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This year, Colombia received $289 million in anti-drug money
from the United States. In comparison, the United States has dedicated
only $2 million for Colombia's internal refugees.
IN THESE TIMES [Progressive U.S. magazine]
October 31, 1999
Plight of the Desplazados
By Nick Rosen
BOGOTA -- Despite a disturbing silence in the chambers of international
concern, Colombia is now home to the most grave humanitarian crisis in
the Western Hemisphere. As the Colombian military, rebel guerrillas and
paramilitary groups struggle for military and political control, unarmed
citizens have become the principal target of a demented strategy either
to win the partisanship of poor, rural communities of Colombia or wipe
them out altogether.
The "invisible" multitudes of displaced people swelling the dirty metropolitan
barrios have grown desperate to grab the attention of Colombia and the
world, and public offices in Bogota have been peacefully occupied on several
occasions. An August protest at the Bogota office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) showed the desperation of the desplazados
like no other. Two of the protesters carefully nailed their palms to crosses
in the front yard and a handful of men stitched their mouths shut. Muttering
through the green string, Arnolfo Antonio Hincapie claimed that they "must
go to extremes to make the government keep its promise."
Hincapie, a tailor from the Caqueta region, was forced to mend the rebels'
uniforms after they took control of the jungle town where he lived. When
the paramilitaries arrived, they shot him for "collaborating" with the
guerrillas. The bullet entered his left side and came out the other, rupturing
his large intestine. Still bleeding, Hincapie fled with dozens of his neighbors
and journeyed hundreds of miles to Bogota in hopes of finding work and
assistance from the government.
Since he was wounded, Hincapie has been forced to wear a colostomy bag
at all times. Despite his constant pleas to the government, he says he
hasn't received medical attention for the past six months. "They won't
even give me money for a new bag," Hincapie says. "I had to beg for money
at the traffic lights to buy this one."
The bags are meant to be replaced every five days, but the displaced
tailor has been wearing the same plastic bag around his waist for a month.
"It's starting to burn," he says.
More than 1.5 million Colombians have been displaced since 1984. Now,
532 Colombians are displaced by violence every day-more than half of them
children. Nearly all the desplazados are from poor, rural areas. The majority
end up in the bustling urban centers of Colombia, where they meld into
the ghettos at the margins of the city. Most are forced to the edges of
the economy, selling flowers and cigarettes on the streets and adding to
the statistics of crime and unemployment.
The United Nations and international relief agencies are fully aware
of the crisis. The UNHCR set up a Bogota office in 1998, and field offices
are popping up around Colombia. But as refugees in their own country, the
Colombian desplazados are unprotected under the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention,
and UNHCR largely plays an advisory role here. The lion's share of the
responsibility lies with the Colombian government, which has been incapable
of managing the crisis.
A 1996 study by the Colombian non-governmental organization CODHES found
that only around 60 percent of the displaced receive any form of humanitarian
assistance, usually from relief agencies, not the government. "The appropriate
laws are in place," says Father Santi Servillin, a member of the Colombian
Episcopal Conference, which produced the first major study on displacement
in 1994. "Unfortunately, the government has not even come close to fulfilling
its obligations under those laws."
In 1997, with the number of internally displaced persons in the country
already nearing 1 million, the state finally recognized the problem with
an ambitious string of presidential orders that promised emergency assistance,
protection and long-term resettlement efforts. But the public coffers have
been drained by war, corruption and the worst recession in 60 years, and
most observers agree that the $ 28 million the government has mustered
this year to assist the displaced amounts to a squirt gun against a raging
fire. It's certainly a small figure compared Colombia's $ 5 billion annual
military budget.
The number of people recognized by the government as currently displaced
by violence is little more than half the figure estimated by NGOs. Hundreds
of thousands of desplazados are seen merely as unfortunate paupers, not
victims of violent political persecution, and thus ineligible for any form
of assistance under the law. "The Colombian government does not want to
face up to such alarming statistics, because to do so would require the
dedication of even more resources," says Diana Sanchez Lara of CODHES.
Perhaps Colombia's biggest problem is the military's continuing failure
to confront the right-wing paramilitaries, who commit the majority of war
crimes and forced displacements. Numerous human rights reports and criminal
investigations have revealed a close working relationship between the military
and right-wing militias, which often are allowed to carry out their illegal
operations thanks to the deliberate ignorance-and in some cases direct
participation-of the state. Over the past few months, these groups have
stepped up their bloody campaigns to unprecedented levels of terror around
the country.
Although the Clinton administration has expressed its concern about
human rights violations in Colombia, the "paramilitary problem" isn't getting
in the way of U.S. military aid. This year, Colombia received $ 289 million
in anti-drug money from the United States. In comparison, the United States
has dedicated only $ 2 million for Colombia's internal refugees. Congress
is now courting a proposal for $ 1.5 billion in new aid to Colombia, most
of which would be dedicated to military counternarcotics operations. While
it remains unclear how much-if any-of this money would be used to address
the refugee crisis, one thing is clear: As the United States steps up involvement
in the Colombian war, the chances of success for President Andres Pastrana's
peace negotiations grow ever weaker. If the United States continues to
distance itself from the peace process-the best hope of resolving the refugee
crisis-and embraces all-out war, more and more Colombians will be forced
to flee.
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