2013: Humanitarian refugee in the Nordeste Antioqueño

In 2004, in response to a grave humanitarian crisis, over three hundred farmers from the Nordeste Antioqueño (Northeast of Antioquía) decided to found the Corporation for Humanitarian Action for Coexistence and Peace in the Nordeste Antioqueño (CAHUCOPANA).

In the middle of a humanitarian crisis, they sought to mitigate and challenge the economic blockades and confinement imposed by legal and illegal armed actors, in addition to carrying out humanitarian actions to raise visibility on the situation and promote a solution. CAHUCOPANA is the first organization to be granted collective and differentiated protection measures by the State. Currently, they continue denouncing human rights and International Humanitarian Law violations that occur in the context of the armed conflict in the Nordeste Antioqueño. They also work to train the peasantry on issues such as gender, leadership, protection, and self-protection.

In 2013, the Nordeste region saw a significant increase in the paramilitary presence, together with major repression from the army against the areas small-scale miners. In this context, PBI began accompanying CAHUCOPANA, as bearing witness to the assassination attempt against the organization’s president Carlos Morales, as is shown in the following video.