Ethnic Rights Under Threat: The

Black Peasant Movement Against

Armed Groups' Pressure in the
Choco

, Colombia
MIEKE WOUTERS
1
Utrecht University
During the past decade Colombia has been experiencing the paradox
of, on the one hand, enjoying one of the most advanced constitutional
frameworks for the empowerment of citizenship rights in general and
ethnic rights in particular, and on the other, suffering from the drawn-
out effects of endemic violence and armed conflict. In this paper, the
manifestation of this paradox in a specific context, that of the black
peasants' land rights movement in the Choco region, is explored.
Under the aegis of the 1991 Constitution, organisations of black
peasants have been making headway in filing for and receiving
substantial collective land titles on the basis of a discourse of black
ethnic rights. At the same time, and not coincidentally, various armed
actors such as the FARC guerrillas and paramilitary forces have made
violent inroads into this region. The violence has led to internal
displacement, social uprooting, and the disruption of the
organisational efforts of the black peasantry. This has put the process
of ethnic construction and mobilisation under severe strain. However,
black peasants' organisation have been trying to use the land
entitlements as a tool to mount a counterstrategy against the violence
inflicted by the armed groups.
Keywords: Ethnicity, Afro-Colombians, land rights, violence, guerrilla,
paramilitary, peasantry, Colombia
2001 Society for Latin American Studies. Published by Blackwell Publishers,
498 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
Bulletin of Latin American Research, Vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 498519, 2001
1 Field material for the original version of this paper was gathered in the Choco in
November and December 1998, AugustOctober 1999, and April 2000. A first draft of
the paper was presented at the LASA International Conference in Miami in March
2000. I am grateful to the Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical
Research for the co-funding of my participation in this event. I thank Peter Wade for
his valuable comments on an earlier version of the paper.
Introduction
Colombian legislation regarding the rights of ethnic groups is, on paper, one of
the most advanced in Latin America. In the new constitution of 1991 Colombia
recognised that it was a multiethnic and multicultural nation instead of the
homogenous country consecrated in the old carta poltica of 1886. Moreover, the
new constitution mandated the formulation of special new legislation for black
communities in which Afro-Americans, for the first time in the history of the
South American continent, could reclaim collective territories, comparable to the
recognised rights of indigenous communities. Law 70 of 1993, called the Law of
the Black Communities and passed to put this into practice, also defined the right
to protect the culture and traditional production practices of the black rural
communities, and a greater political participation in the decisions directly
influencing their lives.
Since the new Constitution came into effect, strengthened with the promulgation
of Law 70, the number of studies on the black population in Colombia has grown
explosively. The processes of socio-political mobilisation and organisation leading
up to Law 70 and the developments since then have been the object of numerous
investigations (Camacho and Restrepo, 1999). Nevertheless, there are few studies
dedicated to estimating the effect and the consequences of the presence of armed
actors in the various regions in which the process of Law 70 is being carried out, and
more specifically on the collective granting of land titles. The Colombian Pacific
region, of which the Choco and its Atrato basin form the most important part, has
been for many years an area of low-intensity operations of the guerrilla groups,
especially the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC). After 1996, the violence has been intensified
with the incursion of paramilitary forces in the region. I will argue that the very fact
of formalising collective land titles on the basis of constitutionally endorsed black
ethnic rights has been one of the reasons for the increasing territorial conflicts
among the armed groups that have entered the region.
Therefore, the relative absence of interest or information on this particular
problem is noteworthy. When the first collective land titles were effectively granted
in 1997, the supposed beneficiaries were no longer there to receive these personally,
having been forced off their land because of the violent acts by the various armed
groups. This article aims to shed light on the consequences of violence for the
process of rural organisation and struggle for collective land titles of the black
peasantry of the Choco . I will focus on the case of the Asociacio n Campesina
Integral del Atrato (Integrated Peasant Association of the Atrato, ACIA), which has
been at the front of this process in the so-called Middle Atrato area.
The Constitution of 1991 and Law 70 of 1993
Mobilisation for the recognition of ethnic rights and identities began tentatively
in the 1970s, when the first signs of an Afro-Colombian movement emerged.
Black Peasant Movement in the Choco , Colombia
2001 Society for Latin American Studies 499
Initially, this movement was based on small urban intellectual discussion groups
inspired by Black Power in the United States. It concentrated above all on the
theme of black consciousness and racial discrimination, and emphasised the
Afro-Colombians' necessity to engage in emancipation and social progress.
2
Directed against the official ideology of `racial democracy', the political, social
and economic integration of the black population was transformed into an
essential element in the fight for recognition of the black peoples' contribution to
Colombian society and their rights. However, the dominant national ideology
and common practice of mestizaje and `whitening' reduced the Afro-Colombians'
potential for solidarity (Wade, 1991, 1996). Nevertheless, those urban
emancipation movements had their impact, both on later national debates on
collective ethnic rights and on various local and regional movements. Moreover,
as I will discuss more fully below, during the 1980s various peasant organisations
that emerged in the Pacific coastal regions with large Afro-Colombian
populations began to focus on territorial rights. Increasingly, these organisations
used an ethnic discourse, demanding recognition of their rights in a form
comparable to the demands made by the indigenous groups and movements.
The intensification of ethnic mobilisation and demands during the 1980s
placed the theme of the collective rights of ethnic groups and communities on the
agenda of the Constitutional Assembly that promulgated a new constitution in
1991. The new constitution defined Colombia for the first time as a multi-ethnic
and multicultural state. Nonetheless, this acknowledgement, independent of its
practical implications, did not automatically define the specific rights of the Afro-
Colombians, as the concept of ethnicity until that moment was the exclusive
domain of the indigenous communities. Until the end of the Assembly's
deliberations and supported by intensive lobbying and peaceful demonstrations, a
provision in the form of Transitory Article 55 was included in the new
Constitution.
