ninth mission in Boyaca to 14 September 6th 
Journey in the department of Boyocá (northeast of Bogota located), due east in the nearby subdivision, the Province of La Libertad, where the three of us Villages want to visit: Labranzagrande , Pisba and Paya : 
(click can to enlarge the map so that the three isolated villages in the far east of the department of recognizable)
the Provincia de La Libertad has a great wealth of the ecosystem, a breathtakingly beautiful natural scenery of mountains and valleys in all possible shades of green with many rivers.
Currently Oil exploration conducted in the area ...
In addition, it has always been a strategically important country section, as it is inevitably on the way between the wide plain, which makes up the entire eastern Colombia, and the interior. It is in the 20th Century also an important effect of the two guerrilla groups space FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and ELN (National Liberation Army) become residing somewhere in the inaccessible mountains of the province.
The residents of the Provincia de La Libertad farming are mainly farmers, the small cultivation of maize among other things, Platano, beans and some coffee, but live mostly by rearing cattle. Their habitat is characterized by complete neglect of the state, at least in terms of social structure: there is poverty, lack of medical care, education and infrastructure.
farmhouse on the way to Labranzagrande
Instead of decades and longer-old armed conflict in Colombia, in an absurdly unequal distribution of wealth (rural) property and power is rooted to fight through investment in the social sector, the only use by the government in the province again only by a massive infiltration of army and police.
policeman in Pisba (Photo Ariadni)
This is the setting of the living conditions of people in this region roughly sketched. They live in the middle between the legal and the illegal armed forces of this country and are the direct victims of the conflict.
Our mission is the first in years Investigation of the human rights situation in the province. Our objectives are to demonstrate the humanitarian situation in which its inhabitants are to document in the form of interviews and evaluate. On the other hand, should be tried together with the residents and the authorities of the communities to find a way to cooperate with national and international NGOs to defend human rights in the region.
Wednesday: 13 clock meet at the bus station Bogotá. With one of the luxurious buses that traverse the country here, in which even I can stretch the legs, where one freezes to death, however slightly due to excessive air-conditioning to Sogamoso . From the second-largest city of the department of Boyacá, with 120 000 inhabitants, formerly an important religious center of the Muisca indigenous people, who had built a sun temple here, get we will not see much because it's already dark when we arrived. The cold forces itself on the strongest impression. We eat, we still accompany three from the Red Fabian (Director of COSPACC) to a small reunion, which I do not know much, then even a beer in the only bar that is still open at this late time (about 23 clock) , and then dip in the short night's sleep in a small hotel. 4:45 the alarm clock rings, half applications concerned the group gathered to take the bus to Labranzagrande . No breakfast, but the inevitable in Colombia, "Tinto" - very watery, black coffee with lots of sugar, but at least nice and hot will help us further.
6:03 Tinto at the bus station Sogamoso
about five hours driving through the mountains and the greenery, horses and cows graze just off the road soon is not paved. We are losing altitude, and it is getting warmer. Twice the bus stops - once because of a small herd of cattle:
and once for a venomous snake that drinks in the middle of the road from a puddle:
Labranzagrande Thursday morning greets us with charm and spring-like warmth. About 500 people live in this village with its village square and the little colored stucco houses.
Labranzagrande
Labranzagrande
Labranzagrande
seller Labranzagrande
small courtyard at our hostel in Labranzagrande
begin our work. In all three villages, it consists in our mission and each of us the residents of the village and all who have come from the environment for the occasion to present and explain our intentions.
presentation of the mission before the people of the community Labranzagrande
then follow the interview, where we are in four to five small groups and divide in different corners of the room to receive the single person at tables that you want to tell something . Using an interview form, we take their name, age, passport number and if possible phone number on the data of the victim, the story of the incident itself, a possible history, and any problems in the present.
We hear sad stories of selective assassinations of family members (usually husbands) by the guerrillas, extra-judicial executions by soldiers of the army, illegal arrests and detentions by the army, massacres and psychological torture.
Most cases are four or more years ago. In most human rights violations Labranzagrande the FARC, in Pisba in Paya and the ELN and the Colombian army are attributed.
The majority of cases are shown from a lack of trust in the competent state authorities never. And even if, those responsible remain unpunished, the victims received a small financial compensation. No work-up of debt and loss and suffering that will result from the conflict instead.
follows in each village after a pause, a meeting with the authorities of the municipality to discuss with them the combined results from the interviews with the victims and see how the situation can be improved.
found in all three villages, we have a clear breach of international humanitarian law, which provides for the widest possible separation of civilian life and military combat operations by defining protected places such as schools, hospitals, cultural institutions and private houses of military presence should remain unaffected.
The armed police and soldiers are ubiquitous, especially in Pisba Paya and they seem to be the number of villagers to make smooth.
policemen in Pisba
at every corner and in between they have in the villages of their "Trincheras" built small huts with sand bags Look and loopholes. Pisba: Trinchera middle between two houses. (Photo: RedHen)
Pisba. Trinchera right next to the hospital and the pharmacy (Photo: RedHen)
The police in Pisba and Paya are omnipresent and apparently already fully integrated into the daily lives of people living there:
Pisba children, in the background policeman and his Trinchera
meeting and presentation to the residents of the community Pisba in the library. The police are all the time before the door of the library ... (Photo: RedHen)
Friday, as usual in the early morning hours, we set off small rented SUVs after Pisba. The roads are an adventure. Only since the beginning of 2005 villages Pisba or Paya are motorized access at all, after the municipality has built in self-government drive-way.
rise to some of us into the back of the second car after the transporter has given up (in background) Labranzagrande shortly after the Spirit. There are rides over hill and stone and some mountain stream, where we are shaken up properly. With wind and sun in their faces and a direct experience of nature and landscape through which we travel. Wonderful!
One of the mountain streams that run through the middle of the road
stay in Pisba. Presentation of the mission, discussions with victims. After that presentation of some results and discussion with the authorities of the municipality.
homes in Pisba. They were from any German parish funded and built. The chimneys are pure decoration.
Pisba residents of the community, most farmers. Some have walked for hours to take part in the mission.
Pisba. An old peasant woman
one interviews with the victims in the library in Pisba
Pisba
On Saturday morning we go to Paya. Similar scenario in hot weather. Assembly of residents, interviews, then talk with the authorities of the municipality.
young farmer from Paya
the early evening we head back to Labranzagrande to where we spend a short night last. The mission in the Provincia de La Libertad is complete, the Sunday bus consists of Labranzagrande to Sogamoso, where we take the bus to Bogotá.
The mission of the individual cases of human rights violations (in total we have collected about 70 cases), cooperation with the authorities of the communities and further action by the Corporación COSPACC in the Provincia de La Libertad must now be evaluated and discussed. There will be a summary report and a presentation of the mission at a press conference in the coming days.
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