USAID Lends Lifeline to Many Afro-Colombians
Caught in
the Country's Violent Crossfire
For many Colombians, displacement has become
a way of life.
Since 1985, nearly three million Colombians have been forcefully
displaced from their homes as a result of the country’s
40 year conflict. Amnesty International recently estimated
that 2.5 million Colombians are currently displaced. In the
last two years, nearly one in three of the country’s
displaced victims has been Afro-Colombian.
Attending to this needy population, which comprise about
26 percent of the country’s 45 million population, has
been an ambitious, challenging objective of USAID’s
Internally Displaced Person (IDP) program, which during the
last three years has assisted some 400,000 Afro-Colombians.
“In a conflict as fleeting, constant and devastating
as Colombia’s, helping the displaced population is monumental
undertaking,” commented Michael Deal, director of the
USAID mission in Colombia. “The displaced Afro-Colombian
and indigenous communities are truly one of the hemisphere’s
least recognized tragedies.”
Colombia’s displacement problem is somewhat unique
in that its victims are often caught between the crossfire
of antagonistic paramilitary and guerilla organizations in
remote areas where the government lacks presence. Typically
the displaced victims cannot return without being branded
a supporter of one of the groups, placing their personal security
and that of their families at serious risk.
As a result, USAID’s IDP program has focused on strengthening
a community’s ability to face such challenges. For many
of those who choose to remain behind or return, USAID has
provided job training and placement, improved access to education,
offered solutions to housing, and delivered emergency medical
assistance (including psychosocial counseling.) The program
has extended development assistance to micro and small businesses.
Kenneth Wiegand, USAID’s IDPs General Development Officer
in Colombia, pointed to USAID’s work with Colombian
President Alvaro Uribe’s “Plan Padrino”
(Godfather Plan) as an example in which assistance under such
circumstances can make a difference.
Chocó, with an 85 percent Afro-Colombian population,
was the site of a horrific massacre in 2002, in which the
town of Bojayá was caught in the crossfire between
two of Colombia’s warring narco-terrorist groups: The
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the United
Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). A FARC soldier fired
a cooking-gas cylinder packed with explosives, which veered
off target into a church where 300 villagers were sheltered.
An estimated 119 civilians were killed and another 98 were
injured.
After the massacre, a high percentage of the children who
were forcefully displaced by the event, settled in nearby
Quibdó, the capital city of Chocó. As a result,
schools there became overcrowded. A partner in President Uribe’s
“Plan Padrino,” USAID helped to renovate the El
Reposo II School in Quibdó. It also provided desks,
restroom facilities, books and basic supplies. Today the new
school serves one of the largest communities of Colombia’s
displaced persons.
“I believe the Bojayá massacre remains one of
the worst casualty tolls from a single battle incident in
the 38-year-old conflict, but cooperative efforts with agencies
such as USAID tend to shed a little light on the dark side
of the tragedy,” said Wiegand. “We cannot reclaim
the lives lost in that church that day, but helping to rebuild
a school in the community reinforces the hope of the people
and in this case played a vital role in returning life to
a sense of normalcy for many children emotionally affected
by the massacre.”
USAID’s contribution to Afro-Colombians is not limited
to Chocó, and its attempts to improve the lives of
Afro-Colombians occur throughout the country. For example,
last year USAID sponsored the First Afro-Colombian Institutional
Strengthening Conference, attended by more than 300 Afro-Colombian
public officials and civic leaders.
The USAID/Colombia democracy program has bolstered support
by establishing six Justice Houses in areas with significant
Afro-Colombian populations (Chocó, Bolivar, Valle del
Cauca and Guajira). The justice houses serve as one-stop centers
for residents to seek help and resolve legal issues such as
family conflicts, disputes among neighbors, and other grievances.
Other USAID programs that have aided the Afro-Colombian community
include:
- Co-financing of a study by the Caja de Compensacion Familiar
de Antioquia (COMFAMA), a regional social security system,
to address the needs of displaced and vulnerable families
in Colombia’s Pacific coast region. The study is expected
to result in a project to assist several thousands of Afro-Colombian
families;
- A research and professorial exchange between Howard University
and Chocó University. The exchange includes workshops
on displacement and Afro-Colombian culture;
- Local community planning meetings in select communities
(e.g. Putamayo, Caqueta, Cauca, Huila, Tolima and Antioquia)
in which local residents identify resource priorities and
participate in planning and implementation, and
- Work with Human Rights groups to advocate enforcement
of Afro-Colombian rights, develop leadership skills and
strengthen civic organizations.
“By strengthening the skills of Afro-Colombians throughout
the country, USAID hopes to strengthen the local democratic
institutions that can lead to a fair and open state,”
said Adolfo A. Franco, USAID’s assistant administrator
for Latin American and the Caribbean region.
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