#SomosGénesis #WeareGenesis
4 of May 2022
Mr President, judges and magistrates of all the justices of our country, ordinary and transitional, Supreme Court and JEP, as was said a few days ago in Bojayá, in the Chocó, in the Pacific and in other regions, there is a silent cylinder, that destroys lives, we add, to simmer like a crematorium.
Today, for our communities, their omissions, their fears, the rapid readings and responses, their decisions by influence, which can be perceived in the voice of the President, show us that there is fear of the truth and it has been taken away. That cylinder shatters and dishonors us, yes to all our victims, those of more than 30 years ago, those of today and those that will come by the planned and strategic operations of high level in which Dairo Antonio Úsuga, in the end was only one more tab, nut today discarded. The big drug dealer Otoniel has been a peasant, guerrilla, AUC and AGC. The voice of a Catholic priest last Monday was the voice of all the people, of the people who suffered these violences. Do not allow Otoniel’s extradition until there is truth in Colombia. No plea was heard.
The Colombian named Otoniel began only to enunciate in his years in the war of state agents and some powerful sectors and that was enough to extradite him. It just started with a listing. I speak very quickly of extrajudicial executions and of the Urabá before the JEP, very quickly, without being able to intervene in a dialogical phase of contrast, informed by the media. We know, it happened in 2008. And let’s look at our country, today 15 years later how we are as a country project. A country of fragments.
The truth of Otoniel would have served, would have contributed to break so much lie and denial. Its truth contrasted with our territorial realities would have contributed to real peace, to identifying the responsibilities due. Today we are devastated and dishonored, yes to all our victims. To those of more than 30 years ago, to those of today and to those that will come by the planned and strategic operations of high level in which Dairo Antonio Úsuga participated, directed, ordered and fulfilled, in the end, he was only one more tab, today discarded.
We believe and we write it with the honorable exceptions in the instances of justice, only when there is a president and judges, magistrates, who understand that truth and justice must respond to the realities that a country lives, and that the forms and procedures are used in context, there will be a Rule of Law in the territories and there will be peace.
In the meantime, this violence will continue in our black, indigenous and peasant territories. Meanwhile, impunity will allow the reign of barbarism and atrocity in our territories. Powerful people accumulate their wealth with that extradition, land, drugs, agribusiness and institutional «democracy,» no matter what. That is the consequence for us of that terrible decision.
Nor any judicial clarification. No complete truths, no exhumations of our disappeared, neither those executed, neither the displacements nor the corporate criminal dispossession, nothing, will continue to be known. Nor will prevention policies be effective and there will be less guarantee of non-repetition. Lying is a weapon of many powerful. Thus, in those lies we will continue in wars and more wars, laying on our chests. dying silently or dying with bullets or dying without liberties. Yes, floating among this violence that does not end, thanks to the State, in which you have the power of decision.
We painfully wrote it. Again, they have mocked the right to the truth that the country deserves, if they do not care about us, the country deserved the truth. It opened the way for impunity in the eyes of all. And so much blah blah blah of the victims without real respect for all. Only respect for the powerful, those who live off wars. So, president and judges, they will never stop us from experiencing sexual violence, displacement, dispossession, threats, murders, disappearances, confinement, the same as before but worse.
If there had been a little reason and a little sensitivity to measure what we have suffered, what we suffer and what we are already sure we will continue suffering, all would have acted in law rather than in political favorability, they would have taken the time to face so much abuse of power, so much real ignorance of the law, they would have faced that power overflowing with the truth.
Today we Afro-Colombians, indigenous people and peasants of this society see that we are what matters least to so many institutions. The truth is that we victims are not the center. Which center? The center is drug trafficking and that crime is prioritized in its political legal decision. The center is the power of powerful criminals. Here nothing matters to recognize the deep interaction with a broad criminal strategy of business sectors, of state, of sectors of the public force, that must be denied or concealed.
We already experienced it in 2008 with extraditions. The truth is silenced, the truth from the United States is less viable. Much stays there in agencies of that country, the victims do not have access, the virtue distance from real truth, we already live it and we already know it. We asked them to suspend, as they have done with other cases, that extradition. Everything was ignored. The victims are not important. Peace from the truth is not really an institutional conviction. We are the victims of remove and put. We ask only SUSPEND!