3
The article mandated the formation of a special committee which
had to draft a law on the rights of the black communities within two years. When
this committee, formed by traditional politicians, representatives of the black
community and academics, started their work, their deliberations revealed the
juridical no-man's land with respect to rights of the black population. In August
1993, Law 70 was proclaimed, which included the legal recognition of Afro-
Colombians as an ethnic group with specific rights. A key issue was defined in the
following form in Article 1 of the law:
2 See for general interpretations of the Afro-Colombian communities and their efforts
at mobilisation Arocha (1992, 1998), Escobar (1996, 1998), Friedemann (1986, 1989),
Pardo (1997, 1998), Restrepo (1998, 1999), Villa (1998), Wade (1986, 1993, 1995).
3 In this context Arocha (1992) mentions the peaceful occupation of the town halls of
Quibdo and Pie de Pato . In addition, Quibdo 's cathedral was taken and the Haitian
Embassy in Bogota was `unexpectedly' visited. See Arocha (1992) for more details on
the constitutional process in general.
Mieke Wouters
500 2001 Society for Latin American Studies
The objective of the present law is to grant the black communities
who have begun to occupy fallow lands in the riparian rural areas
around the Pacific river deltas, the right to collective property in
accordance with their traditional production practices . . .'
4
As a prerequisite, the election and formation of so-called Consejos Comunitarios
(community councils) was ordered, which were to act as representatives of the
black communities to governmental institutions like INCORA (Colombian
Institute of Agrarian Reform) and to manage the collective territories in their
capacity as the new formal and legal authority in the communities.
5
The law also
provided mechanisms for the protection and support of the ethnic rights and
identities of the communities, for example through programs of ethno-education.
Moreover, the communities could participate in national and local planning, and
in economic and social development projects. It also included the theme of
environmental protection in reference to the postulated special relationship
between the communities and their natural habitats. Finally, a Directorate of
Black Community Matters was created within the Ministry of the Interior and
the strengthening of scientific research on Afro-Colombian subjects was
proposed (Red de Solidaridad Social, 1995).
Despite the fact that the law was embraced by many Afro-Colombian
organisations, its weaknesses were evident. The black peasants were still
perceived as invaders of fallow lands; areas like rivers, underground, national
parks, military zones and urban land were excluded from any possible collective
control. A large part of the financial means and logistic mechanisms needed for
co-ordinating various political and organisational initiatives of the Afro-
Colombian community were still lacking. There also was scepticism with respect
to the negotiation position of the communities vis-a -vis the political and
economic clout of the timber, mining and pharmaceutical companies interested in
the resources and the biodiversity of the region. Moreover, there were great
delays in the implementation of the law, and some articles have still not been
implemented because their provisions could not be applied. As a result, the
procedure of requesting a collective entitlement was still not formalised by
October 1995, two years after the law was proclaimed. Therefore, the black
peasants' organisations realised that the law only signified the starting point of
their struggle for the recognition of the rights of the black communities.
6
4 Article 1 of Law 70 of 1993, quoted in Red de Solidaridad Social (1995: 53).
5 The councils, chaired by a legal representative, are to be elected by the inhabitants of
each community to serve a three-years term. The councils are charged with territorial
control and `rational' management of natural resources. See the document of Red de
Solidaridad Social and Junta Pat a, La gente de los ros (Bogota , 1995).
6 Personal communication to the author from a representative of Red de Solidaridad
Social, Bogota , July 1997; also several communications from a representative of the
non-governmental organisation Pandoras, Quibdo , April and June 1997. (For security
reasons names of informants are kept confidential in all references.)
Black Peasant Movement in the Choco , Colombia
2001 Society for Latin American Studies 501
The Choco : poor rich region
The subject of territorial rights for the Afro-Colombian population is especially
relevant in the department of the Choco where 85 per cent of the approximately
500,000 inhabitants consider themselves to be black. This high percentage is a
direct legacy of the past, when Spanish colonial rule brought slavery to the region
for mining activities. Through marooning and the legal practice of setting slaves
free, a relatively autonomous population of free or escaped black and mulatto
peasants was formed. This population of free people lived in small, dispersed
communities and villages on the banks of the numerous rivers that crossed the
impenetrable jungle where they developed a strong sense of territoriality.
However, despite its mineral and biological resources, the Choco is considered to
be one of the poorest regions in Colombia with a rudimentary infrastructure and
high illiteracy and mortality rates. In fact, from the first colonial incursions until
recently, the developmental initiatives of the state have largely bypassed the
region.
Nevertheless, the interest in the Choco has grown significantly in recent years.
First, the national and international companies in sectors such as logging, mining
and pharmaceuticals have pointed their gazes to the natural resources in the
tropical jungles and underground of the region. Second, the Colombian State has
become aware of the strategic importance of the Choco as the gateway to the
economies of the Pacific Rim. In addition, the fact that the Choco has coasts on
two oceans, the Pacific and the Atlantic (via the Caribbean Sea), has spurred talk
of constructing a dry channel, known as the Atrato-Truando Channel in the
north of the department. In 1994, President Ernesto Samper revitalised this
discussion. All of this meant that various interested parties have been trying to
obtain some sort of control in the region. The various armed groups, a
phenomenon which I will address more extensively below, have recently joined
their ranks. This development not only implicates a threat to the natural
resources fundamental to the subsistence of the black communities, but it has
also brought, as we will see below, an intensification of the fight for the territory.
In this context of high tension, many local organisations were formed from the
mid-1980s onward to call attention to the subject of territorial rights and the
defence of natural resources. In view of the rapid growth of the activities of local
and foreign companies, the urgency to guarantee access to land was evident. The
`discovery' of the bio-diversity of the Pacific coast, especially in the Choco was
another reason. Local organisations rapidly incorporated the ecology issue into
their platform, defending access to land as crucial for the subsistence of the
communities. When Law 70 was passed the ethnic-territorial movement in the
Choco , for the first time, acquired a real perspective to secure the territorial
rights of the Afro-Colombian communities.
Mieke Wouters
502 2001 Society for Latin American Studies
ACIA: pioneer in the fight for territory and collective entitlement
One of the first and most significant organisations to request a collective land
title was the Asociaco n Campesina Integral del Atrato (Integrated Peasant
Association of the Atrato, ACIA). This organisation represents almost 120
communities located along the banks of the Middle Atrato River, which crosses
through almost all of the Choco . This area of approximately 800,000 hectares is
located between the Choco 's capital, Quibdo , and the municipality of R osucio
on the Lower Atrato. Moreover, it extends to the extreme western part of the
department of Antioquia (where the Atrato forms the border between the two
departments).
