Meeting with Wilson David - Community Leader from San José de Apartado Peace Community in Colombia

San José de Apartado Peace Community was established in March 1998 and currently accommodates 1,200 of Colombia’s internally displaced. 

San José de Apartado Peace CommunityCommunity leader, Wilson David, was recently in Europe on a speaking tour to raise awareness about the situation in Colombia.  His hope is that one day Colombia will have a strong civil society which is respected by the government.  He also hopes for justice, an end to impunity and for laws to be implemented fairly.  His tour included a visit to the Nyon International Film Festival in Switzerland for a screening of the documentary about the San José Peace Community, Hasta la Ultima Piedra - Until the Last Stone.

I met with Wilson while he was in London to find out the story behind the Peace Community.  He told me that the people of San José originally came from 32 villages in the Urabá district but had to flee when their land was appropriated by paramilitaries.  According to the UN, the number of internally displaced people in Colombia remains the second highest in the world and, according to Wilson himself, the government’s recent Justice and Peace law provides the paramilitaries with impunity for this appropriation of land as well as other human rights violations.

The original monument was destroyed. He went on to explain that the main reason why paramilitaries want to control large areas of land is so they can then attract investment from multi-national companies.  These investments provide a lucrative source of income which helps to fuel the conflict.  Wilson also explained the lengths to which the paramilitaries will go to protect their interests: people attempting to return to their homes have been savagely prevented and over 170 members of the Peace Community have been killed.

The people of San José say it is hard to remain neutral.  They have been attacked on numerous occasions by armed groups seeking to ‘persuade’ them to take sides in the conflict.  In February 2005 their former leader, Luis Eduardo Guerra, was abducted and assassinated together with seven other civilians, amongst them several children.  The Community organised a fact-finding commission which included 100 of their own number together with representatives from the Corporation for Judicial Liberty, Peace Brigades International, Fellowship of Reconciliation and Concern America as well as officials from the Attorney General’s office and the Internal Affairs Agency.  When the bodies were discovered, two of them were mutilated and the body of Luis Eduardo bore signs of torture.

It was as a result of attacks such as these that PBI was invited to accompany the Peace Community.  Wilson says that PBI’s presence has prevented assassinations and makes them feel more secure.  In September, PBI will accompany the Peace Community when they attempt, once again, to return to two of their original villages.  It is hoped that PBI’s presence will prevent this return from being met with the same violence as previous attempts.

Another advantage of PBI’s presence, according to Wilson, is that the team act as a bridge between the Peace Community and the authorities, trying to encourage communication between them.  Wilson also feels that PBI’s presence helps to raise the profile of the Peace Community, the work they do and their commitment to non-violence.  According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, attempts are often made to discredit the work of human rights defenders and the presence of international observers, such as PBI, can help to counterbalance such allegations.

Despite all the odds, the citizens of San José de Apartado continue to resist the oppression and the conflict with ‘peace and dignity’, as one of their posters proclaims. 

The sign at the entrance to the Peace Community reads:

San José de Apartado Peace Community

"The community freely participates in community work and says no to injustice and impunity for attacks, does not participate in the war directly or indirectly, does not carry arms and does not manage or provide information to either side in the conflict."

Interview by Eleanor Byrne-Rosengren,
Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London