Colombian Update : Walking with Pastor Alape

AN UNEXPECTED INVITATION

Last week I got a last minute invitation from the UN to visit the guerrilla reinsertion camp at Llano Grande near Debian, the poster child in terms of the program to steadily move ex guerrillas of the FARC back into normal society. Llano Grande is no more than a hamlet, buried in the mountains of Antioquia - it may only be 116km from Medellín but takes over five hours in a car which sums up just how far it lies off the beaten track, it is beautiful valley bordered by endless forest and which invariably sits below the cloud line in the early morning. The climate was damp enough that if you aren’t careful you find a damp bed waiting for you as you retire in the evening. It a beautiful place which belies the horrors that have occurred. Overall Llano Grande works very well - the original village consists of maybe 200 people of which 95% were victims during the conflict as 18 residents lost their lives and they now live side by side with the same guerrillas who were directly or indirectly responsible for those acts of violence. The main landowner in the area is a widow who’s husband was killed years ago by the FARC in a nearby wooded area, close enough that it could be pointed out. Whilst there are two communities, ex combatants and resident villagers, the children study side by side and there is a joint football team where the security forces also participate. The football pitch itself and the road that joins the two communities were both projects undertaken as joint ventures, beyond that there is a healthy interaction between the different inhabitants and that is the way they wish to continue. THE OBSERVER I was there as an observer not much else but others boarding the Sikorsky helicopter including charities from several listed and non listed companies were there to explore the needs of the community in order to drive forward the peace process in this valley. I had the opportunity to speak to many people there including members of the military, ex combatants, the fabulous nuns running the school and Pastor Alape now one of the main political voices of the FARC movement. Of course 36 hours isn’t enough to get the full picture but without question you can draw some initial conclusions. There is fear with regards to what a Duque Presidency will bring as his party opposed the peace agreement but listening to what the foreign agencies including the UN had to say there will be no truck from overseas in terms of back sliding on the progress already made. No-one is expecting miracles overnight patience is required, the ex-FARC members are far from prepared for civilian life, they have few if any transferable skills. These will be key, the old adage of not giving them fish but teaching them to fish is certainly the way ahead. In a few months the free food will stop arriving and whilst for their time being they have their monthly allowance of USD250 they would far sooner be trained for a real job but that of course takes time. They are highly disciplined and still work as a unit so if the opportunities are put in front of them they should prosper. A NORMAL LIFE The demilitarized want to settle into normal life, they want to raise families in a peaceful environment after years of having to send their kids to the cities at age three, or worse having them aborted - I spoke to a couple who are expecting Maria in a few weeks, they just want a safe environment for their child to grow up in. As opposed to disappearing into the jungle or back to their origins they wish to stay because the Frente they were part of (here it was a mix of Frentes 34 & 5) have become their families after so many years together. For this reason there is need for clarification in terms of the land they are currently living on - in a year or so they technically need to move on but the way things are progressing their preference would be to stay put and build a new Llano Grande. The symbols and insignia of the FARC are all around and many wear clothing that are tribute to fallen colleagues and friends, their belief in what they were doing runs deep, political indoctrination was very successful in this regard. The leader were also very successful in seeding a deep loyalty not least because they were happy to share the same squalid living conditions in the jungles and mountains for so many years. I spoke to John Freddy who had lost both his hands and forearms handling explosives - that occurred in 1999, he had every excuse to go home and do nothing but I was amazed when chatting to him to find out he had fought on, the fire burnt deep in him and he showed me how the stump on his right arm had been retrained in order to fire a weapon. The same sense of injustice that drives a man like that is still to be found in many - again it is the decades old argument over inequality which the GINI coefficient tells us is still alive and kicking in Colombia. The nuns work is surely an example of the path Colombia needs to follow - initially they had two classrooms within one but through a micro process of reconciliation with every child explaining their story they managed to create a normalized teaching environment. Pastor Alape is a revered figure within the movement, when he speaks the room falls silent, he doesn’t waste a word - he speaks of new beginnings, of patience, he feels likes a man leading his people from the wilderness and in many respects that is what he is doing. Already 70 ex FARC members around the various integration centres have been killed and that is of course is troubling to him but unfortunately not all the centres have been as successful at changing the mentality of either the local community of the ex-combatants themselves. NO HOLIDAY PARK To squash one urban myth, no-one is living in any kind of luxury - just one night in one of the cabins is enough to prove that, the accommodation is light years ahead of their previous life under the stars but having slept in the cold listening to every noise for about 20 metres due to the flimsy construction I promise you no one is sat back enjoying the lifestyle...ice cold showers are said to be healthy but waiting your turn to use that same shower which is used by several households doesn’t add to the experience. THOSE WHO PAY I could write for a week about what I saw, of the stories I heard, of security forces swapping stories with ex-guerrillas about where they fought or of how the ranking system is so similar in both forces, or of the leader of this guerrilla troop who has been a affiliated since 1948 because his father was killed for being a liberal - they go one and on and from all sides. However in the end a visit like this tears away at your soul, there is pain on all sides, there have been no winners in this conflict and in hindsight it is easy to say there never could have been - the agreement isn’t perfect and sadly when you see the poverty within the hamlet of Llano Grande you realize that the future issues go way beyond ex-guerrillas, they are but a microcosm within the poorest in Colombia’s society that have been left behind. To quote one soldier “There is no-one who more desires peace than those who are involved in the battle” - who is to argue ? Or who is to question the teacher who finally fled the area having suffered at the hands of the FARC and who has now returned to teach those same guerrilla’s offspring. Then there is the widower who donated the land for the camp, who are we to argue with her sense of reconciliation. President Duque from tomorrow owns the process, he is no longer simply a critic and he has to get it right, as mentioned even those amongst the ex guerrilla ranks realize the agreement isn't ideal but it will of course be no easy process but thousands of lives have been saved already and those most directly involved on both sides have no desire to go back to the dark days of perpetual violence and hatred, in the end they are the one who normally pay the ultimate price.