7
ACIA was the first organisation of rural Afro-Colombian communities, born
of Christian grass roots committees formed in the early 1980s by missionary
teams, in particular the congregation of the Claretians.
8
They came to the
communities to raise awareness among the people concerning the necessity to
defend and control the territory. They talked about the serious threats posed by
`irrational' timber exploitation that would mean the destruction of the natural
resource base, an essential part of the communities' subsistence. Although many
depended in particular on logging as the primary source of monetary income,
part of the black peasants understood the importance of defending their territory,
and in particular their forests. The damaging results of woodlogging had already
become clear in Uraba , the northern part of the Choco where these companies
had almost completely destroyed the natural forest.
As the organisation process advanced, the grassroots committees started to
call themselves peasant associations. In 1987 they obtained the status of a legal
entity under its current name, the Integrated Peasant Association of the Atrato
(ACIA). Although the defence of the territory was not initially placed within an
ethnic discourse as such, the cultural workshops organised by the missionaries
and a substantial research effort within the DIAR project made it clear that
territory was of fundamental importance to the physical and cultural survival of
the black communities in the Middle Atrato region (Leesberg and Valencia,
7 These data are taken from ACIA documents: Nuestro territorio: etnia, cultura y
autonomia (July 1998); Nuestro grito de paz a la comunidad nacional e internacional
y a los actores generadores de violencia (November 1998).
8 Besides the Claretian missionaries the German priests of the Verbo Divino (Divine
Word) and the Ursuline sisters also played an important role in the foundation of
ACIA. It is noteworthy, however, that at present ACIA does not mention the support
from the religious orders. Instead ACIA sees its origin exclusively within the domain
of popular initiative. See ACIA's paper: La titulacio n colectiva, una opcio n por la vida
de las comunidades negras (November 1997). In fact, ACIA still depends on relations
with the missionaries, increasingly so as a result of the spread of violence in its area. In
addition, the support received from the Colombian/Dutch DIAR project in the El
Choco (19821990) for the constitution of ACIA can be mentioned (personal
communication to the author from an official of CODECHOCO, 20 September 1999;
also personal communications to the author of a former leader of ACIA, 20 and 22
August 1999).
Black Peasant Movement in the Choco , Colombia
2001 Society for Latin American Studies 503
1987). Moreover, the peasant population's special practices of managing the
various natural spaces and informal individual and collective systems of
landholding were brought to the fore. Towards the end of the 1980s the
organisation with the help of advisors started to elaborate a discourse that
was based on the importance of land and natural resources as an integral part of
the Afro-chocoano society and culture. This also reflected the growing
importance of ethnic and environmental issues at the international level (Baud
et al., 1996).
ACIA argued that the traditional production practices of the Atrato peasants
and the specific conception of nature they applied were well suited to the aim of
environmental protection. According to ACIA, the territory forms part of the
social and cultural life of the communities. It is not a concept of registration of
ownership or a piece of real estate for commercial exchange. Territory is a
space which gives shelter to the life of the communities in an integral manner,
with human settlements or villages with their own culture and social
organisation. Natural resources are essential for the reproduction of community
life and black culture. As such, territory constitutes a fundamental element for
the consolidation of the identity of these communities and enables the extension
of kinship and other ties between generations, families, communities and
individuals. Territoriality includes all renewable and non-renewable resources,
bodies of water, the air, fauna and flora, minerals and the supernatural forces,
that is to say all of that which man needs in his life. Therefore, the struggle of
the black peasants had to be founded on defending and conserving this
territory, `because in it, our culture and our being as a people develop as a
community and in a harmonious relationship with nature' (ACIA/OPOCA,
1999: 12).
ACIA gained its first victory regarding the defence and conservation of the
territory in June 1987 when the organisation held its First Forum on the Defence
of Natural Resources in the Atrato community of Buchado , with the
participation of various government representatives. Although at the time the
government still refused to recognise the ethnic aspect of the communities, the
negotiations resulted in the so-called Accord 20 of Buchado , establishing a
territory of approximately 600,000 hectares to be managed by ACIA in
conjunction with the Development Corporation for the Choco (CODECHOCO)
and the National Planning Agency.
One year later, after the government had failed to comply with the agreement,
ACIA organised another forum. In this forum, the organisation introduced for
the first time the concept of ethnic minority to substantiate its claims on the basis
of the ILO covenant on minority rights signed by Colombia. ACIA argued that
the communities of the Atrato had to be considered an ethnic group with specific
cultural, territorial, political and economic rights because of their African
descent. Despite the fact that much of the accord remained up in the air through a
lack of political will, it was evident that ACIA had set a precedent in the
articulation of its strategy after it had claimed the collective ethnic rights to the
territory (Pardo, 1997).
Mieke Wouters
504 2001 Society for Latin American Studies
These claims to ethno-territorial rights finally gained form within the
constitutional context by means of an ample mobilisation process in which the
peasant population, advisors from NGOs and the academic community, and
politicians participated. This led to the formulation of the Transitory Article 55
of the new Constitution and subsequently of Law 70 of 1993. The latter gave a
strong impulse to the organisational process of ACIA and gave the organisation
the instruments to lay formal claims to the land title within its zone of influence.
In the Middle Atrato, ACIA started a substantial effort of mobilisation and
awareness-raising about the new legislation. It started to set up community
committees demanded by the law, and collected all of the information necessary
for making the request.
9
After being approved by the communities in a general
assembly, ACIA submitted its request to INCORA in April 1997.
In Quibdo , almost a year later, on 11 February 1998, the President of ACIA,
Raul Renter a received a collective title to almost 700,000 hectares from President
Ernesto Samper.
10
Although the title was not the first one to be granted in
Colombia,
11
it is considered to be the most significant to date, due to the level of
popular participation, its recognition procedure, coverage, and impact.
