In 1989 the community identified the presence of the 35th front of the Farc and paramilitaries, the former in El Cerro area and the latter on the road to San Onofre. Both groups robbed peasants, their animals and crops; Furthermore, they did not accept the presence of people who were not from the municipality, so in 1994 they prohibited the celebration of the Corralejas festivities.
The violence that hit Chinulito was called “The route of death” because they killed people in different sectors following the path of El Bobo stream. It was between two and four in the afternoon on September 13, 2000, when a group of 70 paramilitaries from Montes de María block of Autodefensas of Colombia (Auc) arrived at Chinulito district of Colosó, Sucre and in The hamlets of El Cerro, Ceibita, La Arenita and El Parejo began the massacre. At the time they committed the crimes, they burned the houses of their victims and some who managed to save themselves from death.
The other victims are Geraldo Rivera, José Manuel Padilla, Antonio José Rivero, José Guido Buelvas, Jorge Eliécer Torres, Joaquín Rivera, Jesús María Olivera, Pedro Manuel Rivera, Roberto Antonio Buelvas and Elio Rafael Passo Chávez. Around 4.000 families had to flee due to threats and targeted killings.
In this sense, the victims have built a collaborative network that has allowed them to consolidate as survivors of conflict, having a concrete impact on the administrative decisions of the municipality of Colosó. One of the leaders and members of the Impulso committee, Franklin Jaraba, today holds the position of secretary of municipal government in Colosó. “I am part of the weavers’ committee of the Entrelazando strategy, we have been understanding with the process that the only way to get ahead is by being united, and working together,” he says.
“The social network has been recovering, the trust between ourselves and with the institutions, in the company of the Victims Unit and other strategic allies such as the UNDP, we have achieved some things such as the adaptation of the subject’s educational facilities and the endowment of these and the adaptation of the church of Chinulito”, explains the leader.
For his part, Dennis Manuel Mercado, another survivor and leader of Colosó, affirms that in the midst of the anxiety due to the shots that were heard, he still does not understand how he was unharmed: “There was panic and the anguish of the people grew. The guerrillas in this territory were before the massacre for 10 years, and from the 90s there were selective deaths, abandonment of farms and the hardest thing was when the Auc arrived because there were confrontations between the guerrilla groups and the paramilitary group”.
Dennis describes how out of courage he was saved, by daring to speak to alias Rodrigo Cadena: “I came out unharmed. I plucked up the courage and told him I would lay down my life as long as the killing and threats in the area stop. I open the hole and you bury me”.
He acknowledges that they have been accompanied by the Victims Unit in Sucre: “We have received significant learning from experiences. We as a community achieve political representation. We know that the Government, through the Unit, is leading a process to improve our quality of life”.
The Victims Unit reported significant progress in the implementation of the Comprehensive Collective Reparation Plan (PIRC) of Chinulito, Cerro, Ceiba and Arenita, complying with the reparative actions and integration of the community. Another achievement is the articulation to achieve the delivery of goods for public use and has consolidated the emotional recovery of the community through psychosocial care strategies.
(End/SED/LMY)