Everything is so utterly vulgar. It was 3:00 in the afternoon when the police force guarding him was already on his way, without us being notified of an Order by the Council of State where a provisional measure was lifted suspending his extradition until a protection filed by our communities to guarantee our rights to the truth was resolved, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition. The order was notified to us at 5pm, when Otoniel was already on a plane to the US.
Other people found out first. We the victims were the last to know. That’s all. A show, a mockery. What legality worked? Procedures were flouted, times were flouted, substantive arguments were flouted. We hope that academics or independent experts will study the case, analyze and decide whether what we wrote in this Open Letter is false. Everything was mocked. Everything. Honorable exceptions, some demonstrations in law of magistrates and judges, gave hope to this suspension to enable truth. In the end he conquered the hidden power, those behind the silent cylinder.
Our arguments were not enough even before the jurisdiction of peace that was our hope. A competent JEP to know the performances of Otoniel until November 2016 in different roles and criminal plans. Everything was undone. In the justice of the Prosecutor’s Office nothing to expect. We have 30 years of impunity. And you told the truth, Mr President, by acknowledging the Justice Systems for the patriotic decision. Everything was clear What is patriotic? Decisions and wills denied before judicial conveniences when there are political agreements. That is the truth.
We never act seeking revenge from politicians, businessmen, military, police, drug traffickers for so much pain caused, only the truth of so many murders, disappearances, displacements, dispossession, violence against women, and children recruited. We wanted to know the truth and with it, transit in our territories to peace with socio-environmental justice, we wanted to build guarantees of non-repetition, and exhume our disappeared, and know why they murdered our leaders, why they protect looters, and dignify our young recruits, and dignify those who have committed suicide because they can no longer endure war, and sullied women, orphans and widows. From there we seek the truth to rebuild our country, before a State of law non-existent in the territories.
We believed that from our ashes reflecting ethnocide and ecocide with that window of truth that Dairo Antonio pledged to give to the JEP, how he expressed it, prevent and stop the war that we live today. It wasn’t just Casanare and Meta. It’s more like Mr President, magistrates are territories from north to south from east to west. It’s years and years of horror.
Meanwhile, Mr President, and some journalists, like voices of the powerful, question us and misinterpret the fact that we have demanded that the extradition be suspended.
We were even branded as accomplices. We used to be guerrillas, terrorists or auxiliaries. We’ve been branded as drug traffickers or clan members. We have been disqualified as victims as citizens. But that was not enough, yesterday, the Council of State in its order that lifted the provisional measures accused us of lack of procedural loyalty, of having led them into error, of assaulting the principle of good faith, as if the facts underlying the guardianship brought by our leaders lie and never reflect our reality. High-level authorities point us out and nothing happens. They know nothing of our reality, they only judge without context, they don’t know what happens in the territories and they make a spectacle or they know and they prefer to be those of the sight.
You do not know what it is to live in the yoke of these wars. Hopefully, someday, sectors of power journalism will understand it and make serious practices and ethical pacts to duly inform with contrast and delivery of truthful information, rather than official, judgmental and destructive versions of our dignity, information and trials that today put us before a possible death penalty.
Today this hidden power structure was favored by this political decision to extradite Otoniel. And now, Mr President and Judges of all levels, we hope that you will not kill us, that you will not banish us. In this Public letter, we invite the sectors of legal and illegal businessmen (drug traffickers, miners, agro-businessmen and others), politicians, military and police who had a relationship with Otoniel in that strategy of violence in Urabá, Antioquia, Córdoba, Sucre, north of Chocó, bajo, medio Atrato, Istmina, San Juan, Litoral del San Juan, Calima, Valle, Sur de Bolívar, Catatumbo, Meta, do not retaliate against us and our accompanying organization and our lawyers with threats, banishments, judicial assemblies, murders for demanding our rights.