12
However, despite the long battle for territorial rights and the fact that it has
been the owner of the territory for more than two years, ACIA and the black
communities of the Middle Atrato have faced the menace of losing their
territorial control due to the pressure of various armed groups. This threat puts
the physical and cultural survival of these communities in jeopardy.
9 The information presented referred among other things to a physical description of
the territory, ethno-historical background, assessment of the socio-cultural and
organisational situation, a census, socio-economic data, traditional production
practices, patterns of landholding, and a map of the territory for which the title
was requested.
10 The area de influencia (territorial jurisdiction) of ACIA comprises ca. 800,000 ha. of
which 695,245 ha. have been included in the land title, for a population of 39,360
made up of 7,094 families or households and 119 consejos comunitarios (ACIA/
OPOCA, 1999). Part of the ca. 100,000 ha. that still awaits entitlement is under
dispute with indigenous communities. ACIA has been seeking an agreement with the
indigenous organisation OREWA.
11 The first land titles amounting to ca. 70,000 ha. were granted in the Lower Atrato in
March 1997 to a number of communities along the Truando river. At that moment,
however, the beneficiaries had already been forced out of the areas due to
paramilitary incursions and clashes between the military and the guerrilla between
December 1996 and February 1997. Several leaders of peasant organisations involved
in the process were assassinated.
12 In fact, until the end of 1999 no other collective land title of this kind had been
granted in the Choco . Several peasant organisations in the region had submitted their
claims, however, using the `model' of the ACIA application.
Black Peasant Movement in the Choco , Colombia
2001 Society for Latin American Studies 505
The spread of armed violence into the Choco
Regarding peace, our people no longer talks. Now they scream. We
are now tired of talking of peace. Therefore we release a scream, no
only because we are not heard, but because the situation of our people
is such that only when screaming can we express our anguish.
13
One year after this public statement by ACIA not much had changed. Or, better
said, things had been getting worse. In November 1999, Carlos Castan o's
paramilitaries attacked a vessel of humanitarian aid workers on the R o Atrato,
carrying members of the Diocese of Quibdo , a delegate from the Spanish NGO
Paz y Tercer Mundo (PTM), an ACIA driver and several peasants from the
region. Their boat had just arrived at the town of Quibdo in the Kennedy
neighbourhood when it was suddenly and purposefully rammed by a panga (fast
boat) which destroyed the forward portion, throwing In igo Eguiluz, the Spanish
PTM delegate and the Colombian priest, Father Jorge Luis Mazo Palacio from
that part of the boat. After having caused the collision, the occupants of the
panga continued on their route. The next day, the lifeless bodies of the Spanish
youth and the Father were found several kilometres down the Atrato river.
14
Just days before, the Diocese of Apartado (Uraba ) and Quibdo publicly stated
in a communique that because of these paramilitary groups, the work of social
organisation and humanitarian aid projects were being severely hindered, placing
the lives of those people involved in danger. Seven days later the police and the
army captured nine paramilitaries in the outlet of the Negua river across from the
community of Las Mercedes. Among those captured were the two presumed
responsible for the deaths of the Spanish delegate and the Colombian priest. In a
apparent act of revenge for the arrest of its members, a paramilitary group
threatened to kill the 500 residents of Las Mercedes and `burn down the entire
village' if they did not abandon the village that very day. According to witnesses,
the paramilitaries accused the peasants of having informed the police about one
of their camps. The next day, the people of Las Mercedes gathered a few of their
belongings and left their village towards Quibdo , where some of them took
refuge in the ACIA headquarters.
15
Only in February 2000 they decided to return
to their community.
On another occasion, at the end of March 2000, the guerrilla attacked Vig a del
Fuerte and Bellavista, two communities located on the Atrato.
16
This attack, carried
out with mortars and explosives by the FARC's frentes number 5, 34 and 57, left a
death toll of 21 policemen and eight civilians, including two babies and the mayor
13 Cited from ACIA's document Our cry of peace to the national and international
community and to the actors generating the violence (November 1998).
14 Information provided through ACIA by a member of the Equipo Nizkor, November
1999.
15 Personal communication to the author from the ACIA Secretariat, 29 November 1998.
16 The events described here were reported in various newspapers, like El Tiempo, El
Colombiano, El Pas, El Mundo and Colprensa, on 17 and 28 March 2000.
Mieke Wouters
506 2001 Society for Latin American Studies
of Vig a. The village of 1,200 inhabitants was considered to be the second poorest
community of the country. After 16 hours, when half of the village was destroyed,
the guerrilla fled in five motorboats. Two hours later, counterinsurgency troops of
the Fourth Brigade of the army arrived. `The rumour of an attack already went
round for three years, but never we expected it to be it like this', said a shop-owner.
The villagers explained the attack as a vengeance of the FARC for complying with
the demands of the paramilitaries in this area three years ago.
These cases give an impression of the situation of violence the rural population
have been experiencing in the Middle Atrato region. One thing that calls
attention is that on these particular occasions news of the violence was not only
heard in the countryside and in Quibdo . The news of the paramilitary attack
spread from the Choco , received coverage in the national newspapers, and even
caused international protest. The foreign nationality of one of the victims and the
religious vocation of the other supposedly contributed to the general indignation.
Until then, the large numbers of peasants, assassinated in recent years by the
various armed groups, never caused such indignation. The only proof of their
death used to be bodies floating in the Atrato river, which no one dared to
retrieve, since the armed actors even denied the relatives the right to bury their
dead. In the case of the guerrilla attack, the news occupied various pages of
newspapers and received broad media attention. The numerous police victims
certainly influenced the impact the event had.
According to Pe caut (1996, 1998, 1999a), the spread of violence in Colombia is
largely due to the proliferation of illegal armed actors that were able to access
considerable resources through the coca economy in order to strengthen their
military capabilities. At the same time, guerrillas and paramilitaries exercise a
considerable degree of control over the civilian population, taking recourse to
terror. Pe caut argues that the Colombian violence is a generalised situation in
which all of the violence is in tune with one another, blurring the distinction
between its various political and non-political manifestations. The conflict has
grown, sharpened and degraded in an impressive manner in which all political
credibility has been lost and in which methods of terror are used against the
unarmed civilian population. Unfortunately, this vicious dynamic has also come to
the Choco , which until a few years ago was considered to be one of the calmest
parts of Colombia (Arocha, 1993).
