We request prayers for the safety of the El Guayabo community, which is currently facing a severe security crisis due to the entry of a paramilitary group that threatens the lives of the community’s leaders. The presence of Colombia’s largest paramiliatry group, Ejericito Gaitanistas de Colombia or EGC, jeopardizes the work of our partners, the farmers of El Guayabo, who have been defending their life, land, and territory over the years from a multitude of threats.
Since December 2022, CPT has alterted the authorities about the security situation facing the El Guayabo Community and the tendency for the situation to worsen with the co-optation of the territory by the EGC. The authorities have not taken any concrete actions to protect the civilian population, beyond some isolated security advice that does not take into account the diverse realities faced by communities who now have had to find ways to protect themselves in the complete absence of the state.
This reality is even worse for social organizations that are partners of CPT, such as AGROPEGU, which carries out its work defending the territory in places where the EGC is imposing its social control, and for community action committee like JUPROLASAN, which refuses to collaborate in any way with the armed group, appealing to the community’s freedom to resolve their own situations without interventions from any violent actor.
AGROPEGU and JUPROLASAN have spent one year resisting threats, intimidation, and the constant attempts of the EGC to control the community. They have had to resist these threats alone with the support of organizations that live outside the territory in the midst of the complete absence of the state.
Currently, the community is resisting and insists on the importance of accompaniment, such as that provided by CPT, as a guarantee that their voices will not be silenced.
