pbicolombia

  • Home
  • Browse
  • Search
  2. In pictures

Puente de Nayeros celebrates two years of tranquility

March 2016
Read More
Two years ago the inhabitants of a neighbourhood in Buenaventura took their destiny in their hands. They put an end to the violence that existed in Puente de los Nayeros and they built an island of tranquillity in one of the most violent cities in Colombia. Who are they and how did they achieve this?
1 / 33

Two years ago the inhabitants of a neighbourhood in Buenaventura took their destiny in their hands. They put an end to the violence that existed in Puente de los Nayeros and they built an island of tranquillity in one of the most violent cities in Colombia. Who are they and how did they achieve this?

BuenaventuraBridge of the NayerosPBI Colombia

  • Two years ago the inhabitants of a neighbourhood in Buenaventura took their destiny in their hands. They put an end to the violence that existed in Puente de los Nayeros and they built an island of tranquillity in one of the most violent cities in Colombia. Who are they and how did they achieve this?
  • Lola was one of the first people to arrive in the neighbourhood, it was 1956 and she was only eight years old. Her parents built a house made out of wood and they built it on top of stilts above the sea. Lola would spend the rest of her life in this house.
  • People began to hear about the illegal armed groups in the year 2000. More and more stories began to arrive about the guerrillas and the paramilitaries, generating terror amongst the inhabitants.
  • In 2001 people started arriving in the neighbourhood looking for a new place to live. They were fleeing from the Naya river basin where paramilitaries had murdered and displaced the afro-descendent communities that lived there. With nostalgia for the memories of a past life they named the neighbourhood Puente de los Nayeros (Bridge of the Nayeros).
  • In 2004 the Bloque Calima of the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) gradually began to demobilise and in certain neighbourhoods of Buenaventura the successor groups of the paramilitaries began to appear. The Urabeños and the "Empresa" (the Company) began to dispute control over Buenaventura and a long period of violence began in the city.
  • On the 1st of November 2011 about 15 armed men from the Empresa arrived and occupied the neighbourhood of Puente de los Nayeros. From this day on, the inhabitants lived in fear; there were constant shoot-outs between the armed groups, "bullets for breakfast, lunch and dinner, even the refreshments".
  • "There were sometimes four, five, six, seven shoot-outs in a day", recalls one of the inhabitants. The women feared for their children because they knew that these groups recruit children and youngsters. People shut themselves inside their houses.
  • The armed men converted one of the buildings into a "chop-up house" (Casas de pique) and it was there where they brought people embraced in their arms, as if they were friends, but instead they killed them with machetes and threw their bodies into the sea.
  • The sea and the mangroves became a cemetery of mutilated bodies. There was a collective sensation of impotence, no one dared to say anything, people tried to maintain a normal life locked up inside their houses. There were nearly two years in which the people were confined in their small and suffocating houses. But when Marisol, a popular seafood vendor, was killed the indignation of the inhabitants conquered their fear.
  • They sought the support of the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission (CIJP) and planned an audacious strategy. It was Palm Sunday (13th April 2014), and while the bishop of Buenaventura was giving mass in the street the members of CIJP arrived.
  • This is how the Humanitarian Space of Puente Nayero was created that day, a community initiative to keep on living in the territory, despite the siege situation created by the dynamics of the armed conflict and the violence.
  • At the entrance to the street a large wooden door was constructed and the inhabitants shut it at night. The majority of the armed men left, others made attempts to return but the residents rejected them until they eventually left the neighbourhood for good.
  • After two years of being locked up the people had a life in the street again.
  • It was the first experience of a Humanitarian Space inside a city in Colombia.
  • A few days after the creation of the Humanitarian Space, CIJP requested precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights to protect the residents.
  • Today, the police monitor the street 24 hours a day due to these precautionary measures.
  • Now the people feel protected inside the Humanitarian Space, but Buenaventura is still one of the most violent cities in Colombia.
  • Fishing, the occupation of the majority of the men of the neighbourhood, is a source of income for the families in Puente de los Nayeros.
  • But heading out to sea is a dangerous activity these days and many fishermen have been attacked out in open waters.
  • "When they are fishing, they do so with fear, some fisherman have had their motors, their tools, or their cargo stolen".
  • No Comments
  • Photo Sharing
  • About SmugMug
  • Browse Photos
  • Prints & Gifts
  • Terms
  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Owner Log In
© 2023 SmugMug, Inc.