Exactly seven months later in London and Rome, passing through Vienna, Berlin, Madrid and Lisbon dozens of people will unite in front of Colombian embassies, “with banners, music, and in a creative way to bring the faces, the images and the voices of those martyrs onto the streets» the pitiful violence remains and everyday there is impunity. It will be a moment to remember the life choice made by all of those peasant communities who, in this country that has been tormented by war for more than 40 years, have chosen neutrality and non violence as the only way to survive. And despite this they are killed, tortured and persecuted.

“European civilian society will demonstrate seven months after the massacre in which 8 people were killed and cut into pieces, among which 4 children and the leader of the community,” explains one of the activists involved in the solidarity network for the peace communities, Carlo Mariani, from the City of Peace Narni, “also in this case, as in all the previous murders, massacres, violations of human rights impunity continues to be a sad constant.” Now to look on in silence is not enough.

 

But what happened on the 21^st of February? “The army has assassinated Luis Eduardo Guerra 35 years old, leader of the Peace Community of San Josè de Apartado and member of the inner council of the community. They also killed his girlfriend, Bellanira Areiza Guzman Areiza, 17 years old, they were only together for a few days; his son Deiner Andrès Guzman, 11 years old, that had already been injured on the 11^th of August 2004 by a grenade thrown by the army; Alfonso Bolivar Tuberquia Graciano, 30 years old leader of the Mulatos and member of the peace council of the humanitarian zone of Mulatos; his partner, Sandra Milena Muñoz Pozo, 24 years old, and their children Santiago Tuberquia Muñoz 2 years old and Natalia Andrea Tuberquia Muñoz 6 years old.” It was with these words that the Peace Community of San Josè de Apartadò announced the tragedy.

Luis Eduardo Guerra was one of the founders of the comunidad and was one of the last to remain alive. Slowly, slowly one by one all the symbolic figures that represented San Josè were exterminated. Slowly and patiently the army and the paramilitaries have aimed at them and shot. Before the 21^st February Guerra had been threatened more than once, so much so that he was forced to move to Bogota. Then the Interamerican Court of Human Rights intervened, the official organ of the American continent that advises governments on human rights, and requested Uribe to take “cautious and provisional measure” to be precise special protective measures of the protection of San Josè. Luis Guerra went home. He was killed. Because, in reality, none of these measures were ever respected. Never.

And so his friends had to literally get him, piece by piece, from the mass grave in which they had thrown him along with his family who had been so brutally slaughtered. Not even the children had been saved from this slaughter. It was the same campesinos that told how they had found the head of Deiner’s little son, the members of Santiago, the rags of little Natalie; it appears that from marks found on parts of Guerra’s body that he had been tortured before being murdered. With tears in their eyes, his friends told the TV cameras of the programme Contravia how the soldiers arrived at the place where they had found the bodies, pretending to fall onto the bodies, and taking advantage of this to kick them and jump on them. “More than once we begged them to be careful, that at least they should respect the dead. But they laughed and laughed,” with horror in her eyes a young woman explained, she had taken part in looking for the bodies.

Without peace for peace. From that moment the families of San Josè have not felt at peace. Justice needs to be the governor, their longing is to see those guilty behind bars and their desire is fed by denouncing all the atrocities that have been committed immediately. In April, they were forced to flee. In fact from the 30^th of March the police started to go into small villages with an entourage of psychologists, sociologists, people that distributed leaflets in which they said that they should collaborate with the police. All of this was the result of the political philosophy of the President of the Republic Alvaro Uribe, according to whom "In democratic societies citizens cannot be neutral in front of crime. There is no difference between policemen and citizens". Therefore, they had no other choice: On the 1^st of April they started to leave. An exodus that is continuos, and, without peace.

 

One for all. But they are not alone. The massacre of the 21^st of February also ended up on the bench of the International Criminal Court as crimes against humanity and acts of genocide; it was instigated by a Colombian parliamentary group. But not only this. The cruelty of the crimes had a strong international effect thanks to denouncements made by the alternative mass media and volunteers such as Cristiano Morsolin editor of the Independent Observatory for the Andean Region Selvas.org and contributor to PeaceReporter. He has irritated the “men of war” with his articles about the mobilisation and European and Italian indignation that followed the massacre, and he has received heavy threats from the paramilitary,

Today there will be demonstrations in all of Europe, a day in which the first concrete steps that symbolises the international solidarity network will be taken, and that demonstrates that it wont tire from denouncing impunity and the call for truth, justice and reparations.