Comunidad de Paz de San José de Apartadó.
The Global Campus and the Peace Community San José de Apartadó, Colombia – by Ede Müller from Grace Media on Vimeo. This video is also available in Spanish.
The Comunidad de Paz de San José de Apartadó (Peace Village of San José de Apartadó) is a community of around 1,500 people in North-west Colombia that is committed to cooperative living and non-participation in the violence of the conflict in Colombia. A farming community has existed since the sixties and in 1997 it declared itself a ‘Peace Community’.
The charter of the village declares:
- no cooperation/interaction with armed conflict parties;
- no information, no support for either conflict party;
- peaceful, non-violent resistance;
- no gunmen in the peace village;
- no drugs (no cultivation, trade, use in the community);
- no alcohol in the peace village;
- mutual support (production, health);
- transparency in the community.
Unfortunately, the commitment to peace by the members of the community has not spared them from the violence of the conflict in Colombia, and in fact they have been repeatedly targeted for attack by the military, paramilitary and guerrilla forces. Since its founding, approximately 200 members of the Peace Village have been killed, including victims of 20 massacres by different armed forces. The Peace Village of San Jose de Apartadó is supported by Colombia and international human rights organisations in an attempt to help it to avoid further violence.
The first Mayor of the Peace Village was Gloria Cuartas. There is a long interview with Gloria on the UNESCO page where she explains the story of how she became Mayor, and the terrible dangers the Peace Village has faced:
I had said that if I accepted the post of Mayor I would do so without weapons or an escort and that I would talk with all the armed groups, whether they were guerrillas, paramilitaries, the army or the police. This sparked off a reaction nationwide because mayors were not supposed to talk with armed groups.
The full interview can be read here.
