For ten days in August, I was part of an international group of observers who traveled to Cali, Colombia, to the surrounding areas, and to the city of Buenaventura, the Colombian Pacific port city. The goal of this group of observers was to engage various native communities through respectful listening to their struggles for their basic human rights and through observing firsthand the local conditions from which their stories arise. After listening to these intensely personal narratives, we pledged to share our experiences back home so that, as US citizens, we can actively advocate for policies that respect all people and not solely our own local interests.

The people we talked to ranged from major power brokers, such as the managers of a sugar cane factory and the mayor of Cali, to the disenfranchised victims of predatory lending practices who are now facing eviction, to the loved ones of massacre victims, and to the workers who struggle to form unions in the face of rich and powerful private companies.

The trip included visiting a variety of places that included:

• Two memory galleries dedicated to those who were murdered because of human rights activities;
• Ciudad Cordoba, a neighborhood of Cali, where the majority of residents are victims of predatory lending practices;
• The city of Buenaventura where we toured the port and talked with the workers in their struggle to collectively bargain with management;
• A sugar cane factory that was designed to impress tourists contrasted with the experience of visiting sugar cane fields, talking with the workers, and hearing them describe their daily backbreaking work;
• Talking with indigenous communities who declared themselves a nation and who refuse to allow any armed factions to trespass onto their land.

At Ciudad Cordoba, we met with some residents who shared with us their struggles which are so intense and persistent that they are forced to stay in their homes. The government took the first step by providing partial subsidies for low- income housing, but then turned over the mortgage management of the remaining housing costs to private banks. One of these banks is named Colpatria; General Electric is reputed to have recently purchased this bank.
The bank practices are similar to some predatory practices present in the US. The initial premiums are low but vary according to the market, and if a person should default on the payments, no matter what the reason, the bank refuses to negotiate and orders the owners evicted. Because the demand for housing is high, the bank can realize a larger profit through reselling the property to another possible victim rather than renegotiating the loan.
Examples of these predatory banking practices are tragically abundant.  We heard of one person who took out a loan for approximately $5,000; he has already paid almost $22,000, and the bank still wants to evict him. Another man took out a loan for almost $6,000, paid the principal several times, but the bank claims he still owes $34,000.

When an eviction occurs, 70 – 80 armed personnel suddenly appear, bang on the front door, rip off the window bars, break down the doors, toss out the owners’ possessions, and force them onto the streets. The dreadful feeling that this can occur at any time has prevailed throughout the community. In this stressful atmosphere, the community has banded together; they now keep constant lookout for a sudden attack and, when it occurs, they activate well-placed sirens to spur people to rush out to the streets to block the attackers. Throughout the confrontation, designated people videotape the action, which often displeases the military who frequently attempt to stop it with force of arms.

The community is also working through the judicial system with sympathetic lawyers and through hosting seminars where people can learn about their rights. The community distrusts the courts because, even though a law was passed in 1999 forbidding evictions, the judges do not enforce it.
After witnessing the economic and psychological violence in the form of denying people the basic right of shelter, we then heard from the loved ones of murder victims. On our way from Cali to the coastal city of Buenaventura, we stopped in the small village of Triana where Mary Victoria met us and gave us a tour of the town. We then gathered in the community-center where a number of widows arrived to tell us their tragic stories of gross, inhumane, violence against their families.  For example, one woman spoke of a gang of four men who came to her home, killed seven men, including her son, and then beat her.
The question that the women are struggling with is why were they killed? They were not guerillas. The judicial system has done nothing to help them. Now the women are left alone to fend for themselves. As they told their stories, they frequently articulated their deep-seated hope that their stories would be heard and that the violence would stop.

Stories such as these were, unfortunately, all too common. One afternoon, we traveled to a farm that had been the property of Martha Giraldo’s father, a former campesino who grew a variety of crops and who raised cattle.

On March 11, 2006, she received a call that there were numerous soldiers on the property and that her father was hurt. She rushed to the farm where she found her father laying on the ground; his body was riddled with bullet holes.
She pressed the authorities for answers as to why this atrocity occurred and who was responsible for it, but they used a variety of ways to resist her inquiries, even telling her that it would be best for her to forgive and to put the execution into the past. Finally, the army personnel admitted to the killing and justified their actions by saying that her husband was a guerilla, even though they had no evidence to ground their claim. They then warned her to be careful or she would be next.
She continues to seek justice from those who are responsible. For this she has received death threats and is now in a witness-protection program. Two armed guards are with her at all times and she only travels in a bulletproof vehicle. A video about her can be seen at: http://witnessforpeace.org/article.php?id=625
The days for our group were filled with many similar activities; the common thread that permeates all of them is people working for justice and dignity. They suffered injustices from such entities as the military, government, mercenaries, banks, and large national and multinational corporations. Inextricably woven throughout all of this are influential US economic, military, and political policies, especially the proposed “Free Trade Agreement,” and the question we asked is whether or not they promote justice for the poor and vulnerable or wealth and power for the rich and privileged.

Fr. Thomas Long, CSV
November 3, 2009