CPTnet
November 30, 2001
COLOMBIA: Paramilitaries create fear in the Opón River region

by Matt Schaaf

[Note: See an accompanying letter in a separate posting that the team in
Colombia has written to the AUC paramilitaries as a result of the events
described below.]

³The problem here in Colombia is that somebody with a gun stops you and
doesn't give you a chance to explain yourself. They take your possessions,
they can carry you off or kill you," explained Juan Carlos an hour after
escaping a group of armed men on the Opón River.

Colombia's 37 year old civil war is fought on the shores of the Opón
between left-wing guerrilla groups and right-wing paramilitaries. Finding
themselves in the middle of the armed conflict, many fisherpeople and
farmers have fled their homes. Those who stay live in constant fear.

Just before the sun set on Saturday, November 24, a group of about sixteen
armed men in civilian clothes waved CPTers William Payne and Matt Schaaf,
along with their boat driver, to the riverbank. Payne disembarked to hand
out literature to the group and explained that CPTers do not believe in any
weapons, including these particular guns, and that CPT is not connected to
any armed group. Schaaf allowed one of the men to board the CPT motor canoe
and search personal belongings after verifying that he was unarmed (weapons
are not allowed on board the CPT boat).

Apparently growing tired of their message of nonviolence, the leader of the
group, a heavyset man with a large silver revolver, told Payne and Schaaf
they could continue on upriver. They did, and after dropping off the
motorist in a safer area, the CPTers turned the boat around to continue the
dialogue with the armed men, believed by the local community to be
right-wing paramilitaries.

However, the canoe was frantically waved to shore by an hysterical woman.
Climbing into the boat, she wailed that her son was missing. Payne and
Schaaf learned that four young men, including this woman's fifteen year old
son, had been fixing damaged electricity lines at the community school. The
husband and friends of the woman explained that they had heard four shots
from the direction where the men were working just a short time before
seeing the CPTers.

Returning to the checkpoint, the sky now dark, Payne and Schaaf found that
the paramilitaries had left. Local farmers said that the young fishermen
had been returning to their homes by canoe when the armed men appeared from
upriver in two motor canoes. Fearing the worst, three of the men leaped
overboard and scrambled up the bank into the jungle. The fourth landed the
boat and tried to walk away. The paramilitaries opened fire on the fleeing
fishermen, and all four disappeared into the bush.

Calling the names of the missing men into the dark, CPTers and community
members guided the boat along the shores of the river. It was impossible to
know if the men were dead or lying wounded in the jungle. After CPT
conducted the fearful search of the riverbanks, the men were found in their
homes, having made their way through the brush and across several rivers in
the dark.

The fishermen asked Payne and Schaaf to announce that the fishers and
farmers of the Opón River do not want armed groups to disrupt their lives.
They want it announced to all armed groups that if people flee when
confronted by armed actors, it is because they are threatened by weapons
aimed to kill, not because they are themselves members of any armed group.

Christian Peacemaker Teams maintains a round-the-clock presence on the
Opón River at the invitation of fishing communities threatened by
violence.