Last week, we accompanied some members of the Peace Community to agricultural work on some of their lands, a six-hour trek from San Josecito de la Dignidad, where I live.
During the five days we spent there together, we had the chance to share quiet moments at home, celebrate E.’s birthday with a lovely cake - and an egg on the head, as per the Colombian tradition - and join them in their field work.
But what does it actually mean to "accompany"?
On May 16, we were in a village called La Resbalosa, where the Comunidad de Paz (Peace Community) owns collective land. There, two monuments were inaugurated in memory of the victims of the massacre of 21 February 2005.
On the morning of that 21 February, the XVII brigade of the army, jointly with the paramilitaries, wanting to attack the community directly and in a premeditated way, first went to the Río Mulatos, near what is today the "Luis Eduardo Guerra" hamlet, an hour and a half away from La Resbalosa, where Deiner, aged 11, Luis Eduardo Guerra, his father and leader of the community, and his partner Bellanira, were arriving to go harvest cocoa.
What does it mean to be in the Peace Community as 'Paloma', an international volunteer with Operazione Colomba?
I put on the orange t-shirt and leave myself behind; I am no longer just me, I become a symbol.
It means being a witness. But only in a small way compared to these ancient trees, the birds that punctually sing hymns to creation, the stones polished by the river like the bones of giants—they have been observing human movements since time immemorial.
It means putting oneself at others' service.
It means having no time or space of your own, sacrificing them to sharing, to accompanying others, making them sacred.
It means embodying what it is to be an instrument.
And then again, on the road that connects San José to the city of Apartadó, a rope has been raised. You are let through only after paying a toll, with the promise that the money collected will be used to repair the condition of the road, which is now almost impassable.
This is a method that has already been used, these are promises that have already been made, words that have already fallen into the void in the past. Perhaps it is a sign that power over the territory is held by someone who obtains it through force, without respecting any law, written or moral. Faced with this unjust imposition, people silently accept it. Everything goes on as if nothing ever happened. Some still believe in these false promises, others don’t want any trouble, some others fear the consequences, and then there are those who simply want to survive.
“We have the right to exist as a community, and we will continue to defend it.” On 29 October 2025, at the 5th Meeting, 12th Session of the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development of the United Nations in Geneva, José Roviro López, from the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó (Colombia), brought the voice of those who resist violence, the pressure of economic enterprises, and the destruction of land and nature. Roviro reminded everyone that the right to development cannot be imposed from above. It is born from the communities that defend the land, the water, native seeds, memory, education, and the possibility of living in peace. Despite 28 years of threats and attacks, the Peace Community continues to build alternative models of coexistence and agriculture, far from the logic of war and exploitation. Operazione Colomba has accompanied the Peace Community in Colombia for more than 15 years. To listen to all the speeches from the meeting:
https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1n/k1nkn3fy8z
OPERAZIONE COLOMBA
