An Unlikely Prisoner

A mural from inside the office of the Red Juvenil


This is an article that Gilberto wrote following our visit to Claudia Montoya, a young lawyer who is under house arrest supposedly for "subversive acts" in Medellín. She has been working with one of the groups we accompany, the Red Juvenil, or Youth Network, for many years. The Red Juvenil works on promoting resistance to the war and promoting non-violent alternatives to youth. As you will read, this was a surreal experience...

Letter from the Field
An Unlikely Prisoner
By Gilberto Villaseñor III

"What were your days like in prison?" Janice asked. It was a little odd talking about prison life in Claudia Montoya's living room with her mother and teenage cousins looking on, all of them busily making Christmas ornaments with beads and string. Claudia, a lawyer for the Red Juvenil (Youth Network) of Medellín who is currently under house arrest, had learned this skill in a prison workshop.

Claudia responded, "Each morning we were awakened at 6:30 am by the guards, at 7:30 am we ate a sensible breakfast. During the day they kept us busy with workshops, anything so we wouldn't think. And we were in bed by 8 pm."

Had you been walking through her quiet middle class neighborhood that day, that topic of conversation might have been the furthest thing from your mind. Claudia discussed the process of her arrest. "There were security forces everywhere up and down my block and people with guns on rooftops. I was afraid that I would be seen being arrested and taken out of my house but I was grateful that no one saw me. There was so much police, you couldn't see me anyway." There is an aspect of public shaming related to being a political prisoner, a way of making you look guilty even if you aren't.

As a lawyer for the Red Juvenil, she has been working with conscientious objectors and political prisoners since 2002. The Red works with youth in teaching about nonviolence and conscientious objection to participation in Colombia's civil war. We were all very excited to finally meet her because she had recently been released from prison where she had been held on charges of rebellion since October 18 – one month and twenty days in all. The Red Juvenil, an organization that FOR accompanies, considers her a political prisoner and someone who has been detained because of her political work on behalf of her organization in search of nonviolent solutions to Colombia's civil war.


"Indifference - Not in My Name"


Her house arrest continues pending the outcome of the judicial process against her - which may last as long as another six months. According to the testimonies of five former guerrillas, she had been seen dressed as a guerrilla and carrying a rifle. She was moved into house arrest when three of the testimonies were considered to be contradictory.

FOR's Colombia team been following her case and issued a letter of support for the Red's work in response to Claudia's detention and threats made against other Red members. We were prepared to visit her in prison on a recent trip to Medellin, when we were told about the good news of her release. On December 12, team members visited Claudia at her house in Medellín.

Claudia isn't the typical image of a prisoner. She is a little more than five feet tall and quite thin. Her face seemed to be chiseled in the way that happens to people when they've been eating less than usual. She is a soft-spoken and articulate person, traits not normally considered to be assets in prison, but in her case made her into an undesirable prisoner. Luckily, Claudia understood very well the legal process against her and knew when her rights were being violated. She protested when she was pressured to submit to being part of a line-up without her lawyer present. Other prisoners with less education or legal experience haven't been so lucky.

Her mother brought us cookies and coffee as we talked. The sun beamed through the skylight in the middle of the house and illuminated the comfortable living room where we were all gathered. Two loud, brusque politicos wandered in, speaking a mile a minute. What was discernable was that they, too, recognized the injustice of what Claudia had been through and wanted to show their support. Family pictures formed the backdrop of our meeting and Claudia smiled back at all of us, along with the rest of her family.