%20(2).png){kind=logo}
Luis Eduardo Caldera Villamizar
What would you do if your life were constantly threatened because you are helping your community? This is the situation of hundreds if not thousands of people in Colombia, whose life is in danger every day just because they are defending the rights of people who do not have the opportunity of doing it themselves. They are doing the right thing but their lives are at risk. The situation is illustrated by the fact that the first report published this year by Indepaz, The Institute for Development and Peace Studies, showed than in the first 13 days of 2020, 17 social leaders had been killed on Colombian territory, having more murders than days elapsed in the year at that point. While the government does admit there is a problem, and that even one activist’s death is too many, they continue to argue that the rate of killings is decreasing, but this does not coincide with reality. Additionally, there is not enough media attention covering what is happening. And according to Camilo Gonzalez Posso, director of Indepaz, “The situation is critical in Tumaco, Cauca, Huila, Chocó, and Antioquia […]”. But the killings of social leaders and human rights defenders has been happening all over the country, in departments which show poverty and high crime rates, such as Bolivar. This article will explore the issue of violence against social leaders by focusing on the case of Luis Eduardo Caldera Villamizar from that department.
Luis Eduardo Calderas Villamizar was the former President of the Community Action Board of San Jacinto del Cauca, located in the south of Bolivar. He was found dead on August 15th last year; his body floating with his hands tied in the Cauca river. As the President of the Community Action Board, which is a civic non-profit corporation integrated by people in the same community that join forces to work for the community well being, Luis Eduardo worked for the security and promotion of human rights. Additionally, he was also running for the Council of San Jacinto. Achieving this could have helped him to become a link between the community and the government and the authorities which should be protecting the community, a beneficial scenario for San Jacinto where the State presence is minimal. Despite being considered as a social leader and all the risk this label could bring, his death was unexpected, because he never received a threat. There are some assumptions about the perpetrators; certain reports say it could be “ El Clan del Golfo” which is a criminal group in Colombia recognized for its paramilitary structure, drug trafficking capacity and violent acts. For this reason, they had a clear motive to attack Luis Eduardo, especially when his focus was the maintenance of peace and security, which was the opposite purpose of the criminal group, meaning he could be perceived as a clear threat to their illegal activities. ¿Cuáles son los Patrones?, a study carried out by the Colombian Commission of Jurists and the Institute of Political Studies and International Relations of the National University revealed patterns of systematicity in the crimes of social leaders. There it is shown that one of the characteristics of the social leaders that have been murdered is the fact that they are involved in social or civic organizations, like the Community Action Board where people assume responsibility for local leadership. The report refers to these organizations as the the most affected by violence and the ones with the highest homicide rate among the various types of leaders who are being assassinated. These leaders represent an obstacle to illegal groups and illegal activities, dynamics which are sadly a problem for many departments.
Bolivar is a department located in the north of Colombia, limited northwest by the Caribbean Sea, west by the Cauca River, and east by the Magdalena River. In the north of the department, we have one of the most important cities of the country: Cartagena, which is the capital city of Bolivar and the main touristic focus of Colombia, recognized for the important role it has in history and its traditional architecture that makes the city glamorous and beautiful, the reason why thousands of tourists travel there every year. Nevertheless, in general conditions, this department is a poor one, especially in its south where San Jacinto del Cauca is located and where there does not exist a big touristic flow. There, economic and social backwardness are a huge problem for the population, and major issues like insecurity, robbery, and micro trafficking affect their lives daily, which places them in a dangerous position. The population has stated that they they have not been at ease for years. An article from RCN shows the manner in which people living in San Jacinto have reported many cases in relation to the above, but the government has not taken real actions on the matter. This shows the contrast between Cartagena and San Jacinto del Cauca, and other parts of the department of Bolivar: the government’s lack of presence in the latter makes us infer that the authorities consider there are lives more valuable than others just because of tourism, and the fact that one can represent more monetary income than the other. But it should not be that way; all cities and towns in all departments should enjoy the same level of State presence because no life is worth more than others. Therefore, it is easy to infer that conditions such as the absence of the state and the frequency in which delinquency affects the inhabitants of this department makes it really important to have figures like Luis Eduardo, whose life was taken due to exactly the same reasons.
Even though there are reasons for all the deaths to be systematic, there are facts that show the contrary; one of the latter is the lack of only one aggressor. The UN and the above-mentioned report ¿Cuales son los patrones? state that there is a variety of possible actors behind the murders such as groups of members of the former left wing guerrillas groups: FARC and EP, paramilitary groups, security forces, the ELN (still active guerrilla group) and unidentified armed groups. Wradio reported that in the case of Luis Eduardo Caldera the authorities suspect that his murderers were members of “El Clan del Golfo”, which is a drug cartel that formerly was a right-wing neo-paramilitary group, now known as the biggest and most powerful cartel in South America. Throughout the last few years, in the department of Bolivar, the authorities have captured a large amount of members of this group, which states its presence in the territory. On the other hand, San Jacinto del Cauca is among the zones in the department in which the population has reported the conflicts some paramilitary groups are causing. Actions such as extortion put the population in an awful position. They risk their lives everyday and that is why leaders like Luis Eduardo are needed, taking responsibility for the rights of their community and mainly providing them security, because often when there is need of the government’s hand, there is no answer from it. That is why, Caldera represented a huge threat to the paramilitary groups in San Jacinto, and why there is a reason for them to be responsible for his death. In an article from RCN Radio, people from the south of Bolivar stated that the main issue with paramilitaries is that they enforce their law and become an authority. Additionally, and something that is really outrageous, the former governor of Bolivar recognized that 30% of the department presents really difficult conditions due to the presence of ELN, criminal gangs and common delinquency. We see how vulnerable Luis Eduardo was, in a dangerous zone of the country where the government is not present, surrounded by paramilitary groups, the ELN and all types of groups looking for space to carry out illegal activities, where everyone is scared to say something and those who are not, are murdered for standing up and trying to help.
In conclusion, Colombia’s government has left power vacuums that are often filled by leaders who are brave enough to stand up for their communities and help them to obtain the rights they have as Colombians, because there are no other ways in which local communities may see progress. That was Luis Eduardo Caldera Villamizar’s role. He looked forward to improving the conditions of San Jacinto del Cauca by resolving and eliminating issues caused by the unstable security, the lack of quality in public services, and the mismanagement of resources the inhabitants of San Jacinto have to live with. But we see how in the end, playing that role is what put him at risk and ended his life. He became a target because the people behind all these illegal activities, those who put in danger the civil population, felt threatened by him . His death clearly shows that living as a social leader in a place like Colombia means to be in a constant fear even when the respectful labor made by the social defenders is a small hope for all the communities in vulnerable situations. Our duty as Colombian citizens is to pay attention to these people and try to understand their intentions, attempt to follow their examples with appropriate actions in order to improve the situation and especially create awareness. Being a social leader is not a crime and it should not be a death warrant.
*Article written by Maria Daniela Jiménez, Maria Claudia Padilla & Valeria Romero
Information sourced from:
Comments