165 people, including 71 women, participated in the five proceedings called in the framework of Case 09: Non-amnestiable crimes committed against ethnic peoples and territories.
In four of these dialogical and intercultural proceedings, the authorities of the black people participated, from the sub-regions of Baudó, San Juan, Atrato and Pacífico. And, in the fifth, all the indigenous authorities of the biogeographic Chocoano territory that integrates the Antioquian municipalities of Vigía del Fuerte and Murindó participated.
These meetings allowed the collection of detailed information on the crimes and actors who participated in the armed conflict.
The methodology used in the five hearings integrated the JEP’s own dialogical model of judicial investigation and participatory research methodologies.
The Truth Recognition Chamber of the JEP carried out five subregional and intercultural dialogical procedures and interjurisdictional coordination with the black and indigenous peoples of Chocó, within the framework of Case 09: Non-amnestiable crimes committed against ethnic peoples and territories for cause, on the occasion of , or directly or indirectly related to the conflict.
With the objective of advancing in the consolidation of the information of the Chocó sub-case, within the framework of the internal prioritization process of Case 09, in its concentration phase and, guaranteeing the differential approaches women, family and generation, ethnic-racial and territorial, the Magistrate Nadezhda Henríquez Chacín, correlator of the investigation, moved to the department of Chocó. There, with the support of a multidisciplinary team, she advanced in an intercultural and interjustice coordination dialogue with 165 ethnic, territorial, and spiritual authorities, with ancestry and recognition, who are part of the indigenous and Afro-descendant communities present in the biogeographic Chocoano territory. .
The community contributions around cartographies, time lines, maps of actors and the narratives that the Recognition Room collected during the proceedings, allowed the identification of facts unknown by ordinary justice.
Likewise, they will serve as input for the characterization of the macrocriminal patterns and the organization of those appearing that will be called for a version in the framework of the Chocó subcase.
During the tour of the department, Judge Henríquez Chacín, correlator of Case 09, highlighted the importance of generating joint scenarios between the authorities of the black people, the indigenous peoples and the JEP. This, with a view to reconstructing context information that allows complementing and contrasting the reports submitted to the Jurisdiction within the framework of the investigation.
The first subregional meeting took place between May 15 and 16 in Quibdó. The indigenous authorities of the Emberá-Katío, Emberá-Chamí, Emberá Dóbida, Guna Dule and Wounaan ethnic groups participated in it, who narrated to the magistracy the crimes committed by different armed actors in their reservations. Likewise, they narrated the impacts that the armed conflict left on their ancestral territories, the irreparable loss of social dynamics and the systematic and differential affectations committed against their peoples in the framework of the armed conflict. The indigenous authorities expressed their interest in having the JEP investigate the crimes committed against their peoples in search of true reparation.
Through the cartographic representation of their territories, the communities located the places where homicides, forced disappearances, massacres, forced displacements, attacks against civil and cultural objects and sacred places occurred.
The second subregional meeting took place on May 18 and 19 in Pizarro, the municipal seat of the populated center of the municipality of Bajo Baudó. The Jurisdiction reached that point after making a journey of approximately seven hours between land and river transportation to meet with the representatives of the community councils of the municipalities of Alto, Medio, and Bajo Baudó.
During the diligence, the participants recounted the victimizing events suffered by their communities and the irreparable consequences that the armed conflict left on the inhabitants of this sub-region rich in biodiversity, crossed by the El Baudó river. According to their accounts, as a direct consequence of the armed conflict, the fishermen in the area remained confined to their homes. This put the sustainability of their families and their ancestral practices at risk.
The participants expressed to the JEP the way in which the dispute between the armed groups for territorial control has curtailed their freedom to mobilize in the region and has caused the disappearance and displacement of entire corregimientos. Likewise, the women narrated to the Recognition Room the consequences suffered by girls, adolescents and women victims of sexual violence in the territory and the persistence of armed actors in the region. According to the participants, the invisibility of the reality that the region has experienced has made them more vulnerable to the different armed actors over time.
The JEP also mobilized to the San Juan region, in the municipality of Istmina. There, the third dialogical procedure was carried out, on May 23 and 24. At this hearing, the representatives of the Community Councils narrated to Magistrate Henríquez Chacín the humanitarian crisis left by the armed conflict. They referred to the paralysis of river traffic at the piers of Istmina and the San Juan River, and its tributaries, due to armed strikes that have generated confinement and displacement, as well as the shortage of products for family consumption that endangers the food safety. In addition, they denounced the strong presence that the ELN guerrillas and the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC) maintain in rural and urban areas.
The JEP in Bojayá
For the third time, since the creation of the JEP, the magistracy reached the municipal seat of Bellavista, municipality of Bojayá, place where the extinct Farc-EP perpetrated a massacre on May 2, 2002 in the church of the municipality, where the civilian population took refuge.
Judge Henríquez Chacín toured the cemetery and listened to the demands for truth and comprehensive reparation requested by the victims. For 21 years they have been waiting for justice and for the true motivations of the massacre to be recognized, as well as other human rights violations that have never been investigated by ordinary justice and that were perpetrated in Bojayá, Vigía del Fuerte, Medio Atrato, Murindó and other settlements, which occurred during the week of May 2, 2002, among them, the role of the public forces in these events and the impacts that the armed conflict has left beyond the massacre. They argue that there is a before and after in the dynamics of war.
The organizations, through the ethnic authorities, reported to the Jurisdiction the complex humanitarian situation that, according to what they say, they continue to experience. In addition, they described the multiple practices that different armed actors, who converge in the area, have imposed and what the loss of customs and rites typical of their culture has represented for the community.
The last meeting was held in the municipality of Bahía Solano on May 29 and 30. During the judicial proceeding, the Community Councils exposed the generational damage that the community has experienced as a consequence of the war that took root in their territory.
After hearing the voices of the indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples who responded to the JEP’s call, Judge Nadezhda Henríquez Chacín assured that: “the most serious thing committed is related to the way of life of the people, their culture, their idiosyncrasies, their traditions and we want to make this present in these scenarios of macrocriminality that affect cultural and territorial rights and their social, political and economic self-determination, associated with structural racism and discrimination that puts them at risk of extermination”.
The co-relating magistrate of Case 09 highlighted that the information provided to the office during these five dialogic proceedings will be decisive in the creation of the ethnic route and the coordination of dialogue channels with the authorities of the black and indigenous peoples of Chocó and the municipalities of Antioquia de Murindó and vigía del Fuerte, in order to establish coordination instances and mechanisms for the participation of the peoples within the framework of the judicial process. That is to say, with respect for the autonomies of the peoples and the inter-justice coordination that may take place.
With the fulfillment of the dialogic procedures, the pedagogy exercises were strengthened that facilitated the dissemination and conversation about the Comprehensive Peace System (SIP), the Special Jurisdiction for Peace and its mechanisms for the participation of victims and authorities. Similarly, the magistracy explained to the victims and ethnic authorities, among which the participation of 71 women stands out, the progress of Case 09 and promoted dialogues and agreements.