simití between the ELN and paramilitaries, which provoked the forced displacement of its population, today in shelters2 , as well as murders in the village of El Diamante of this municipality by paramilitary groups.
The mobilized peasants in the south of Bolivar demand the convening of a round table with the National Government with the capacity to make decisions so that the substitution agreements are complied with and the violence by the public forces ceases.
[1] https://m.vanguardia.com/santander/barrancabermeja/marcha-campesina-llegaria-a-la-lizama-EY5010745
[2] https://www.radionacional.co/regiones/caribe/temor-en-sur-de-bolivar-por-aumento-de-grupos-armados, https://caracol.com.co/emisora/2022/03/19/cartagena/1647727314_823780.html
Image taken from: Colombia Informa
