PBI-Canada extends 30th anniversary greetings to PBI-Colombia with appreciation for all their work
Photo: PBI-Colombia with Carlos Morales of the Humanitarian Action Corporation for Coexistence and Peace in Northeast Antioquia (CAHUCOPANA).
Luis Enrique Eguren, a founding member of the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project, has written that several PBI members conducted an exploratory mission in May-June 1993 to evaluate if PBI’s experience in Guatemala, El Salvador, Sri Lanka and other countries could be applied to the Colombian context.
Another founding member, Francesc Riera, notes: “We had three very specific petitions: one from Padre Javier Giraldo to accompany and provide an international presence in the shelter of Justice and Peace for displaced persons in Barrancabermeja; another from CREDHOS to accompany them in Barrancabermeja, and finally one from ASFADDES to provide accompaniment in Bogotá.”
Eguren adds: “To put it briefly, we needed to understand if the presence of international volunteers would be capable of protecting human rights defenders from threats and attacks and in what conditions or with what strategies that would be possible.”
He then shares: “Following the mission, we spent several weeks producing a report that ended up totalling more than two hundred pages. We concluded that international accompaniment had a role to play in Colombia in certain scenarios and under certain conditions. Based on this report, PBI held a series of discussions that culminated in the decision to open a project in Colombia, after which the fundraising work began.”
The first PBI-Colombia team was established in-country on October 3, 1994. The PBI annual report from 1994 notes: “The Colombia Team officially began work in November 1994, with four team members in Bogota and four in Barrancabermeja.”
Video: Gloria Gómez of the Association of Family Members of the Detained and Disappeared (ASFADDES).
Among those wishing PBI-Colombia a happy 30th anniversary via social media messages are Coordinación Colombia Europa Estados Unidos, Cahucopana Nordeste, Humanidad Vigente, Henry Ramirez Soler, Colnodo and CAJAR.
We recall fondly celebrating the 25th anniversary of PBI-Colombia at an informal gathering in Toronto in 2019 during an advocacy tour with representatives from CREDHOS and CCALCP and former project volunteers.
We also remember this 6-minute video that was made at that time.
We also highlight that the 1994 PBI Annual Report notes that the request for PBI accompaniment came from CREDHOS following the murders of CREDHOS members Blanca Valero de Duran in January 1992, Julio César Berrio Villegas in June 1992, and Ligia Patricia Cortez (who worked on a CREDHOS backed educational project) along with two trade union members in July 1992.
Photo: On January 29, 1992, Blanca Valero de Duran, secretary of CREDHOS, was shot by two armed men at point blank range as she left the CREDHOS office at 6:30 pm that evening. She was married with three children.
We wish that there was not a continued need for accompaniment of organizations, defenders and communities in Colombia, but we celebrate the important work that is done by our colleagues at the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project.
To read the most recent PBI-Colombia annual report, click here.
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