“With the dredging of the estuaries, the right to search would be violated”: Vicente Vallies, author of PBI report on Buenaventura
A Peace Brigades International (PBI) organized webinar on Monday February 24 will feature Milbia Andrea Díaz, of the Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace, and Vicente Vallies, author of the new PBI report “Who Bears the Cost?”.
To register for this webinar that happens at 10:00 am in Colombia/ Ontario/ Quebec/ Nunavut and at 4:00 pm in Catalunya/ Spain, click here.
Deutsche Welle article: “The missing in the port of Buenaventura”
Diaz recently told Deutsche Welle: “In Colombia, many of the disappeared people rest in the sea. There must be about a thousand people in [the estuary in Buenaventura]. We know the difficulties of finding remains in the sea and in the mangrove swamp, but there is technology that would make it possible to find them.”
Diaz adds: “For this reason, they ask that this estuary be maintained as a place of historical memory, because its disappeared rest there. It would be an act of justice.”
The newspaper article highlights: “The dredging of that estuary for the expansion of the port of Buenaventura would end any possibility of finding them. Together with groups of women searchers, the CIJP and other organizations have obtained a precautionary measure to stop the works in that estuary. For the moment.”
Vallies also tells DW: “With the dredging of the estuaries, the right to search would be violated. Reparation involves being able to bury your loved one in a dignified way… It is difficult to think that people can talk about coexistence and positive construction if they are prevented from recovering the bodies of their loved ones.”
Vallies also notes: “[In Buenaventura] everyone pays extortion: the fishmonger, the displaced person who goes to get his subsidy check, everyone pays the illegal armed actors. This represents a risk for companies.”
Vallies further highlights in his comments to Deutsche Welle: “The European delegations in Colombia would do well to believe the local population, the fishermen, the people who are looking… If they supported them in their desire not to dredge that estuary, which is a large cemetery, it would be a great step.”
Webinar, Monday February 24
To register for the webinar this coming Monday February 24, click here. The webinar will have simultaneous Spanish-English interpretation.
Along with Vallies and Diaz, the speakers will also include Ixmukane Quib from the Committee for Peasant Unity (CUC) in Guatemala, Laia Otero from CooperAcció in Catalunya, and Brent Patterson from PBI-Canada.
(Photo left to right): Webinar speakers Milbia Andrea Díaz, Vicente Vallies, Ixmukane Quib, Laia Otero, Brent Patterson.
The “Who Pays the Cost?” report can be downloaded from the PBI-Spanish State website here.
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