The armed violence started to invade the Choco from December 1996 onward.
In the municipalities of Carmen Del Attar, Quibdo , Bojaya and R osucio, which
represent one third of the department's territory and close to 46 per cent of its
population, there has been a considerable rise in the rate of homicides and in the
number of forced displacement of residents of communities. In September 1999
more than 8,000 displaced persons were counted in Quibdo alone.
17
The change
17 Personal communication to the author from a representative of the Comisio n de Vida,
Justicia y Paz of the Diocese of Quibdo , 14 September 1999. Many displaced people
went to other towns or rural communities, so that no accurate statistics on the
number of displaced persons are available.
Black Peasant Movement in the Choco , Colombia
2001 Society for Latin American Studies 507
actually came on 20 December 1996 when the paramilitaries, together with the
army, occupied the community of R osucio by surprise under the pretext of
ending the guerrilla influence in the area. In the following months of January and
February 1997, the army bombed the Salaqui and Cacarica tributaries.
18
The
actions caused the displacement of ca. 14,000 17,000 inhabitants. The official
justification of the military intervention was to expel the guerrillas. Nevertheless,
the presence of the guerrillas in this area was not something recent. They had
already been present for 20 years, and this never caused any military response.
The state had been socially and militarily absent throughout that time and the
peasant population never had an option but to conform to the guerrilla presence.
However, military and paramilitary actions at the end of 1996 and early 1997
resulted in not only the expulsion of the guerrillas but of the peasant population
as well.
The population in the Middle Atrato, ACIA's zone of influence, was also no
stranger to the guerrilla. The FARC's Front 57 in particular had been present in
the region for more than fifteen years (Echand a Castilla, 1998; El Espectador, 4
December 1999: 6-A). However, they were never permanently present in the
communities and their acts were generally limited to organising `revolutionary'
meetings in the communities and carrying out punishment of perpetrators of
criminal acts since the police and the army were effectively absent. As one ACIA
representative told me in 1999:
In our communities, we did not see the guerrillas stay for even one
day. They would arrive at the village and we would see them setting
things up, they would have a meeting one moment, and then they
were gone . . . several years could pass before one would see a
guerrilla group, you only heard talk of the guerrilla. But they did
spend many days travelling.
19
The other major guerrilla force, the Ejercito de Liberacio n Nacional (National
Liberation Army, ELN) had existed for more than ten years in the region.
Especially during 1999 and 2000 they significantly expanded their presence,
particularly with their actions on the Negua river at the end of April 2000. They
established territorial control between Buchado and Quibdo on the upper part of
the Atrato. The lower part is controlled by the FARC, which consolidated its
territorial control after the attack on Vig a. Yet another and smaller guerrilla
group, the Ejercito Revolucionario Guevarista (Revolutionary Guevarist Army,
ERG) had established a presence near Quibdo , especially in the area of the road
to Carmen del Atrato.
18 Personal communication to the author from two representatives of the Verbo Divino
order, also members of the Comisio n Intercongregacional Justicia y Paz in Quibdo , 9
August 1999 and 2 October 1999.
19 This and the following statements were given by one legal representative [member of
a community council ed.] who also was a district leader within ACIA. I spoke with
this informant on several occasions during the AugustOctober 1999 period.
Mieke Wouters
508 2001 Society for Latin American Studies
Toward the end of 1996 and the beginning of 1997 paramilitary forces,
designated as the Autodefensas Campesinas Co rdoba-Uraba (Peasant Self-
defence Forces of Co rdoba-Uraba ), entered the region. This was a relatively late
arrival in comparison with other parts of the country. Still, their incursion led to
the guerrillas' loss of territorial control over Uraba . The change of guerrilla
strategies at the national level, such as financial diversification, strengthening
local power, and more emphasis on military and less on political aspects
(Echand a Castilla, 1998: 36), led them to adopt their own methods of dirty war
which the paramilitaries had begun using before methods which were
increasingly directed against the peasant population. At the same time, the
paramilitaries moved to the capital town of Quibdo , where they took control of a
considerable part of local commerce. The same ACIA representative quoted
above told me:
Today we no longer know what side the guerrillas are on, or what
they want. Because in the past we could say that, and knowing the
history of Colombia in which the guerrillas would be on the side of
the poor people because that was how they were formed, through all
of the injustices of the governments . . . Today we see that the
guerrillas are not really attacking the paramilitaries but the poor, are
they not? Because in Atrato the guerrillas and the paramilitaries walk
all over the place, and never catch each other. When the one group
passes, the other group hides, and then after it has left, the other one
returns!
There are numerous testimonies of this type, in which the members of ACIA state
that they did not have any direct confrontations with the two armed groups. On
only two occasions, the most recent in September 1999 across from the
community of Tagach , in the outlet of the Arqu a river, several attacks were
made in succession, without great damage or many victims on either side. It
seems that the only strategy for both groups is to terrorise the peasant
population. The following statements made to me by an ACIA representative in
1999 gives a clear illustration of the effects of the use of force against the civilian
population of the Atrato region:
The ones in the crossfire middle are the disarmed poor population
aren't they? The people in Atrato now live in fear, terror, because
both groups threaten, torture and assassinate people, and set up
checkpoints. (. . .) There is also the economic blockade involved in
this, because the paramilitaries with their roadblocks do not allow
food and provisions to be transported on the rivers because
supposedly the guerrillas are on the tributaries and hence no food
is entering the tributaries (. . .) Because of the food and provisions
blockade, the communities of Atrato are not receiving anything, there
is no sugar, no butter, no soap for washing clothes, there is nothing
[. . .] And with that fear, almost nobody dares to launch a boat
Black Peasant Movement in the Choco , Colombia
2001 Society for Latin American Studies 509
because there is the risk of losing everything they have, their capital,
the motor, even their own lives. Because now, simply when bringing
down food, if one group doesn't accuse you of something, the other
will accuse you of being a collaborator . . . And by the same measure
the blockade also effects activities, because due to the fear, the people
would rather not work in the fields. Because what they fear is that if
the paramilitary catch them there in the mountains or on the river,
they will mistake them for a guerrilla and then . . . they would kill
them right there or torture them. And if the guerrillas catch them,
they imagine that the guerrillas are going to make sure they don't tell
anything to the paramilitaries (. . .) Some 70 per cent have abandoned
their parcels and have quit farming. And so the people prefer to put
up with it, and those who don't have to move out . . .
