Peace Sanctuary Churches in Colombia
Remanso de Paz church History (Sincelejo , Sucre):
The members of Remanso de Paz ("Haven for Peace") church lived in Macayepo, a rural town in a highlands region of northern Colombia known as Montes de María (The Mountains of Mary), which covers parts of four provinces.
In Macayepo they lived in a number of different small villages, and were members of four separate Protestant churches. The Montes de María region had for a long time been controlled by guerrilla groups, with little if any presence of the national government and military. Paramilitary troops began to carry out incursions there in the late 1990s. These paramilitaries were financed by landowning ranchers and supported in their operations by the Colombian Armed Forces. There was frequent combat between guerrillas and paramilitaries and between guerrillas and the Armed Forces. Assassinations, bombings and disappearances became commonplace in the region.
Increasingly, church members were accused of being "collaborators" with one or the other armed group -- guerrillas targeted them for "collaborating" with the paramilitaries, and paramilitaries targeted them for "collaborating" with the guerrillas. Over time, a number of church members in Macayepo were killed. Guerrillas began to place thousands of mines in the Montes de María. For all these reasons, it became impossible to live a peaceful, safe, decent life in Macayepo, and many people began to flee the area, seeking refuge in larger towns or cities.
In August 2000 the names of many members of Protestant churches in Macayepo appeared on "black lists" circulated by the guerrillas, alleging that they were collaborators with the paramilitaries.
Two months later (in October 2000) paramilitaries moved in, massacring civilians, burning homes, and killing cattle in Macayepo, causing a mass displacement of over 15,000 people. Many of the displaced families sought refuge in the city of Sincelejo , the capital of the neighboring province of Sucre . They had no shelter, food or income; many were traumatized from the violence they had witnessed; and all were disoriented, having always made their livings working the land.
By the end of 2000, many of these displaced persons organized a congregation in Sincelejo . In 2001 they gave a formal name -- Remanso de Paz (Haven for Peace) -- to their congregation, and founded an organization called APORTAPAZ (which translates as "support peace") to assist displaced people. They negotiated with local officials and were granted use of a piece of land on the outskirts of Sincelejo , alongside a major road. The land had been used as a garbage dump. Remanso de Paz members cleaned it up and prepared the ground for planting crops, creating their first patio productivo (community garden) alongside the wall-less structure they built as their place of worship.
Over the next three years Remanso de Paz and APORTAPAZ acquired many other pieces of land throughout the city, many of them former garbage dumps -- usually acquiring them through negotiations with government officials or land-owners, rarely paying more than a small amount -- and converted them into community gardens, providing food to displaced people, and also providing them the opportunity to feel 'at home' a bit in the city by gardening. They have become a beacon of hope for displaced people throughout the region. Whenever a newly displaced family arrives in Sincelejo , they quickly find their way to Remanso de Paz to recieve advice and assistance.
All is not hopeful in their story, however. Five years after their displacement, they cannot return safely to live on their farms. Members of the congregation would periodically travel to Macayepo to check on their farms and try to gather some of their harvests for their families in Sincelejo . On one such trip early in 2004, two church-members were murdered -- presumably by guerrillas. On another trip, a man lost an arm and leg when a mine exploded. Still, they patiently nourish the roots of peace in their city, region and country.
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