Tag Archives: Uraba

Four years ago you were wanted dead, Hernán Bedoya

December 08, 2017. Hernán Bedoya, was returning to his farm in the Mi Tierra Humanitarian Zone in the Bajo Atrato region of Chocó, when he was assassinated with 14 shots. Along with him, they intended to kill his clear and firm voice, [1] with which he denounced the progress and impacts of the palm oil and banana agribusinesses that looked to extend into the collective territory of Pedeguita y Mancilla. Hernán wanted to talk about what was happening in the territory from which he had been displaced, and to which he had managed to return despite the presence of paramilitaries. This is how we at PBI came to know him, fighting for his land and dignity, when we accompanied the Justice and Peace Commission (JyP) in Bajo Atrato.

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Indigenous communities of Murindó: Defending life and their ancestral lands

In August, PBI accompanied the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission in the indigenous community of Chageradó, located in the Río Chageradó reservation in the municipality of Murindó. There, an assembly was held between authorities and members of the eleven communities of the two resguardo of the municipality, Río Chageradó and Río Murindó. One of the main topics of this meeting was how to tackle the problem of land mines that are affecting the whole municipality. They also discussed how to preserve the model of ancestral life of the Emberá indigenous communities, their rights and their sacred land.

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Community organizing to face the pandemic: in the Peace Community solidarity prevails

While the world faces the COVID-19 pandemic and many are experiencing for the first time the unsettling reality of having to consider whether a visit to see family or friends could put oneself in danger, the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, already accustomed to these risks, has been organising. Crisis management and limits on their movements are nothing new in a community that, in their 23 years of non-violent resistance to the armed groups that have controlled this area of Urabá, has seen over 300 of its members killed1. Continue reading Community organizing to face the pandemic: in the Peace Community solidarity prevails