At the same time, the Colombian Army has been virtually absent in the area.
Although a special counterinsurgency battalion called Manosalva Florez has been
created, the army only sporadically operates on the river. On these occasions it is
doubtful whether they provide more security for the local population. Moreover
the army command had been strongly denying any paramilitary presence on the
river prior to the attack of November 1999 that was denounced by the
Archbishop and several organisations such as ACIA.
Explaining violence in the Choco
What factors explain the spread of violence into the Choco ? On the one hand, it
can be understood as part of the escalation and banalisation of armed conflict on
the national level. Here an important motive appears to be the increasingly fierce
competition for territorial control between the different armed actors (Chernick,
1999; Pe caut, 1999a). Nevertheless, in the Choco the arrival of violence is not seen
as something fortuitous, or as the simple extension of the armed conflict on the
national level. Many people including peasants, civil servants, members of
NGOs, and church people maintain that the rise of violence in this part of
Colombia has to do with economic interests and the resource and development
potential of the region.
Of the projected infrastructural projects, the best-known is the Atrato-
Truando Canal. The violence in the region of R osucio arose just as President
Samper wiped the dust off this project. But this project is not the only one. Other
works have already being executed, for example the construction of the naval
base in Valle Malaga. Moreover, there are plans for the construction of seaports,
for a connection to the Pan-American Highway, for a railroad connecting the
ports, for an oil pipeline and a line for coal waste, the Medell n-Urrao-Bah a
Solano highway, to name but a few. Furthermore, the region offers potential for
the development of agro-industry, hydroelectric plants, and the exploitation of
timber, minerals, and above all the bio-diversity of the region.
Mieke Wouters
510 2001 Society for Latin American Studies
The growing attention for the resource and development potential of the
Choco has been putting representative organisations of the black rural
population on edge. Spokespersons are suspicious with respect to the benefits
that may accrue to the local communities. On the contrary, the notion that armed
violence serves to `free' the territory for future exploitation is common:
Our territory of El Choco and Antioquia is a very strategic place geo-
politically, with access to both oceans and great possibilities for large
works of infrastructure and exploitation of natural resources, such as
minerals, petroleum, timber and our unique bio-diversity (. . .)
Because of all this, we are convinced that there are strong interests
in our displacement from this rich region. The armed actors who are
currently provoking this displacement perhaps are not even aware of
what interests they are ultimately serving.
20
Although the paramilitary leader Carlos Castan o admitted on several occasions
that their task is clearing land for big landowners who come behind them, there
exist no concrete and direct evidence that this is the case in the Choco . It has still
to be investigated which interests exactly are served. Moreover, until now the
armed groups themselves have not shown themselves to be actively interested in
the exploitation of the region's resources, although they do have some stakes in
the exploitation of wood and gold. However, it is clear that the area serves as an
important military corridor between the department of Antioquia and the Pacific
Ocean. Arms trafficking and increasingly also drug trade are clear reasons for the
military-strategic interest displayed by the armed actors. It is also known that the
FARC have not accepted their loss of parts of Uraba to the paramilitary groups,
and that they are preparing themselves in the Middle Atrato area to mount a
counter-offensive.
Still, this does not explain satisfactorily why the conflict extended itself so
ferociously to this part of the country at the beginning of 1997, and why it was
directed almost immediately against the civil population. I argue that we must
consider the process of collective land entitlement as another complicating factor
in its own right. Although Law 70 of 1993 has provided more territorial security
to the local population, this at the same time has been making actual or potential
interested parties aware of the possibility that the land was going to be the legal
and permanent property of the local black communities. In other words, the new
legislation not only became a tool for ethnic empowerment, but it also generated
new territorial conflicts. Key for the escalation of this conflict in the Choco has
been the lack of political will and institutional capacity of the state and the
official security forces to ensure and protect the territorial rights of the black
communities.
20 Taken from ACIA's Declaracio n por la vida de las comunidades del Medio Atrato,
n.d.
Black Peasant Movement in the Choco , Colombia
2001 Society for Latin American Studies 511
ACIA, the organisational process, and ethnic rights in the midst
of the violence
In various workshops and meetings organised in the region, representatives of the
communities within the collective territory of ACIA presented accounts of the
acts of violence committed by both the guerrillas and the paramilitaries.
21
These
testimonies depict the sad and well-known ingredients of dirty warfare in the
countryside: the physical integrity of persons was constantly threatened;
livelihood, access to resources, and the provision of basic public services such
as health care and education have been disrupted; existing forms of sociability
and culture were put under strain due to the violence and displacements. Most
importantly from the perspective of this paper, the violence threatened the
organisational efforts of the black peasant communities of the Atrato and the
effective implementation of the collective land rights allotted to them under Law
70. Prohibition of movement, intimidation, and the spread of fear impeded the
elaboration of the required Internal Regulations the communities need to govern
their collective title and to exploit the resources implied in them.
As a consequence, ACIA faced the weakening of its own organisational
process as a direct result of the presence of the armed groups. The terror that
both the paramilitaries and the guerrillas were spreading fed the distrust both
within and among the communities and between the communities and the ACIA
leadership. Out of mistrust people are willing to talk only reluctantly or discretely
about the effects of violence.
Lack of trust, in combination with internal antagonisms that always arise as
part of organisational efforts, can produce an explosive and dangerous mix,
which not only hampers the consolidation of land entitlements and local
organisational and developmental initiatives, but also puts in danger the lives of
the people involved. This problem was brought out clearly in testimonies I
recorded from ACIA activists in 1999:
The process has also been weakened. Because the people have become
timid, they live in fear. The displacement [of community dwellers
ed.] has also weakened the process.
