Hope in the Face of Violence

FLORENCIA, Colombia — Maria's three children were barely teenagers when the family fled home to escape the growing violence in Caqueta, a coca-growing region of southern Colombia.

They settled into a wooden shack with no running water, in a makeshift neighborhood on the outskirts of Florencia. There, Maria scraped by washing clothes and cleaning houses.

But violence followed the family. Maria's son and son-in-law were killed by guerillas. Now, at age 60, Maria is raising her orphaned grandchildren.

Maria is able to make ends meet only through a program provided by Catholic Relief Services and Caritas Colombia. Partly funded by the World Food Programme, the joint initiative provides food, psychosocial support and legal help to 67,000 people displaced by violence and to other vulnerable people in nine dioceses.

The program provides humanitarian aid to thousands of Colombians whose lives have been unhinged by violence. It also promotes peacebuilding through education programs and reconciliation processes.

Caught in the Crossfire

Maria is just one of more than 3 million people forced to flee their homes because of violence and threats by right-wing paramilitary forces, left-wing guerillas forces and the resulting conflict with Colombia's army. The country is enduring one of the worst humanitarian crises in the hemisphere today. Forty years of internal conflict fueled by an array of armed groups has created a population of refugees second only to Sudan's.

People who have been displaced are becoming poorer by the day and are deprived of basic necessities. Two-thirds live in inadequate housing. Their rate of disease is six times higher than the national average and, while they are entitled by law to health care, most don't receive it.

Often, people don't simply flee conflict, but are forced from their homes as part of a larger strategy to obtain their land, whether for personal profit, or to clear corridors for military advantage or drug trafficking.

Displacement in Colombia is not a phenomenon of the past, but a continuing problem. More than 300,000 people were forced from their land in 2005. And as recently as March 2007 in the province of Nariño, 252 people were displaced and another 2,000 people were confined to their communities without access to food and other supplies while paramilitary and guerilla groups battled over lucrative drug- and arms-smuggling routes.

In Search of Solutions

CRS approved $100,000 from the O'Neil Emergency Fund to provide emergency supplies, food and psychosocial support for six months to those caught in the crossfire. But the emergency assistance will not address the systematic problems of extreme inequality and political exclusion that are fueling the country's long-standing conflict. The Colombian government and civil society must create policies and programs that reverse these inequalities and lead to peace.

The United States, which has provided in excess of $4.5 billion in foreign aid to Colombia over the last seven years, can contribute to long-term peace and stability in the country by shifting its focus to social development. Currently, 80 percent of U.S. aid to Colombia goes to the military for counternarcotic and counterinsurgency activities. The remaining 20 percent is spent on economic and social development.

The Colombian and U.S. bishops' conferences have repeatedly called for a greater portion of aid to Colombia to be dedicated to investment in sustainable development, the defense of human rights and humanitarian support that has as its first priority long-term solutions for the displaced.

In the face of violence, Maria remains defiant and hopeful. Recently, she was approached by a member of an armed group, who offered her a sewing machine and a stable income making uniforms. She refused — again.

"I prefer to live this way with my kids, dealing with what comes to me — the good and the bad — because I have the Church and I have the good hearts of people I don't even know and because I have my freedom," she says.