We hope they won’t finish shredding us. You still have all the power, you know, we only have the power of consciousness, the power protected by the power of the love of the universe seeking peace from the truth.
Thank you, President Duque, we learned that the senses of homeland for you are different from ours, the senses of truth are different. Our experience shows that extradition is silent and that it makes certain access impossible for victims. What’s more, you know that everything you say there in US agencies, we’ll never know in Colombia.
Thanks to some sectors of justice, we learned that peace from the fullest possible truth is an illusion and that law is far from the ethics and reality that we suffer, that political powers prevail over those of society and over us the victims.
We hope that the United States Department of Justice will one day be able to listen to our interests, and that President Biden will be able to adopt a policy consistent with our country on justice. Continuing to invest in Colombia so that our justice system is incapable of judging here is an incongruity and a waste of the tax resources of the citizens of that country. Establishing judicial cooperation agreements should be a common purpose for consolidating peace on the basis of truth. To continue in the politics of always, that of more than war is only to promote those sectors of those institutions of force are increasingly corroded by that criminality in it entrenched years ago.
The country loses, not only us. We are and we exist. We are a homeland and Matria. We are in the midst of these vile, disastrous and painful violence. And we also exist in the bet for a society in peace and justice from the truth. Today we know that the time has not come. Peace continues to be shattered. We need courageous people to bet on truth and justice over pressures or calculations. The truth as the rule of law for us continues to unravel, is undone. Today the State lives against the fact, one day it will be the time of the right to the service of peace, of the truth and of territories of life for all.
With pain in our soul.
Signatures:
Colectivo La Chinita de Apartado, Antioquia
Asociación de Comunidades de Autodeterminación Vida y Dignidad CAVIDA. Cacarica, Riosucio, Chocó.
Asociación de Mujeres Desplazadas del municipio Riosucio, Chocó, en Turbo, Antioquia, – CLAMORES-
Asociación Portadoras de Paz, ASOMUPAZ. Turbo, Antioquia.
Zona de Biodiversidad Colectiva La Madre Unión, Territorio Colectivo de La Larga y Tumarado. Riosucio, Chocó.
Zona Humanitaria Nueva Vida. Territorio Colectivo del Cacarica. Riosucio, Chocó.
Zona Humanitaria Nueva Esperanza, Territorio Colectivo del Cacarica. Riosucio, Chocó.
Zona Humanitaria Las Camelias, Territorio Colectivo del Curvarado, Carmen del Darién, Chocó.
Zona Humanitaria, Caracoli, Territorio Colectivo del Curvarado. Carmen del Darién, Chocó.
Zona Humanitaria Caño Manso, Territorio Colectivo del Curvarado. Carmen del Darién, Chocó.
Zona Humanitaria Costa Azul, Territorio Colectivo del Curvarado. Carmen del Darién, Chocó.
Zona Humanitaria Anda Lucía, Territorio Colectivo del Curvarado. Carmen del Darién, Chocó.
Zona de Biodiversidad El Retorno, Territorio Colectivo de Pedeguita y Mancilla. Riosucio, Chocó.
Zona de Biodiversidad Isaac Tuberquia, Territorio Colectivo del Curvarado. Carmen del Darién, Chocó.
Zona de Biodiversidad El Cariñito, Territorio Colectivo del Curvarado. Carmen del Darién, Chocó.
Zona de Biodiversidad Las Margaritas, Territorio Colectivo del Curvarado. Carmen del Darién, Chocó
Zona de Biodiversidad La Yuliana, Territorio Colectivo del Curvarado. Carmen del Darién, Chocó.
Zona de Biodiversidad La Esmeralda, Territorio Colectivo del Curvarado. Carmen del Darién, Chocó.
Zona de Biodiversidad La Esperanza, Territorio Colectivo del Curvarado. Carmen del Darién, Chocó.
Zona de Biodiversidad Si Dios Quiere, Territorio Colectivo del Curvarado. Carmen del Darién, Chocó
Zona de Biodiversidad Familia Hernández, Territorio Colectivo del Curvarado. Carmen del Darién, Chocó
Zona de Biodiversidad Familia Pérez, Territorio Colectivo del Curvarado. Carmen del Darién, Chocó.
