What would happen if Christians devoted the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war?

COLOMBIA: Two miners assassinated; organizations condemn murders

February 17th, 2010
in:

 On 10 February 2010, paramilitaries assassinated two miners from FEDEAGROMISBOL, aka, “The Southern Bolivar Agricultural – Mining Federation.”  The Federation is a coalition of peasant farming and mining communities in Southern Bolivar province.  CPT Colombia has accompanied FEDEAGROMISBOL since the assassination of Alejandro Uribe Chacón in 2006.  These communities continue to struggle nonviolently for their rights to their land and to their dignity. 

A collection of civil society groups and non-governmental organizations put out the following statement regarding the murders:

Saturday, 13 February 2010

1.  10 February 2010 around 7 am, Omar Alonso Ospina Restrepo and Jose De Jesus Restrepo left the Municipality of Montecristo for Caucasia, Antioquia in order to buy some parts for their car.  The brothers, Omar Alonso and Jose de Jesus, ages 26 and 40 respectively, were artisan miners and members of FEDEAGROMISBOL.  Omar Alonso was the President of El Dorado’s Community action board and the fiscal watchdog for El Dorado’s agricultural-mining association.  They arrived in Nechi at about 10:00 on the same day and continued their trip to Caucasia.

About CPT

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) arose from a call in 1984 for Christians to devote the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war.

The original vision has grown, deepened, and become more challenging as we struggle to embody an inclusive, ecumenical, and diverse community of God's love.

Enlisting the whole church in an organized, nonviolent alternative to war, today CPT places violence-reduction teams in crisis situations and militarized areas around the world at the invitation of local peace and human rights workers. CPT embraces the vision of unarmed intervention waged by committed peacemakers ready to risk injury and death in bold attempts to transform lethal conflict through the nonviolent power of God’s truth and love.

CPT understands violence to be rooted in systemic structures of oppression. CPT is committed to undoing oppressions as part of our violence reduction work, starting within our own organization.