Christmas Refugees: Then, Now, There and Here
Stewart Vriesinga
Christmas Refugees: Then, Now, There and Here
And the governing body of the holy land
was that of King Herod, a paranoid man,
who, when he heard there was a baby born, King of the Jews,
sent death squads to kill all male children under two.
But an angle warned the parents in a powerful dream
So they went to the border and got away clean
(from a song by Bruce Cockburn, based on the Christmas story as found Matthew 2 verses 7-18)
It was beginning to look like we would be hosting refugees at our house here in Barranca again this Christmas. That would have been the third Christmas, and I don't know how many other times we have hosted refugees at our house in Barranca. It seems when the state security forces let their guard down in the holiday season, and aren't patrolling in full force, the armed actors take advantage of the situation.
The first we heard of it was in a phone call from a team member who had spent time with Eric, one of the Guayabo community leaders in the capital –Bogota. Eric was attending meetings of Mennonite pastors from other communities who are also in life-and-death struggles to remain on their land in the face of powerful and unscrupulous actors seeking to displace them and their communities. While in Bogota Eric received a phone-call from an acquaintance warning him that there was a contract out on his head and that they were trying to hire an assassin to kill him.
On Friday my teammate Sarah and I travelled back to Guayabo from Barranca with Eric and two other community leaders. In Colombia there is every reason to take such a threat very seriously. It had already been denounced in Bogota, and several allies had met there to discuss the situation. We also met here in Barranca. The plan was to accompany the leaders, including Eric, down-river to the community to explain and assess the situation, and then on Monday accompany him and five other family members to our house, where they would stay for the next few weeks until we could reevaluate the situation in mid January.
That was on Friday afternoon. By Friday evening it looked like the numbers had grown from six to ten. Another family, also part of the Guayabo community, was also under threat. The father—Jhon Freddy—had received phone calls threatening his life. Unlike Eric and his family, who had land in the rural sector but lived in the village, Jhon Freddy's house was on the land that he worked and his nearest neighbours were few and father away. Furthermore his property is adjacent to a farm that had already been taken over by Rodrigo Lopez Henao—the man who is laying claim to the entire community—and Jhon Freddy had already had guns stuck in his ribs and his fences taken down by Rodrigo's security personal. Rodrigo and his people had taken over the house belonging to the school teacher Henri. With the new telephone threats Jhon Freddy feared for his security and especially that of his family. The Friday we arrived the entire family began leaving the farm and spending nights in the more populous village. They were seriously contemplating leaving the Guayabo altogether, along with Eric and his family, and also taking refuge in our house here in Barranca. It would have been a bit of a tight squeeze hosting ten people, but the fact that our whole team was away for Christmas made it doable in the short term. .
But by Sunday the community of Guayabo itself decided to assume responsibility for the security of its own leaders and its members. The community had two meetings during our short visit: one on Friday, the day we arrived, in which they were apprised of the situation; and another second meeting on Sunday where together they developed a plan of action which they hope will protect the lives of Eric and Jhon Freddy and their families, as well as maintain the ability of the entire community to defend and protect their land and homes from those seeking to dispossess them. Fleeing and seeking refuge elsewhere would perhaps be the most effective way to protect the lives of those individuals personally receiving death threats, but it would effectively undermine the leadership and thereby their collective ability to protect their homes and their land. For others to assume leadership rules in that situation would only result in new threats being issued against those who had assumed the leadership, and history would repeat itself, possibly culminating in the eventual forced displacement of the entire community.
The decision was not arrived at lightly. Fleeing as a refugee is in and of itself traumatizing; leaving behind friends, community and extended family along with their home, land and food security and livelihood without knowing when or if they can ever come back. Especially when it is the beginning of planting season (the dry season), without which there will be no harvest, which has always been the primary means of providing sustenance to community members and their families. Furthermore, displaced refugees invariably suffer the loneliness that comes with moving into an unfamiliar environment, into an unknown culture, with no autonomy and totally dependence on others for their for their very survival. On the other hand, staying means putting your life and your families security in the hands of a community who may have all the will and commitment in the world, but don't have even a fraction of the economic resources nor armaments at the disposal as does their adversary. State security forces direct involvement in the forced removal and dispossession of the school teacher Henri have already demonstrated that the state is more likely to side with their powerful adversary than with the vulnerable campesinos. Nevertheless Eric and Jhon Freddy and their families have opted to place their trust and hope in the community that has thus far nurtured and sustained them rather fleeing for their lives. They don't want to abandon the remaining and/or new leaders in their collective efforts to ensure that everyone will continue to have a home and community to come back to.
Mary and Joseph's decision to flee to Egypt as refugees 200 years ago almost certainly saved baby Jesus' life. Unlike many of today's refugees, whom drown by the boatloadi, or end up interned in miserable conditions in detention camps on islands off of Australiaii, or whom the United Nations High Commission for Refugees can no longer afford to feediii, Jesus and his parents seem to have survived their refugee experience, and were eventually able to return. However, the male children under two that were left behind were not as lucky. These children ended up being killed by King Herod's death squadsiv. We need your help to ensure that our friends in Guayabo don't share a similar fate. Please stay tuned!
iiThese internment camps for refugees are known as the Pacific solution. Some are held for years. Ironically, one of the islands on which refugees were being interred is called “Christmas Island”. For more information see Australian Human Rights Commission report “Immigration detention and human rights”
iii“Monday's announcement that the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) had been forced to suspend aid for more than 1.7 million Syrians who have fled the war in their homeland and are now scattered across the Middle East. The WFP made the decision, the agency said, because it had simply run out of money.”
For more information see “Syrian refugees face bleak winter after 'disastrous' food aid cuts”. (Aljazeera, Dec. 2nd, 2014)
ivMatthew 2 verse 6 “Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men”
For the full text see Matthew 2
The slaughter of the innocents is unattested in secular records,
but the historical plausibility of this event happening is
consistent with the character and actions of Herod the Great.
Besides killing his enemies, he had no qualms in killing family
members and friends as well. Herod would not have given a second
thought about killing a handful of babies in a small, obscure
village south of Jerusalem in order to keep his throne secure
for himself, or his sons, even if it was one of the last
dastardly deeds he committed before he died. (Source: The
Slaughter of the Innocents: Historical Fact or Legendary
Fiction?)
No pedagogy which is truly liberating can remain distant from the oppressed by treating them as unfortunates and by presenting for their emulation models from among the oppressors. The oppressed must be their own example in the struggle for their redemption. –Paulo Freire
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Stewart in Colombia:
Cell Phones: Colombia: 313 420 5613; Canada: 647 567 7665
Christian Peacemaker Teams Colombia:
Phone: (57) 7 602 3617
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