A letter from Alice Winters in Colombia
November 2007
Dear Friends,
The hot sun is beating down, and palm branches wave softly in the breeze. But villancicos (Spanish Christmas carols) are playing in every store and on every TV and radio station. In Colombia, carols are mostly sung by children, and they are not our typical carols—although once in a while I do hear “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” and “Frosty the Snowman.
The stores are also resplendent with Christmas decorations, including pictures of Papá Noel (who looks just like Santa Claus), plus red-nosed reindeer and snowmen. Most people of Barranquilla have never seen snow (temperatures here never go below 70), but snowmen are a Christmas tradition. Papá Noel appears in Christmas decorations, but he does not bring presents. Every Colombian child knows that presents are brought by El Niño Dios (the God Child). He slips into their rooms on Christmas Eve and leaves presents at the foot of the bed—no need to hang stockings, which means that Christmas stockings in the imported commercial decorations have no meaning to Colombian children. But they keep appearing in stores and in advertising—like snowmen, sleighs, and reindeer, they are a sign of the season.
Sadly, the Niño Dios is somewhat selective about where to leave gifts. He’s good about getting presents to rich and middle-class children, but often misses the homes of poor children and generally passes over the children of displaced families altogether, perhaps because they have fled their homes in response to the violence, and now he cannot find them. I have not written recently about the displaced persons who live in belts of misery around Colombia’s major cities, including Barranquilla. But armed violence continues to affect this troubled country, and the number of desplazados grows.
Today’s paper, in fact, reports that the Caribbean coast is one of the regions that has suffered most because of forced displacement—and it is the area where the government has paid the least attention to these internal refugees. The paper says there are 584,089 registered desplazados. They live traumatized in cardboard shacks covered with plastic bags. The children are malnourished and few go to school. And we know there are many more desplazados who have never formally registered for aid because they fear that pursuers will find them and kill them.
The violence is not indiscriminate. Paramilitary death squads drive farmers off the land in three main regions: the oil-producing area in central Colombia, the south where a highway may be built to give the industries of Brazil access to Colombia’s port on the Pacific Ocean, and the area in northwest Colombia which is dedicated more and more to the production of palm oil. In recent months, we have heard chilling news stories about the control of paramilitaries by highly placed Colombian politicians. Mayors, governors, senators, congressmen, even cabinet members are now in jail because of their paramilitary connections, but many of them continue to exercise power. There is also guerrilla violence, army violence, and some violence related to drug traffic. However, the drug related violence is often part of the violence caused by the various armed groups.
The U.S. accompaniers who come to Colombia each month through the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship hear the stories of desplazados and observe varied aspects of the church’s work with these families. Many find these experiences change their lives and begin to do advocacy work on behalf of Colombia. I mentioned advocacy in my fall newsletter, and some of you have asked what that means and how it is done, so let me share some ideas.
During the past ten years, Colombians have several times asked the Presbyterian Church and concerned Christians in the United States to help them deal with the problems here, and the PC(USA) through its General Assembly has responded.
In 2001 the 213th G.A. called for the demilitarization of U.S. anti-drug policies. It deplored the rapid growth of armed paramilitary guerrilla groups, which use terror to dominate Colombia’s countryside and support themselves by complicity in the drug trade. It also decried the widespread abuse of human rights by the Colombian military and their documented ties with violent paramilitary groups. The G.A. then declared it morally repugnant for the United States to grant large amounts of aid to a military with Colombia’s grievous human rights record without setting a condition that the Colombian government to meet acceptable standards of human rights.
In 2004 the 216th G.A. voted to join the Presbyterian Church in Colombia, other Christian churches, and Christian organizations calling for the redirection of U.S. military aid into social, educational, health, and developmental assistance in the hope that peace would be restored.
More is needed. Another resolution will be submitted to the 2008 General Assembly. But now letters to Congress from concerned citizens can make a big difference. Please write your senators and representatives and make it clear that you want aid sent to Colombia for social concerns, not military, especially now that we see paramilitary penetration in every level of government. Congress is also debating a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia, but it should not be approved until all human rights issues have been dealt with.
This is advocacy and it can be a powerful force. Just maybe if you write (and pray!), El Niño Dios can give the gift of peace and hope for all the children of Colombia—and for their families as well.
Blessings on you,
Alice Winters
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 46