Zona de Biodiversidad Mi Tierra, Territorio Colectivo de Pedeguita y Mancilla. Riosucio Chocó.
Zona de Biodiversidad El Paraíso, Apartadocito, Territorio Colectivo de Curvarado, Carmen del Darién, Chocó.
Zona de Biodiversidad El Molino. Territorio Colectivo de Curvarado. Carmen del Darién, Chocó.
Zona de Biodiversidad Nueva Esperanza, El Guamo, Territorio Colectivo de Curvarado. Carmen del Darién. Chocó.
Zona Humanitaria Argenito Díaz, Territorio Colectivo del Curvarado. Carmen del Darién, Chocó.
Resguardo Embera Urada Jiguamiando CAMERUJ. Carmen del Darién. Chocó.
Resguardo Embera Río Murindo. Murindo, Antioquia.
Resguardo Wounaan Juin Phubuur, Cacarica, Riosucio, Chocó.
Asociación de Víctimas del Pueblo Indígena del Chocó. ASOVPICH. Quibdó, Chocó.
Zona Humanitaria Pueblo Nuevo, Jiguamiando. Territorio Colectivo del Jiguamiando, Carmen del Darién, Chocó.
Zona Humanitaria Centro Jigua, Jiguamiando.. Territorio Colectivo del Jiguamiando, Carmen del Darién, Chocó. Consejo Comunitario del Jiguamiando.. Carmen del Darién, Chocó.
Resguardo Embera Chidima, Acandi, Chocó..
Comunidades Indígenas de Jagual, Peña Blanca, Pichinde, Quiparado organizadas en la Asociación Ancestral Indigenas del Bajo Atrato, ASOAIBA. Riosucio, Chocó
Familia víctima de homicidio y despojo de Unguia, Choco (Familia Vasquez)
Comunidad Civil de Vida y Paz CIVIPAZ del municipio del Castillo, Meta.
Resguardo Naexal Lajt pueblo Jiw
Zona de Biodiversidad Villa Verónica municipio de Mapiripan, Meta.
Consejo Comunitario de Cabeceras Bajo san Juan Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca Colombia
Resguardo humanitario biodiverso Unión Agua Clara, Bajo san Juan Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca Colombia
Resguardo humanitario Santa Rosa de Guayacán, Bajo Calima, Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca Colombia
Resguardo Wounaan Nonam Puerto Pizario, Bajo san Juan, Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca Colombia
Resguardo Wounaan Nonam, Puerto Guadualito Litoral san Juan, Chocó Colombia
Resguardo Wounaan Nonam Unión san Juan, Litoral san Juan, Chocó Colombia
Resguardo Wounaan de Pichimá Quebrada, Litoral san Juan, Chocó Colombia
Resguardo Wounaan Nuevo Cañaveral, Bajo san Juan, Valle del Cauca Colombia
Resguardo Wounaan Cocalito, Bajo san Juan, Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca Colombia
Comité juvenil cultural san Francisco Naya, Valle del Cauca Colombia
Espacio humanitario Puente Nayero, Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca Colombia
Familiares de Demetrio López, consejo comunitario la Caucana Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca Colombia
Asociación de esposas de desparecidos del río Naya, Valle del Cauca Colombia
Familiares de desparecidos del corregimiento la Sonora, Trujillo Valle del Cauca Colombia
Zona humanitaria y biodiversa san Pedro de Ingará, Chocó Colombia
Familiares de Yolanda Cerón, Nariño Colombia
Colectivo Yolanda Cerón, Nariño Colombia
Consejo comunitario mujeres afro “Elida Brito” Monguí, la Guajira Colombia
Asociación de mujeres víctimas de la zona carbonífera del departamento del Cesar, Colombia
Familiares de Eider Quiguanás, desaparecido y asesinado, el Castillo Meta, Colombia
Fundación Ríos de Paz y Reconciliación, Florencia Caquetá Colombia
Asociación de desplazados de Peñas Coloradas, Florencia Caquetá, Colombia
Asociación de desplazados de Puerto Torres, Florencia Caquetá, Colombia
Asociación de mujeres por la Paz, desarrollo y convivencia, Florencia Caquetá, Colombia
Marchantes Etnico Campesinos de los Montes de María,
Consejo Comunitario Eladio Ariza
Familia víctima de despojo y desplazamiento de Unguia, Choco
Comunidades campesinas de la Alta Montaña, Carmen de Bolivar
Respaldan:
ADISPA como organización representativa de las 24 Comunidades de la Zona de Reserva.
