Saturday, April 28, 2007
technological oblivion
somehow, time has gotten away from me in the past month...and if I have faithful readers, I apologize profusely for the dry spell in blog entries. It has been a long, frustrating month, punctuated by every technological gadget I touch turning to dust. Upon returning from the community to Bogota, I found I had no hot shower, no phone, no internet, no gas to cook with, that my computer no longer connects to the internet, that my cell phone wouldn´t charge, and that my ipod only liked to play 2 songs before ¨resting.¨ And why you ask did all these things happen? For absolutely no discernable reason. I am reminded daily that there are much worse fates than the gods and goddesses of technology telling you not-so-subtley that it is time to take a technological hiatus, but it has been frustrating to be cut off from friends and family...and has been made worse by the fact that this month we have been in high gear planning for a delegation of Buddhists. This means that if you had been in Bogota in April, you would have seen Janice and her teammates wandering fairly aimlessly between internet cafes and telephone places setting up a a 2 and 1-2 week trip for this group. They are here now, I am again camped out at an internet cafe, and will write soon when I have more than 5 minutes to spare about the many many things going on here. Big abrazos...
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Progress(?) in 2005 Peace Community Massacre Investigation
A journalist and photographer from the Chicago Tribune visited us right before the international encuentro in the peace community. They wanted to know whether peace community members hailed the tentative steps forward the Attorney General had taken in the investigation into the 2005 massacre as a sign that impunity is coming to an end. Here is what they found...
Click here to see the photo essay the did with teammate AJ!
By Gary Marx
Tribune foreign correspondent
Published April 1, 2007
LA UNION, Colombia -- Two years ago, 17-year-old Bellanira Areiza and seven other peasants were hacked to death with machetes in the lush hills outside this picturesque hamlet in northwest Colombia.
Community leaders say five residents saw men in Colombian army uniforms take away the victims, and nine others later heard soldiers bragging about the killings. But, until now, the Colombian government's investigation into the massacre went nowhere.
Atty. Gen. Mario Iguaran announced in late February that 69 members of the army's 17th Brigade were being called in for questioning about the killings, which continue to spark international outrage and could jeopardize U.S. aid to Colombia.
Some observers hailed the announcement as a tentative step toward ending the near impunity enjoyed by Colombian security forces that have committed murders and other crimes during this nation's decades-long civil conflict
"We've always kept hope that one day justice will be served for all the blows that we've had to endure," said Renato Areiza, 28, Bellanira's brother and a community leader in La Union. "But we are afraid that this will end in impunity, as always."
The investigation is complicated by the fact that witnesses are in hiding and refuse to cooperate. At least four residents who provided information to investigators about other atrocities have been killed, Areiza said.
Iguaran acknowledged the community's distrust but vowed to press ahead. "I can't say what this means for the country, but at least for the attorney general's office it's a sign that we are trying to demonstrate that we have clarity and determination in the fight against impunity," he said in a recent interview.
The investigation comes as Colombian President Alvaro Uribe suffers his worst political crisis since taking office in 2002.
To read the entire article, click here
Click here to see the photo essay the did with teammate AJ!
Fighting impunity in Colombia
The massacre sparked international outrage and could jeopardize U.S. aid. Will security forces finally be brought to justice?
The massacre sparked international outrage and could jeopardize U.S. aid. Will security forces finally be brought to justice?
By Gary Marx
Tribune foreign correspondent
Published April 1, 2007
LA UNION, Colombia -- Two years ago, 17-year-old Bellanira Areiza and seven other peasants were hacked to death with machetes in the lush hills outside this picturesque hamlet in northwest Colombia.
Community leaders say five residents saw men in Colombian army uniforms take away the victims, and nine others later heard soldiers bragging about the killings. But, until now, the Colombian government's investigation into the massacre went nowhere.
Atty. Gen. Mario Iguaran announced in late February that 69 members of the army's 17th Brigade were being called in for questioning about the killings, which continue to spark international outrage and could jeopardize U.S. aid to Colombia.
Some observers hailed the announcement as a tentative step toward ending the near impunity enjoyed by Colombian security forces that have committed murders and other crimes during this nation's decades-long civil conflict
"We've always kept hope that one day justice will be served for all the blows that we've had to endure," said Renato Areiza, 28, Bellanira's brother and a community leader in La Union. "But we are afraid that this will end in impunity, as always."
The investigation is complicated by the fact that witnesses are in hiding and refuse to cooperate. At least four residents who provided information to investigators about other atrocities have been killed, Areiza said.
Iguaran acknowledged the community's distrust but vowed to press ahead. "I can't say what this means for the country, but at least for the attorney general's office it's a sign that we are trying to demonstrate that we have clarity and determination in the fight against impunity," he said in a recent interview.
The investigation comes as Colombian President Alvaro Uribe suffers his worst political crisis since taking office in 2002.
To read the entire article, click here
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