COLOMBIA:
Thousands of Poor Line
Up All Night for
Government Aid
By
Helda Martínez
BOGOTA, (IPS) -
Spending the cold Bogotá
night outside on a
sidewalk is not
recommended. But
thousands of poor
Colombians, including
many displaced by the
civil war, had no choice
this week if they wanted
to register for the
meagre assistance
offered by the
government’s Families in
Action programme before
the deadline expired.
As many as 100,000
families in the capital
could receive the health
and education subsidies
equivalent to 15 dollars
per school-age child and
30 dollars per secondary
school student, as well
as a food stipend of 50
dollars handed out every
two months.
This week, many people
have spent an entire
night queuing up outside
to apply for the
assistance.
Around 20,000 of the
families have been
forcibly displaced,
fleeing their rural
villages and homes as a
result of the armed
conflict that has
dragged on for nearly
half a century.
There are more than 3.8
million displaced
Colombians, according to
the Consultancy on Human
Rights and Displacement
(CODHES), although the
government acknowledges
only two to three
million, and the United
Nations High
Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) reports
three million.
To be eligible for the
aid provided by the
programme, the families
must be registered in
the database of the
Beneficiaries
Identification System,
which since 2000 has
been used to identify
the neediest families.
The displaced,
meanwhile, must be
registered in the
database of the
Presidential Agency for
Social Action.
The families will
receive health care for
children up to the age
of 18 as long as they go
in for regular
check-ups, and
assistance in education
for children between the
ages of seven and 18 who
stay in school.
In this country of 42
million, the cost of the
basic basket of goods
and services is 450
dollars, while the
minimum monthly wage is
281 dollars, according
to the National
Department of
Statistics, which
reports that 45 percent
of Colombians are poor,
although local
non-governmental
organisations say the
proportion is higher
than that.
Of the total number of
people in Bogotá hoping
to receive aid through
the programme, "roughly
20 percent are displaced
families," the Families
in Action national
coordinator, Rita
Combarías, told IPS.
The food aid will be
distributed in the form
of coupons or food
stamps that the
beneficiaries will use
to pay for items of
their choice in specific
supermarkets.
In Bogotá, the
supermarkets involved in
the programme are the
Colsubsidio chain, which
in the opinion of María
Maldonado, a displaced
mother of two, "is not
very convenient, because
we have to pay the cost
of the bus ticket to get
to these supermarkets,
which have high prices.
"We would prefer to do
our shopping in the
neighbourhood markets,
which are much cheaper,"
she commented to IPS.
But the Families in
Action press office
responded that through
the agreement with
Colsubsidio, the
beneficiaries will get
"discounts, and we are
guaranteed quality
products. We understand
that people are used to
doing their daily
shopping at the corner
store, but after they
start shopping at the
supermarket, they will
be convinced that it is
better."
Families in Action was
launched by the
government of Andrés
Pastrana (1998-2002) and
has continued under
President Álvaro Uribe,
"with coverage expanded
to displaced persons in
2005," said Combarías.
"At first, donations
were distributed in
pilot projects in remote
parts of the country,
and then coverage
gradually expanded in
2006. This year we will
be providing assistance
to more than one and a
half million people
around the country," she
added.
The president of CODHES,
Marco Romero, said "the
inclusion of the
displaced families was
the result of the
Constitutional Court’s
insistence on
enforcement of the
legislation in favour of
those who have been
forced to leave their
homes."
But, Romero told IPS,
"Families in Action does
not have the capacity to
truly address the
situation of the
displaced, which goes
beyond economic
vulnerability, even
though it’s true that
the cash support will be
helpful for them."
"Not all of the
displaced are poor, but
they are all victims,"
he stressed.
An average of 100
displaced people a day
are flowing in to
Bogotá, 51 percent of
whom are children,
according to "Drop by
Drop: Forced
Displacement in Bogotá
and Soacha", a report
produced by CODHES and
the Catholic Archdiocese
of Bogotá's Migrants'
Foundation (FAMIG).
"We have 9,000 families
registered so far in
Bogotá, and we hope that
by September, when the
registration period
ends, we will have
20,000 families," said
Combarías.
"That is our goal," she
said, adding that it is
positive "even if it is
just a grain of sand
within the complexity of
the phenomenon of
displacement in
Colombia."
The gravity of the
situation can be seen
outside of the offices
opened to provide
information and register
families in the capital.
An Aug. 9 to 14
registration period was
set for the area that
has received the largest
number of displaced
persons. An estimated
5,000 people crowded
outside the entryway to
the El Tunal park in
southwestern Bogotá on
Sunday night, protecting
themselves from the cold
and damp with sheets of
plastic and the
traditional ruanas (wool
poncho) worn by
campesinos (small
farmers).
The huge turn-out forced
the authorities to
extend the registration
deadline for that area
to Friday.
In the long line, IPS
met 16-year-old Miguel,
who fled the town of
Gachalá in the central
department (province) of
Cundinamarca because the
guerrillas wanted to
recruit him.
Also in line was José
Antonio, who arrived
four months ago from the
southwestern department
of Putumayo, fleeing the
ultra-rightwing
paramilitary militias.
And María de Jesús, from
Arauca in the east, said
"I'm not going back
there!" because she
doesn't want to run into
the paramilitary
militias again.
Miguel is living with an
uncle in a Bogotá slum,
and now plans to go back
to school, after being
forced to drop out in
Gachalá.
José Antonio is seeking
assistance to complete
the meagre income he
earns when he manages to
find casual work in
construction.
María de Jesús, who is
holding her 18-month-old
daughter, says the
subsidy will complement
the minimum wage that
her husband earns in his
job at a mechanic’s
shop.
In Bogotá, many of the
displaced live in fear
because of the threats
that leaders of their
associations have
received from
paramilitary groups,
which continue to send
death threats despite
the controversial "demobilisation"
process that resulted
from negotiations
between the militias and
the Uribe
administration.
According to CODHES
executive director Jorge
Rojas, 19 leaders of
organisations of the
displaced have been
killed since 2000, and
others have received
"warnings" signed by the
Black Eagles, a new
paramilitary group.
This week, the National
Coordination for the
Displaced (CND)
published the latest
threat received by human
rights activist
Rigoberto Jiménez.
The e-mail message,
which was riddled with
grammatical and spelling
errors, said: "Mr. son
of a b**ch Rigoberto
Jimenez and all of your
fellow loudmouths who
badmouth the government
it looks like you didn't
understand the message
you continue to insist
on the idea of the
international tribunal
to try the government
for displacement.
"We have orders from the
boss to get you at the
first chance we get you
big son of a b**ch you
think we're just talking
and you think we don't
know that you go outside
of Bogotá to badmouth
the government.
"Sincerely, the black
eagles of Bogotá, for a
Bogotá free of guerrilla
cowards." |
