PBI-Colombia accompanies CREDHOS as it organizes to have the Magdalena River recognized as a victim of the armed conflict
PBI-Colombia has posted on Instagram:
“On April 29, we accompanied CREDHOS [the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights] in the village of El Guayabo, rural area of the municipality of Puerto Wilches, Santander, to organize the event of declaration of the Magdalena River for its recognition as a subject of rights and victim of the internal armed conflict and special intervener before the JEP [Special Jurisdiction for Peace] in Case 08.
The schedule for this act of memory, recognition and dignification of the Magdalena River and the communities that have resisted alongside it, is as follows:
– May 10 in Corregimiento del Guayabo.
– May 11 in Puerto Yuma, Barrancabermeja.”
The National University of Colombia has noted: “To counteract the socio-environmental conflicts of the Magdalena River, whose basin is inhabited by 77% of the Colombian population and 85% of the national gross domestic product (GDP) is produced, it would be necessary to provide protection to the tributary and the ecosystems that compose it, in addition to recognizing its importance as the country’s main waterway.”
In October 2021, lawyers Nathalia Bautista Pizarro and Juliette Vargas Trujillo commented in El Espectador: “This year the Magdalena River was declared a victim of the armed conflict, in a conviction against former paramilitary Ramiro Isaza and others in the framework of Justice and Peace. This series of sui generis recognitions seems to indicate a revolutionary trend in the field of transitional justice, beyond the anthropocentric approach.”
The two lawyers further highlight: “Acknowledging the victimization of ethnic territories, ecosystems, and other natural entities opens a window of opportunity for transitional justice. The traditional way of achieving peace according to classical liberal principles is thus overcome, by including perspectives of territorial and environmental peacebuilding from the community level.”
In October 2024, Agencia Prensa Rural explained: “Social and human rights organizations presented a request for accreditation of the Magdalena River as a victim to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) on October 18 at a symbolic event in Bogotá.”
That article adds: “Case 08 refers to crimes committed by state agents in alliance with paramilitaries or civilian third parties, and includes some emblematic territories, including the Magdalena Medio region.”
It also notes: “According to the JEP, the main crimes directly attributed to public forces are homicides; forced displacement; threats; torture; and enforced disappearance. In some regions, these incidents occurred on a varying scale due to the stigmatization of social and political sectors and entire communities as guerrilla aides or members based on their social role or the fact that they live in those territories.”
In November 2024, El Espectador reported: “Yesid Payares [is] one of the peasant leaders of the township of El Guayabo who asked a few weeks ago that the Magdalena River be recognized by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) as a victim of the armed conflict in Colombia.”
That article adds: “If the Magdalena River is recognized as a victim, it would become an ecosystem under protection and it would be ensured that there are no effects such as in the dumping of chemicals or the diversion of its flow for other projects, as happened, for example, in Ituango with the construction of the hydroelectric plant.”
And it notes: “The CNMH [National Centre for Historical Memory] has pointed out that at least 1,080 people were thrown into 190 rivers in the country during the years of the conflict and that the figure could be even higher, taking into account that many of the bodies were mutilated in acts of torture.”
CREDHOS president Ivan Madero says: “The river has been used as a mass grave. Bodies were thrown into it to erase the traces of crimes. It has also been used as a corridor by all armed groups.”
Peace Brigades International has accompanied the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) since 1994.
Photo: CREDHOS president Ivan Madero, PBI-Colombia and PBI-Canada on the banks of the Magdalena River in Puerto Wilches, June 28, 2022.
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