THE MARCH WAS ACCOMPLISHED

(Translation by Eunice Gibson, a CSN volunteer translator)
 

On November 9, we carried out the March for Life, in which we joined forces with all who are searching for peace in the communities organized as civilians.  We started the March around 10 A.M., from San Josesito toward Apartado, the members of our community along with the indigenous community of Las Playas.  We started step by step to memorialize our comrades who have been murdered this year.
 
In Apartado, we went to the places where Francisco and Hector had been murdered by the paramilitaries.  In each place we left a cross and bouquets of flowers.  In the bus terminal, men dressed in civilian clothes began to take pictures and make tape recordings of those of us who were taking part in the March. When we asked them for identification, they said they were police officers and that they were doing it as part of security and intelligence activities.  This is just more evidence of the continuing siege  carried out by the police against our community.
 
From the bus terminal we headed toward the route out of Apartado where the paramilitaries and the police murdered Dairo.  We left a cross and a bouquet there and we also memorialized Jesus who was murdered by the Army.
 
Several international organizations accompanied us in this March for Life.  We are saying to Death that we will not be exterminated and that those who sow death will some day be judged by humanity.  In the same way, many people in different parts of the world have joined with us in carrying out Marches for Life.  We are grateful to them.  We know that their support will permit activities from civilian communities for peace to be respected some day.
 
This moment of memory will send us on the way to follow the principles for which our murdered comrades lived.  For that reason, our next effort will be to return to the town of Mulatos on February 21, 2008, three years after the massacre of eight people by the Army and the displacement of all of the people of that town.
 
We repeat our thanks for the support we have received and for those who walk for the memory of the victims, so that justice will become reality in our country, a country that is living through dark moments under the dominion of paramilitarism.
 
PEACE COMMUNITY OF SAN JOSE DE APARTADO
November 13, 2007

 
 
 







Colombia Support Network
P.O. Box 1505
Madison, WI  53701-1505
phone:  (608) 257-8753
fax:  (608) 255-6621
e-mail:  csn@igc.org
http://www.colombiasupport.net