Sister Rosa, who works in the Mother Laura convent in Medellín.
Sister Rosa, as she is known to everyone, works with victims of violence in District 13. She provides emotional accompaniment to the victims of Operation Orion and of forced recruitment of youth. She has worked at the Mother Laura Convent for more than ten years and has a long history in human rights defence in different parts of Colombia and Latin America.
PBI: What is the history of District 13?
Sister Rosa: District 13 is located in northwestern Medellín, has a population of approximately 160,000 inhabitants, and is made up of 24 neighbourhoods. The State abandoned this district for many years and this absence allowed a subversive group to gain position, even consolidating its authority within the population. Through mingas or community committees, the neighbourhood and grassroots organisations initiated the task of constructing housing and access to this housing. Families peacefully co-existed with this group.
In 2000, armed confrontations began to take place between the militia groups inhabiting the district and paramilitary groups. These heavy confrontations constantly intimidated the civilian population. Frequent harassment spread terror and fear within the inhabitants because the paramilitaries were trying to remove the militia and take control of the district. All of the groups recruited young people to strengthen themselves and confront their enemy. There were also murders, forced displacements, and the illegal deprivation of liberty. In 2001, confrontations worsened since neither group wanted to yield. In 2002 and by order of the president of Colombia, the militias were driven violently from the district through several joint operations by State security forces and paramilitary groups: Operations Antorcha, Mariscal and Orion marked the history of the district with the diverse human rights violations committed against the civilian population. Forced displacement, murders, arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances and extrajudicial executions, intensified. During Operation Orion —which took place on 16 October 2002—, the community was subjected to indiscriminate gunfire from a helicopter and civilians were not allowed to take the wounded to medical centres.
After this operation, State security forces and paramilitaries exercised even more control over the territory. They controlled the population entering and leaving the district. They had illegal checkpoints, personal searches, arbitrary detentions, and all kinds of abuses. Fear was generalised, but people did not say anything.
PBI: How is the situation now?
SR: Since Operation Orion, things have not changed. There is paramilitary control. Selective murders, forced disappearances, recruitment of youth and children, and forced displacements, continue to occur. New gangs led by demobilised paramilitaries continue to commit crimes and fight over drug distribution, extortion payments, territorial control, and everything that may generate terror in the district.
Presently, I am concerned about the issue of children since they are the future of society and there are no guarantees for the free development and growth of their human potential. The armed group in the district begins to recruit them when they are six years old, breaking their dreams, fantasies, hopes, and even will to live. These children are used to transport weapons and drugs, to control territories, and many of them drop out of school. They are very vulnerable given their conditions of poverty and orphanhood that the war has caused for some of them. The children are also induced into consuming and trafficking drugs. This situation has also easily given rise to child prostitution. Children have been threatened, forcibly displaced and even murdered for not joining these groups. Many mothers prefer to remove them from secondary and primary schools and keep them indoors all the time to keep them from being threatened and recruited by these groups. Many mothers have reached the extreme of not having their children live there.
PBI: How about the threats against your organization and the work you do?
SR: The situation concerns us since the Mother Laura Community is deeply involved with District 13 and cannot be detached from people’s pain and suffering. We give concrete responses to the widows, orphans, the unprotected, and the victims of the conflict, opening a space for assistance and accompaniment where they are listened to and some solutions may be given. This work has bothered some of the armed groups, which at times keeps us from carrying out our work for the defence of life, because in some ways the victims have been visibilised so their experiences —and the violations of their rights— do not remain unpunished.
These groups are most annoyed by our recent denunciations and documentation of the involvement of children in the conflict. We have also been speaking out against closing La Escombrera in the district, where we suppose the bodies of disappeared persons may be found. On February 26, we had a meeting with different city government offices to present the documented cases of some children and undertake some security measures on the issue. Coincidentally, our office, which has information on everything concerning children, was broken into two days before the meeting. The computer was taken apart and it seems information was stolen. It should be mentioned that many valuable things in the office were left untouched. Obviously, this was concerning because there are no security guarantees for carrying out this work for the victims. After this incident, we began to see suspicious-looking people outside of the office and there were other attempted burglaries. On 20 October, an armed group tried to enter the convent. It is a threat and an act of intimidation against the community for it to stay silent.
PBI: How do you perceive the accompaniment from the international community?
SR: The work you do —the support from the international community— allows us to breathe and believe we are not alone. There are people who think like us and this solidarity gives us support and accompaniment. We want the victims to receive more support and for you to speak to our government so it takes wise measures that contribute to the well-being of the people; so the aid sent to our country does not increase the war or support the victimisers. People are tired of so many abuses and seeing the victimisers rewarded. I have a special request for the international community to look at how it may help the Colombian people in the construction of peace. The Colombian people suffer too much and do not even have the chance to raise their voices. This is a people full of hope and trust, first in the Lord and in the persons of good will who want to give a hand so one day we may breathe in peace and tranquillity.
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According to the National Legal Medicine Institute, from January to September 2009, 122 homicides were committed in District 13, this being the highest rate of criminality in the city. According to the Human Right’s Office in Medellín, this sector also has the highest number of cases of intra-urban forced displacement, 61 reported abuses.
«Operación Orión: siete años de conflictos no resueltos en comuna 13», Popular Training Institute (IPC), 15 October 2009