The social leader Yésica Méndez (Barrancabermeja, Colombia, 38 years old) wants to arouse the interest of international cooperation and European leaders in Spain, Norway, Belgium and Italy to protect the producers of the Magdalena Medio region and finance the projects of the (ACVC), one of referents of the defense of the land and human rights in Colombia. The organization was born almost 30 years ago in reaction to massive forced displacements caused by paramilitary groups in Magdalena Medio, in the northeast of the country, which has historically been one of the hot points of the armed conflict in Colombia.
Although and group more than 140 peasant organizations representing some 29,000 people, they still cannot develop their work in peace because armed groups, which dispute the control of the region, threaten to. “In spite of everything, the stroke has not remained to be a victim of the armed conflict, but has raised solutions for peasants, Afro -descendants and indigenous,” says Méndez, secretary of the Board of Directors of the ACVC, in an interview with El País, during his visit to Madrid, where he met with representatives of the Spanish Cooperation Agency and the Foreign Ministry.
Méndez, who grew in a neighborhood of scarce resources from Barrancabermeja, observing the union and peasant struggles of his region, is part since March of the, which has welcomed it for six months, and also has the support of
ACVC has been in the country. Their leaders were, in 2002, the creation of one of the first (ZRC) of Colombia, as the territories delimited by peasant communities and recognized by the State are known, where rules are set to organize the land, cultivate and take care of the environment. The objective is to protect the farmers from the conflicts created by the property of the land ,. When the peasant reserve area of the Cimitarra River Valley was born, which has about 180,000 hectares, there were barely three others in the country. Today . “But its sustainability depends on the financing and that they are thought from the communities and not from the comfort of the administrations,” explains Méndez.
The stroke, on the other hand, has led recognized illegal crops replacement projects. In order for peasants not to be forced to grow coca leaf, they are given economic alternatives such as rice, corn and cereal cultivation, and production of goods derived from oil oil oils, among others. Also, they have programs for the protection of human rights and for the formation of young people and women in peasant leaders and environmental conservation.
All this is now at risk of the reorganization of other armed actors that seek to occupy spaces that left the FARC after their demobilization in 2016. Magdalena Medio is one of the 11 in Colombia that identified the Ombudsman’s Office in February this year. There, currently, there is the presence of the guerrillas, the drug trafficker. The situation is so critical that, in October, ACVC declared itself in humanitarian crisis due to the new attack of the conflict.
At the end of April of this year, they were part of the association and last September, there were. Yésica Méndez is one of the leaders of the area that have a.
There is a signaling to the stroke and a pressure so that we report when and how we enter the area and so that we ask permission to do our work
Do not make noise
It is not the first time that a leader of the Cimitarra Valley speaks in Europe about the situation of its region – – but on this occasion, the commitment of the peasant association has been much more visible. “We are interested in assuming a more public profile, although that implies running the risk of moving the fibers of those who, in Colombia, do not want us to make noise on all human rights violations that are being committed,” says Méndez.
Colombia is, as the NGO Front Line Defenders has alerted in its 2024/2025 report. Last year, 157 social leaders were killed in the country.
Armed groups not only murder and threaten; They also prevent community work. Three years ago, Méndez denounces, dissident groups of the FARC confiscated farms where they carried productive projects of sustainable livestock. “They also took us a human rights house that we had in the municipality of Remedio,” describes the leader. In addition, armed groups exercise control over the territory. “There is a signal to the stroke and a pressure to inform when and how we enter the area and to ask for permission to do our work,” he adds. “Likewise, illegal mining and timber exploitation are promoted in the opposite sense of what the communities had been doing in, a huge natural forest area that wanted to be preserved,” he details.
From Europe, Méndez seeks that the international community return to look at this territory and prioritize it in cooperation projects. “It is considered that Colombia, after the agreement with the FARC in 2016, is at peace. Therefore, international cooperation has been diminished, some organizations have retired from the area,” explains Méndez. Until now, about twenty projects of the ACVC had been financed thanks to international cooperation.
Forced recruitment of minors and young people is another problem against stroke. “This year we managed to create the youth coordinator of the Peasant Reserve Zone,” he says. “We want to get generational relief in the association and create productive projects to prevent young people from continuing to swell the ranks of armed actors,” he adds. Only so far from 2025, they have been documented.
Colombia is considered after the agreement with the FARC in 2016, is at peace. Therefore, international cooperation has been diminished, some organizations have retired from the area and no longer focus on Magdalena Medio
Although Gustavo Petro’s government has promoted the total peace policy since 2022, a simultaneous dialogue with multiple armed actors to achieve peace, and civilians in Magdalena Medio and the Catatumbo area remain in danger. Despite the despair panorama, the stroke “considers that peace is the exit.” “And it will be much more effective to the extent that civil society can participate,” says Méndez, who asks the Colombian State for security guarantees for membership affiliates.