The truth is that the work of the organisation in the countryside has
diminished a lot . . . They are holding events, but these are urgent
matters. An event in an area is scheduled every three months or six
months. In the past the meetings were continuous, because if there
was no workshop, then there would be a regional meeting or an
assembly or a tour by the commissioners. Also because the
organisation is passing through an economically critical situation.
By that measure, the process has slowed down very, very much. In
21 See ACIA's paper for the Fourth Bi-national Encounter of black communities of
Ecuador and Colombia, held at Valle del Chota on 1116 September 1999.
Mieke Wouters
512 2001 Society for Latin American Studies
many communities, the community councils have disintegrated
because several members have died . . . some have been murdered,
others have been displaced.
Echand a Castilla (1998: 58) has noted in this respect that the various armed
actors `. . . maintain instruments of force and are capable of imposing control
over the population by means of intimidation, in that way replacing the ties of
collective solidarity with a mutual distrust manifested in the law of silence and in
non-communication. Under these conditions it is impossible to construct
community and propitiate development.' In certain areas, this leads to a
deepening of antagonism and polarisation. At the local level the conflict tends to
take the form of a civil war between paramilitaries and guerrillas. The population
has become a hostage and it does not matter if that population does not line up
with one or the other group. It simply finds itself in a crossfire at the margin of
the conflict (Pe caut, 1999b). Nevertheless, the violence has been increasingly
internalised by the communities. In fact, a growing number of people, especially
the youth, have entered the ranks of the armed groups.
The members of the armed groups also established ties to the communities
through amorous relationships or bonds of friendship. Especially the young
people have proven receptive to the influence of the armed actors. It is exactly
this group which received relatively little attention in the organisational process
of ACIA. For this reason ACIA, with the help of the church, has recently been
trying to incorporate the youth by organising events like cultural celebrations and
football competitions. Still, sympathy or calculated interest can lead to the
acceptance by the population of the order installed by the armed actors. This
inevitably endangers the organisational effort of ACIA. The co-ordinator of the
Comisio n de Vida, Just cia y Paz of the Diocese of Quibdo stated that:
It is quite possible that the [peasant ed] organisations will also
become infiltrated by those [armed ed] groups, which we are
already beginning to see happen. It is a very serious thing in the sense
that the bases begin to participate and to have a certain complacency
towards the armed groups. (. . .) And what does that imply? That
implies that increasingly in the future, at the time the [peasant ed]
organisations have their assemblies and elect their new leaders, that
these groups quite possibly will already have people among the
assembly who will influence the election. (. . .) And another
distinction from other types of organisations such as labour unions
which can be, let us say, eliminated without suffering severe trauma is
that here this type of organisation is legally the authority of the entire
territory. In other words they can't eliminate all of the leaders of the
ACIA, the ACIA must continue to exist because it is the authority.
22
22 Personal communication to the author from a representative of the Comisio n de Vida,
Justicia y Paz of the Diocese of Quibdo , 14 September 1999.
Black Peasant Movement in the Choco , Colombia
2001 Society for Latin American Studies 513
Recently, another development threatens the transparency of the process of
ethnic mobilisation and organisation. The different armed groups seem to
appropriate the ethnic discourse and use the ethnic demands of the peasant
organisations for their own ends. Although it is not totally clear if this is the
result of an internal ideological reflection or just another tactical move, in
practice it functions as a very subtle method of eroding the clout of the existing
peasant movement:
They began to appear in the communities talking about Law 70,
collective entitlement. It is a lie, because what they are proposing
concerning an agrarian reform is something that goes completely
against the process of the black communities. What we need here is
giving these territories to their legitimate owners. Even the
paramilitaries said, at a certain moment, when they sought to arrive
in these communities as the saviours, that they would give the land to
the communities.
23
Initially the organisational process in the region was opposed especially by the
FARC because of, as they argued, the influence of foreign missionaries. Another
reason is probably the fear of loosing possible income, as the guerrilla used to
bribe commercial logging. In general not many people believe that their recent
interest in the ethnic theme is sincere as they do not manage the ethnic nor the
ecological question.
24
The internal displacements caused by the violence further contributes to the
weakening of the organisational process. Displacement disrupts the connection
with territoriality as an essential element of the ethnic discourse on which the
mobilisational effort of ACIA is based. The loss of territory brought the
breakdown of sentiments of belonging, affecting directly the construction of
identity (Arango, 1999; Meertens, 1999; Wouters, 2001). Moreover, the violence
impedes the realisation of productive projects, that have been fundamental for
the motivation of the people to continue with the organisational process.
Various NGOs and other organisations have refused to invest in projects, the
progress of which is put in doubt by the context of violence. Finally, the violence
and the problems related to it started to distract the use of funding and other
organisational resources, such as time spent by the ACIA board members away
from strategic long-term issues such as the continuous reflection on the ethnic
discourse and the construction of identity. Let us therefore take a closer look at
the way ACIA has responded to the impact of the violence in its area of
influence.
Despite the events in the Lower Atrato at the end of 1996 and beginning of
1997, the arrival of the violence in the Middle Atrato took ACIA by surprise.
When the first violations occurred, the organisation was paralysed and did not
23 Personal communication to the author from the Social Pastorate of Quibdo .
24 Personal communication to the author from a representative of the Comisio n de Vida,
Justicia y Paz of the Diocese of Quibdo , 14 September 1999.
Mieke Wouters
514 2001 Society for Latin American Studies
know what to do. ACIA ignored the consequences of the violence in the
countryside, partially with the hope that it would be a temporary issue. The
people arriving at Quibdo after having left their fields pertaining to the ACIA's
collective territory, were not even recognised as members of the organisation
because, it was argued, they were no longer on the fields and therefore were no
longer peasants. This argument is no longer used. The violence has become the
organisation's most important concern. Now ACIA headquarters is one of the
first places the displaced people come to in order to try to organise themselves to
make a unified request for help. As a result, ACIA has adopted a new mission
with respect to the displacement problem. It has been seeking to keep sentiments
of belonging and identity alive among the displaced families. ACIA has been
trying to support them and help them to maintain their dignity in the face of the
discrimination and stigmatisation they experience after arriving in Quibdo . ACIA
has helped them with satisfying their basic necessities and has also tried to
support the upholding of collectivity, as the displacement tends to destroy the
already vulnerable social cohesion. In fact, the displaced population has been
creating new forms of participation to facilitate the solution of their problems.
