The figures are not enough to measure the tragedy. After a week of acute crisis in Catatumbo, authorities report at least 60 dead and 40,000 people displaced due to the armed confrontation between the ELN guerrilla and dissident groups of the extinct FARC. While the civilian population abandons its homes in at least seven municipalities in the mountainous northeastern region of Colombia, in the territories, explains Jairo López Ramírez, “only the doctors and priests remain.” The parish priest in charge of the cathedral of Ocaña, the small city that houses several thousand displaced people, explains that the priests celebrate the Eucharist on the days when the bullets stop. They dedicate the rest of the day to caring for families concerned about violence, to walking through rural areas in search of bodies due to the lack of forensic doctors and forensic tension, and to obtaining humanitarian aid for the remaining population.
The diocesan commission for reconciliation and peace and the dioceses of Cúcuta (the departmental capital and main recipient of displaced people), Ocaña and Tibú (the most populated municipality in Catatumbo), coordinate a dozen priests. In addition to providing these humanitarian tasks, try to build bridges with the two armed actors so that the violence stops. In the already long history of armed conflict in Colombia, the Catholic Church has played a crucial role in opening humanitarian spaces. Before the conflict spilled over into Catatumbo, last December, several priests had achieved rapprochement with the illegals, and sought to avoid bloodshed. “We had been warning about it for about three years. About six months ago, it got worse: we were counting the days until it would pass,” says Father Ramón Torrado, also from the diocese of Ocaña. “We thought it was going to happen in December, but it was managed to mediate. In January it was impossible to stop it,” he says hastily.
Last year, the breakdown of a non-aggression agreement between the ELN and the so-called 33rd front of the FARC dissidents began to increase the level of aggression. “It is not that war is new now in Catatumbo. It has never been, but we did begin to notice threats of aggression when the groups decided to declare war again,” says Torrado, one of the religious leaders who best knows the situation of the conflict in the region. Father Jairo López Ramírez reiterates that the last time the members of the religious commission were able to mediate with illegal groups to prevent any criminal action was in December. “We have some open communication channels, but it has been very difficult to reach agreements with those actors in the conflict because it is no longer just the two armed groups, but drug trafficking is involved,” he says.
Priest Miguel Durán says that, in the last week, the parish priests managed to mediate so that the authorities could remove seven bodies that were on the side of the road or in the middle of the rural area and that the armed forces did not allow them to collect. He clarifies that, although there are areas of Catatumbo that cannot be accessed without permission from the armed actor in control, they can move with relative peace of mind. “We can say that we are the only ones who have a certain freedom of movement with all the armed groups, and we are taking advantage of that to access the most difficult areas.”
It depends on their work, for example, that reports from the field reach humanitarian entities such as the Ombudsman’s Office. The paragraphs inform them of the clashes or the victims, they warn them of new cases of kidnapped people and they contact NGOs to mediate the releases. Father Torrado, who has been monitoring the effect of the peace processes in Catatumbo for seven years, explains that the presence of the dissident group has tense the situation. “Since the 33rd front was created, there has always been discomfort over many things, such as ideology and income.” With caution, he assures that the new chapter of the war in that border region there are “alleged undertakings.” It refers to new criminal or drug trafficking gangs that have positioned themselves strongly. “That creates chaos in total peace because they want to blend them all in the same blender, without seeing the particularities of each territory.”
The parish priest, who has accompanied several peace processes in the area, is critical of the Government of Gustavo Petro. “This president’s policies have not arrived here. Peasants have left their crops when coca was not selling, people were dying of hunger. It is easy to say that there is a war in which people kill each other between the ELN and the FARC, but here there are also culprits, there are responsibilities of all the institutions, of all of us. As a church we often find ourselves alone,” he reiterates.
It also counts the bishops of Tibú and Ocaña for almost two years mediating between the two groups. They held pastoral dialogues with armed actors and social leaders, “so that this war, which was announced, would not happen.” Even now, after dozens of murders, he points out that the illegals respect the church delegates. For this reason, their temples are also collection centers, shelters, places of counseling and epicenters of humanitarian agreements.
Although there are no known threats or attacks against the religious, several of them prefer to protect their names to tell their testimony in the media. They speak from the mountains of Hacarí, El Carmen, Tibú or El Tarra and tell of their efforts. “I’m going to a vigil for a victim,” writes one of them. “I am caring for a displaced family,” says another, via WhatsApp. “I move from one municipality to another to verify the affected areas,” says another priest.
While they seek to open humanitarian corridors, their parishes are running out of faithful. They are replaced by non-perishable belongings and food that the dioceses send to distribute to those who have stayed. Father Durán emphasizes that they are still there and will continue. “None of us can leave the parish because we all have faith that people will return at some point.”
