My first accompaniment

The bloke I’m accompanying on this trip is a trade unionist who was arrested by the army last year. After two weeks, the judge was skeptical about the evidence, and he was released. But while he was in there, pretty much everyone from the local army unit visited to get a good look at him. Meaning his risk of assassination is now pretty high. So he became one of Colombia’s three million internally displaced people and went to live in Bogotá. Unable to visit his farm or his girlfriend.

He was returning to the region (although not the bit where he lived where that army unit is) for the first time since he was released. He seemed to be quite chilled about it, and didn’t ask for any accompaniment, but given he had been asked to find people for me to work with when he was there, at the last minute he asked if I wanted to go along.

When I last wrote about Alejandro Uribe being killed by the army, I wondered about quoting that thing about 600 people marching to the army base. I’d found it as a secondary source on the internet, and I thought maybe I should be trying for more journalistic vigour. Since then, I talked to someone who was there, and said it was easily 600 – Alejandro knew loads of people, and many came from the town of Santa Rosa.

What I didn’t realize then, was that Alejandro’s death had a pretty concrete impact. People camped out in Santa Rosa for a month. There were 400 by the end, and 200 needed accompaniment back to the mining zone. The agreement reached due to this demonstration included that the army agreed to take soldiers out of villages (where they ask favours which are difficult to refuse, and put populations at risk of guerrilla attacks), and that there would be regular ‘Verification Missions’.

It was a Verification Mission we were going to. Lots of government agencies, a few NGOs, and the UN were all going on a trip to a mining village. The plan being, to get the local government to listen to concerns and to act on them.

So, back to another mining village. Three Toyota landcruisers (in convoy for safety) for the two hour dusty journey. The flash UN one with one authorized person per seat. Most people crowded on wooden benches on the back of the most battered vehicle, which got much admiration (as did its driver) in the way it managed the hilly, rocky, rubbish road.

Then just a 20 minute walk, but uphill in quite some heat. So I got why local government might need a bit of a prod to leave their air conditioned offices and come sleep on a mattress on the floor out there in the sticks.
When he arrived back at the town nearest the mining village, the man I was accompanying noticed a bloke start a phone call and say “The guy’s just arrived here, and seems relaxed.” It was the same informer who had made it known after his arrest that if he was seen again in the area, he would be killed. So he had a quick lunch and left.

Back in the city we get taxis short distances to avoid being seen. And have to go to the second-best fish restaurant cos the best one has a reputation for being full of paramilitary and informers.

It has been a real pleasure to hang out with such a nice bloke: Someone with both real integrity and an understanding of feminism. I asked him about how often he gets to see his children, given that some of them live where it’s not safe for him to go. He told me how he sees himself as part of two families – his immediate family and the wider family of everyone in the world. He puts a lot of value on his part in the wider family, and this leads to sacrifices.