Text and photos by Manuel Ortiz Escámez, with information from Duván Caro
Footer – Peninsula 360 Press
Mayelis Angarita Robles has been the target of three assassination attempts due to her work as a leader defending human rights and the territory in Montes de María, in the Colombian Caribbean.
The Montes de María subregion, which we toured for two days with Angarita (on June 18 and 19), is a mountainous corridor between the departments of Sucre and Bolívar, bordered to the east by the Magdalena River and to the west by the Gulf of Morrosquillo, in the Caribbean Sea.
The area is a majestic habitat defended by community leaders who, despite death threats, attacks and enormous material limitations, work tirelessly to improve the difficult living conditions of the Afro-peasant and indigenous peoples of the area, who are a breeding ground for internationally recognized singers, top-level artisans and extraordinary musicians.
However, rural Colombian Caribbean is also characterized by being a territory of displaced people, forgotten by the State, plundered by agro-industrial corporations and violated by armed groups linked to drug trafficking, extortion, human trafficking and contract killing.
Although Angarita has been targeted by paramilitaries in this region, she and other leaders played an important role in citizen participation and monitoring of the historic elections of June 19, which gave victory to Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez.
Angarita, who is the founder of Narrar para Vivir, a network of 800 female artisans who are victims of the armed conflict in Montes de María, says that they had to organize themselves very well in these elections, independently training “electoral witnesses because in the area there is almost always the issue of vote buying, precisely because of the issue of poverty. There are also many isolated areas and sometimes, every four years, people come to sell their votes for the opportunity to have something.”
Maestro Javier Sarabia Pedroza, director of the Son de Negro Dance of San Cayetano, in coordination with Angarita, is another of the leaders who watched over the vote through the “electoral witnesses.”
“We are ensuring that the elections are carried out peacefully and without disruptions,” said Sarabia, who defined this electoral process as “the elections of hope for us as an Afro group. We are seeing policies that for a long time have not taken us into account, they have not thoroughly addressed what Afro groups need and deserve.”
Floods
The lands surrounding the small town of Nervití, located three hours from the municipal capital of El Guamo, are large, humid and muddy plains bathed by the Magdalena River, which allows the formation of sandbanks where the inhabitants grow modest corn crops, which they easily lose due to heavy rains.
The landscape is lush, dreamlike. There are scores of elegant white herons perched like sentinel angels on the beaches. Majestic eagles circle overhead, while the song of countless colorful birds mixes with the warm air, and children splash happily in the water while their father watches over them.
But the road from El Guamo to Nervití, like most in Montes de María, is a dirt road and is in very bad condition, and many stretches have been left under water due to the winter rains. These conditions, explained the leader of the area, Gabriel Carmona, leave many towns, like Nervití, completely isolated and cut off, and this makes it difficult for our residents, farmers, to vote.”
A farmer who travels by mule to vote, and who prefers to keep his name hidden, passes through a flooded road and the water reaches halfway up the animal's body. The man says that it takes two hours to go and two hours to return, but that it is worth it because "we want and need a change in Colombia, we want the new president to commit to us and support us, because as you can see, the roads are very bad, people who have motorcycles do not dare to go through here, that is why many people do not go out."
In Nervití there is a clinic that is no longer in use because there are no doctors. The town is currently experiencing a flood that began four months ago due to the overflow of one of the swamps. Residents have observed a radical change in the behaviour of the river for approximately five years, which could be a result of climate change.
In addition to the severe flooding that damages homes and roads, this radical climate change has led to a shortage of fish, which is extremely serious for a town that bases its livelihood on fishing.
“We live off fishing here, but now fishing is not working because the river is swollen,” said Martín Antonio de la Rosa Chamorro, a fisherman leader from Nervití, who does not rule out that these problems may be related to climate change “because the sun is burning much more now than before.”
Without fish, explains de la Rosa, the poverty that was already a characteristic of the area has worsened. “About ten families have had to leave this year… sometimes we have nothing to eat.”
What do you expect from the new government in Colombia?
“Let the new president look at these towns, they have abandoned us, the streets are useless, the town is all damaged by the floods.”
In many towns in Montes de María there is no internet or cell phone signal. Nor do the media reach them. That is why the inhabitants of the town of Robles, Bolívar, created Radio Bemba, which consists of a speaker placed on top of a pole at the house of Omar Ramón Villegas de León.
“Attention Robles, pay close attention. Good morning! This is Omar speaking to you from this lovely community radio station in Robles, Radio Bemba, which belongs to you. Please be advised that where Mr. Antonio has fresh pork… and where Mr. Manuel Segura buys his basic basket…”
In addition to providing information on domestic issues ranging from food sales to organizing to deal with the ravages of flooding, Radio Bemba served to “raise awareness in the community about the importance of voting” in the presidential elections, Mr. Villegas said proudly.
“I am not a radio professional, I simply saw the need for communication that we have in the town and decided to install my speakers and microphones, and that is how Radio Bemba was born. But we are very limited, we would like to be able to install more speakers or even an antenna to make other types of transmissions, which also reach other towns,” Villegas hopes out loud.
Violence and paramilitarism
The craftswomen who are part of Narrating for Living They weave hammocks, backpacks, hats and other typical items that they sell to obtain some income. However, reported Surlay Sequea, legal representative of this organization, armed groups in the area have recently approached them to extort them.
In addition to flooding and material poverty, there is what could be the main problem in Montes de María: the historical violence in the region, which has been exacerbated by the recent formation and strengthening of groups outside the law, such as the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC) and the presence of the Sinaloa cartel (from Mexico), which maintain political and social control of the area.
“In Montes de María we are experiencing a very difficult situation of violence. We have been experiencing many threats. I have been displaced since last month. I left my house for an event and I could not return because they threatened me and ordered me not to be in my municipality,” said Sequea.
Paramilitary actions against the population intensified with the armed strike declared last May, which forced the residents of 11 departments and 135 municipalities in Montes de María to remain in confinement for four days. Those who did not comply with the strike, especially small merchants, were executed.
In the municipality of María la Baja, human rights leader Elsi Quintana commented, “People are scared because in the afternoon and at night we are seeing strange cars, strange people driving around on motorcycles, we don’t know who they are. It is difficult to live with so much fear.”
“They started calling us on May 17 to extort us and the amount has been increasing every day. They say that we have projects and manage productive initiatives, and that is why we have to give them a vaccine [a quota]. This prevents us from continuing to work as we did, we are afraid,” Sequea admits.
“Montes de María has a history of 157 massacres and more than 4,172 homicides. You can imagine what it means for us to work for democracy today in a context where Monte de María is seen nationally and internationally as a territory of reconciliation and peace. And yes, we are. There are very tough people here. I think we are too tough to continue here in a territory when the price of working for peace is your life,” said Angarita, who, as a result of her attacks, now moves around the territory escorted by two armed men as part of a protection program for threatened leaders in Colombia.
At the entrance to several villages in Montes de María there are graffiti by the AGC with the name of the leader in the area. The presence of these groups, according to several testimonies for this journalistic work, triggered femicides, executions, forced disappearances and is causing a new wave of displacement.
Days before the second round of the presidential elections, fishermen and farmers in some towns were ordered “not to go out to work or vote.” Despite everything, thousands in the region went to the polls, giving the left victory for the first time in the history of Colombia. With this news, broadcast on television, a family that voted for the Coalición Pacto Histórico in the urban area of the municipality of San Juan Nepomuceno closed the day.
This work was carried out with the support of Global Exchange, in collaboration with Peninsula 360 Press.
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