Introduction to Barrancabermeja

I arrived in Colombia almost exactly 2 weeks ago, on July 4. I spent 2 nights in Bogota trying to get a bus ticket to Barrancabermeja, where I will be working with CPT for the next three months.

Barranca is the site of the largest oil refinery in the country, and for that reason strategically important in the civil war that has been going on here for 50 years. There is a gas cartel that operates here by stealing gas out of a pipeline that runs from the refinery. They put holes in the pipeline and fill up containers, and transport the stuff in small boats along the Opon river that runs into the Magdalena river, which runs through Barranca.

The gas cartel is currently operated by paramilitary groups, who fund themselves by selling it. In the past the cartel was in the hands of the guerrilla, but paramilitary forces have taken over this area in recent years.

In very general terms, the guerrilla are a left movement that supports land rights for campesinos and labor organizing, but by violent means. The paramilitaries are private forces, often supported by large companies, such as mines, gas, and oil, that put campesinos off their land by force so that the companies can move in, and who are also responsible for high numbers of assassinations of labor leaders. In general the paras support government policies and most believe that at minimum, the goverment allows them to operate.

About a year ago the main para forces signed a demobilization agreement, but as far as anyone can tell they are not really demobilizing but reconstituting themselves as private security forces. In this area, nobody has any doubt that the oil company, ECOPETROL, knows that their gas is being stolen by paras.

When CPT first came here 5 years ago, it was to accompany 2 small campesino communities along the Opon River that had been forcibly displaced due to the gas cartel and wanted to return to their homes. The people who live there farm small plots of land and fish for their livelihood. When the communities first returned CPT had a presence there all the time, with a team rotating in and out of Barranca, because the level of violence was quite high. It was not uncommon to see bodies floating down the river. It was our main work.

But in the last year or so the communities have stabilized, so much so that other kinds of organizations have come in with development assistence. We are now phasing out of the Opon work, at least that what it looks like to me, and gathering information about other communities who need the same kind of accompaniment. Very recently, a community member from the Opon was assassinated and another was displaced due to a threat on his life. It seems that they were somehow involved in the cartel. So the violence continues, but the communities seem to be able to maintain themselves as long as they are able to refrain from being involved with either side.