On July 28, PBI-Colombia tweeted: “Within the framework of pedagogical workshops on global humanitarian agreements in the territories in Cacarica, PBI has been accompanying @Justiciaypazcol [the Justice and Peace Commission].”

Cacarica, an area of more than 25,000 acres, is in the northwest region of Colombia in the department of Chocó.

In 1997, the Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities in Cacarica bore the brunt of a historic military offensive – Operation Cacarica and Operation Genesis – by the Colombian Army with United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) paramilitaries against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas.

A resident recalls F-21 Kfir fighter jets flying overhead as the offensive began.

PBI-Colombia explains: “The supposed objective of these missions was to attack the strongholds of the guerrilla, but it ended up seriously affecting afro-descendant communities from the territory: 3,500 people were forcefully displaced and another 85 were killed.”

Two years after their displacement, the communities of Cacarica obtained collective ownership of their lands and returned in 2000.

PBI-Colombia accompanied this return and accompanied the communities until 2011.

For a 2-minute video of Ana del Carmen Martinez of the Community of Self-Determination, Life, and Dignity of Cacarica (CAVIDA) speaking about the dangers in the area and the importance of accompaniment from the Justice and Peace Commission and PBI, please click here.

And on Instagram.

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