Photo Credits: ASCODESA
02/03/2005

On July 14, 2004, a village leader brought his community back to their homes in Saiza, Cordoba in the foothills of the Andes Mountains in Colombia. It was the fulfillment of a dream that was born almost 5 years earlier when the community was forced to flee their homes by the violence that is endemic in the region.

Almost exactly five years earlier a right-wing paramilitary group of 150 armed men took the village of Saiza unawares and entered the main plaza late in the afternoon. They entered houses throughout the town ordering civilians into the main square while looting valuables and then setting the houses on fire. Women and children were forcibly separated from the men in their families, and the paramilitary singled out eight men for execution.  The eight were held separately from the rest in the plaza facing the church.

“The commander on horseback was shouting abuses at the women. Children were crying and clinging to their mothers, very afraid. I have never seen people look that pale before. You could see that they were afraid of immediately losing their lives,” according to an eye witness to the events.

As it was getting dark the commander ordered the women and children to leave the village immediately. They were distraught at leaving their male family members behind. No one knew what the intentions were of the paramilitary at that time.

Next the men were allowed to leave the village, except for the eight captured civilians left alone in the square with the paramilitary. The eight men, who were well known merchants in the town, were shot at point blank range and their bodies were left in the plaza.

The rest of the villagers went to hide in the cemetery a good distance from the town where they felt safer to spend the night. The next morning the entire village of 4,000 people fled across the hill pass to the city of Carepa or by boat along the river to the municipality of Tierra Alta.

In Carepa and Tierra Alta, the displaced organized themselves into village councils, and began the arduous task of ensuring assistance for the community.  “After the massacre and displacement the councils went to work to find community members again and to regroup, since many people were living separately. We did not want to be resettled or to stay temporarily in stadiums or schools. These areas are intended for other purposes. Mostly people found family members or friends to stay with. But we were afraid and separated. We needed to organize ourselves. Alone you cannot accomplish anything.”

International organizations, local authorities and NGOs helped the community get back on their feet, but it was a difficult process. “Authorities kept turning us in circles. Even so, we did not give up. We did not want to stay in the city. A campesino without land is like a fish without water. We need land to survive and maintain ourselves. Land was donated to us by the authorities in the village of Batata.  In 2001 we left Carepa and Tierra Alta for the countryside for farms. Two months later, again we were displaced, although this time by the FARC, the left wing guerilla forces, who took our animals and captured three people. They re-entered Batata after the military pulled out.”

After that, the only place the community could find shelter was the central park in the municipality of Tierra Alta. “We were afraid, very sad and upset. One international organization woke us up by having us do an exercise to ‘Tailor our Dreams.’ We had to close our eyes and imagine where we wanted to be two days from now, in 6 months, and in 2 years. We wrote, painted and drew our dreams.” That exercise galvanized the community into pushing for a public meeting with the authorities and international organizations. Within two days they had appropriate shelter and soon were on their way to developing agricultural projects. Within six months new plans were made for returning under the right conditions to Saiza.