Campesina Perla Amazónica, (Putumayo):
Comunidad de Agualongo.
Comunidad de Bajo Cuembí.
Comunidad de Bajo Lorenzo.
Comunidad de Bajo Mansoyá.
Comunidad de Baldío
Comunidad de Belén.
Comunidad de Bocana de Cuembí.
Comunidad de Buen Samaritano.
Comunidad de Camios.
Comunidad de Angosturas.
Comunidad de Chufiyá.
Comunidad de Comandante.
Comunidad de Frontera.
Comunidad de Guadalupe.
Comunidad de Juveni.
Comunidad de La Española.
Comunidad de La Piña.
Comunidad de La Rosa.
Comunidad de Puerto Playa.
Comunidad de San Salvador.
Comunidad de Sevilla.
Comunidad de Toaya.
Comunidad de Zamora.
Zona de Biodiversidad El Triunfo Putumayo.
Zona de Biodiversidad La Vega Putumayo.
Zona de Biodiversidad La Loma Putumayo.
Asociación Consejo Regional Pueblo Nasa Kwesx Kxsaw del Putumayo, conformado por:
Resguardo Nasa Sa’t Kiwe La Florida Mocoa.
Resguardo Jerusalén Villagarzón
Resguardo San Luís Alto Picudito Villagarzón.
Resguardo Campo Alegre Villagarzón.
Resguardo Sta. Rosa De Juananbú Villagarzón.
Resguardo El Descanso Puerto Guzmán.
Resguardo La Aguadita Puerto Guzmán.
Resguardo El Porvenir La Barrialosa-Puerto Guzmán
Resguardo Alpes Orientales -Puerto Caicedo.
Resguardo La Floresta Alto Coqueto Puerto Caicedo.
Resguardo Kiwnas Cxha’b Alto Lorenzo-Puerto Asís.
Resguardo Nasa Çhamb, Puerto Asís.
Resguardo Nasa U’h Ipiales–Nariño.
Cabildo Hijos De Juan Tama-Mocoa
Cabildo Loma Redonda – Kiwe Thâ Tadx
Cabildo Alto Sinai Villagarzón.
Cabildo Çxhab Wala Dxi’ U’se, Villagarzón
Cabildo Cerro Guadua, Puerto Guzmán.
Cabildo Juan Tama, Puerto Guzmán.
Cabildo Los Guaduales, Puerto Guzmán.
Cabildo Nasa Kiwe, Puerto Leguizamo.
Cabildo Yu’kh Zxiçxkwe, Selva Hermosa, Puerto Caicedo.
Cabildo Yu’cxijme El Líbano-Puerto Caicedo.
Cabildo Pkid Kiwe Los Guayabales, Puerto Caicedo.
Cabildo Kwe’sx Nasa Çxayu’çe, Puerto Caicedo.
Cabildo Kiwe Ukwe, Puerto Caicedo.
Cabildo Kwe’sx Tata Wala, Puerto Caicedo.
Cabildo Kiwe Ñxusxa, Las Delicias-Puerto Asís.
Cabildo Fxiw Ksxa’w Wala – La Libertad Puerto Asís.
Cabildo Sa’t Tama, Puerto Asís.
Cabildo Ksxa’w Nasa, Puerto Asís.
Cabildo Yu’ Luuçx Las Minas, Puerto Asís.
Cabildo Kwe’sx Kiwe, Puerto Asís.
Familiares víctimas de ejecución extrajudicial La Plata Huila,
Asociación Sembradores de Paz, Inzá.
Asociación campesina Cajibío
Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz
Somos Génesis 