On March 23, the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó celebrates the tenth anniversary of its founding. This week dozens of supporters from around the world converge in San José for several days of celebration and remembrance.

Read a statement from the Community, with an introduction by CPP team member Janice Gallagher here

various stories covering the investigation:
Ahead of Bush visit, Colombia announces investigation into massacre
International Herald Tribune
by Toby Muse, 2/28/06

Just days ahead of a visit by President Bush, Colombia said it was investigating 69 soldiers accused in a massacre two years ago that induced Washington to suspend $70 million in military aid to the South American nation. read more, including a quote from FOR's John Lindsay-Poland

The American Friends Service Committee has nominated two Colombian groups for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of their "extraordinary commitment to nonviolence in the midst of that country's 50-year-old conflict, and their exemplification of organized efforts by many Colombians to end that conflict justly."

One of the two nominees is the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, a rural community in northwestern Colombia. The community, which declared its nonviolent position in 1997, has been supported since 2002 by the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) through its permanent Colombia Peace Presence.

Village's Unarmed Rebellion
On strategic land in Colombia's civil war, a group of peasants stands up against violence. But a refusal to take sides offers little protection.
By Chris Kraul
Times Staff Writer
Read article from LA Times site

September 18, 2006

ARENAS ALTAS, Colombia - Ana Hilda Vargas was living in a place called Hope when the gunmen came to her farm and gave her an ultimatum: Leave your house in 48 hours or be killed.

"Everything I built in my youth and all that I had - pigs, hens, mango and avocado trees, yucca, corn and bean fields - I lost that day," Vargas said, recalling the terrible morning in 1997 when she was thrown off her land in the village of Esperanza by paramilitary members.