Although very precariously, committees for health, education, and other basic
needs have been formed. In this context of looking for solutions and assistance
for their members the international contacts of ACIA have become increasingly
important in comparison with the relations with governmental institutions
(Wouters, 2001).
ACIA has also started to denounce the various cases of human rights'
violations occurring in the communities. These denouncements generally
consisted of demanding that the armed groups respect the territories and the
ancestral rights to them, and that the territories not be converted into battlefields.
Moreover, they demanded that the communities are not drawn into the conflict,
respecting their neutral position, and that no forced recruitment of the
population is made, and that the right of free movement of people, food and
goods is respected.
But the organisation not only denounced the violent acts by the armed groups.
They also denounced the attitude of the official authorities who were not
providing the support they had to according to the law. That is another reason
why according to ACIA the violence has intensified, since `the public organs at
the national, departmental, and local level tend to deny the organisational
process, denying them participation as an ethnic group and an organised
community.'
25
Consequently, in its denouncements ACIA demands a guarantee
that the right to life be respected and that protection mechanisms be established,
that those subjected to forced displacement be guaranteed the return to their
place of origin under secure and dignified conditions, and that some of the civil
authorities refrain from hindering the leaders, organisations, and communities
who are investigating the acts of violation. Apart from the denouncements,
25 Cited from ACIA's document Our cry of peace to the national and international
community and to the actors generating the violence (November 1998): 34.
Black Peasant Movement in the Choco , Colombia
2001 Society for Latin American Studies 515
certain forms of dialogue with the different armed groups have been set up.
Although these conversations are generally led by the church, they are sometimes
accompanied by members of ACIA or other local organisations. In the past, some
agreements to respect the integrity and the rights of the communities were signed,
but they were soon violated by one or the other armed group.
Assisting the peasant families who have remained in the countryside is still the
most important task of ACIA. In the end, what does it mean to have a collective
title if there are no people to live on it? Added to that, the spread of the violence
has undermined the active presence of ACIA representatives in the communities
and has created problems for the effectiveness and legitimacy of the community
councils. Therefore, the organisation, accompanied by the diocese and some
advisors, has been trying to pursue projects that are strictly related to the theme
of violence, such as projects that provide training on issues like autonomy and
human rights. Moreover, ACIA has taken on a project of territorial ordering that
includes making a plan for future development. For ACIA this is a way of
demonstrating that the people have not been vanquished yet and continue to
think about the future of their lands. These projects are not a real defence against
the actions of the armed groups. Notwithstanding, they make the presence of
leaders of the organisation in the communities possible, a presence badly needed
by the population that is already complaining of the relative absence of its
leaders, something that can be easily taken as indifference.
26
In addition, ACIA
has established several storage facilities and collective shops in the territory as a
response the economic blockade. Until now, the armed groups have by and large
respected these shops, although the paramilitary forces suspect the shops of
supplying the guerrillas.
In general, the directing guideline for all the activities of ACIA has been the
autonomy and pacific resistance of the communities. As a result ACIA has made
the decision that every person who has collaborated or sympathised with one of
the armed groups is excluded from the organisational process and even from his
or her community, although this last decision has proved to be very difficult to
apply in practice.
Conclusions
With the constitutional recognition of the multi-ethnic make-up of Colombia,
the black population has made itself visible and has underscored its recent
process of ethnic empowerment. The conquest of collective land titles was
meant to be a further step in the consolidation of this process. The eruption of
26 In fact, the presence of ACIA leaders in the communities has diminished greatly in
recent years. This has been caused largely by the financial problems ACIA has been
suffering, while the costs for river transportation are high. Still, the projects provide
for a number of regional and local where leaders and community dwellers can
exchange information and viewpoints.
Mieke Wouters
516 2001 Society for Latin American Studies
violence in the Choco , where the black peasants' organisation ACIA had
received a large collective land title in 1997, has severely affected the struggle
for ethnic-territorial rights of the black rural population of the Atrato region.
This has constituted a clear example of the Colombian paradox: on the one
hand, the country has adopted one of the most progressive and democratic
constitutions and legislation in the world; on the other hand, the state, due to
its loss of the monopoly of the legal means of violence, is unable to guarantee
compliance with those laws and in general has been unable to uphold the rights
of the Colombian citizenry. The recognition of black ethnic rights through the
collective land titles gained by the black peasants' movement of the Atrato
region on the basis of Law 70 of 1993 has been severly impeded by the spread
of violent conflict in the region. Just when the black communities had become
the legitimate owners of their lands, an illegitimate war placed the newly
acquired rights in jeopardy. The Colombian state has not only proved
incapable of countering this process, but does not even seem to care too much
about its consequences. In particular the paramilitary forces are left free to
spread terror and fear as part of a clear attempt to drive the people out of their
communities and away from their land.
In face of the violence, ACIA has tried to put up peaceful resistance in their
own territory as well as humanitarian and organisational support to the large
numbers of displaced peasant families that took refuge in the departmental
capital town of Quibdo . I have argued that the process of collective land
entitlement probably has been one of the factors that contributed to the
intensification of the armed conflict in the region. Nevertheless, I also want to
argue that in a certain sense the collective title came just in time. Had they not
been the legitimate owners of their land, the people would have been even more
vulnerable to the current wave of violence. Although the violence has seriously
affected the organisational process led by ACIA as well as the related efforts to
construct a black rural identity, identity can also be turned into a counter-force.
The collective title and the organisational activities developed around it are being
used by ACIA as an instrument of resistance and defence. But I do not wish to be
unrealistic. Having a title is one thing, but without the effective appropriation of
the territory, something which ultimately depends on a solution to the conflict at
the national level (and with proper international assistance), the title is of no use.
Unfortunately, the track record of failed peace efforts within the Colombian
political arena, along with the recent implementation of the controversial Plan
Colombia, do not bode well for the effective implementation of black ethnic
rights in the near future.
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