“Yes We Can”: The Rescate las Varas Community Council and the intervention model of the PCNT in Tumaco
By Nancy Sánchez and Yamile Salinas Abdala
Undoubtedly, the voluntary eradication of 880 of the 900 registered hectares of coca, investment in road infrastructure, aqueducts, schools, systems rooms, and in food security and productivity projects, could make this case a successful model to represent the national policy of territorial consolidation (PCNT- National Territorial Consolidation Plan) and of Integrated Action.
The objective of a joint visit by Indepaz and Minga 1 then, was to see the conditions in the field and to establish the reach of the PCNT Coordination Center by looking at the experience of the members of the Rescate Las Varas Community Council, themselves inhabitants of San Luis Robles- the main urban center- and the 15 surrounding villages in the municipality of Tumaco. The Rescate Las Varas Community Council is one of the 15 affiliates of the Network of Community Councils of the Pacific South (RECOMPAS). Fourteen of the affiliates are located in Tumaco, and one, ACAPA, in Francisco Pizzaro (Table 1). The fifteen Councils have been given titles to more than 260 thousand hectares, where almost 55 thousand people live in 238 communities2. Las Varas was the last Afro-Colombian territory constituted in Tumaco (2006) with an area of nearly 15 thousand hectares, and inhabited by 14,674 people (Diocese of Tumaco, 2011).
The objective of a joint visit by Indepaz and Minga 1 then, was to see the conditions in the field and to establish the reach of the PCNT Coordination Center by looking at the experience of the members of the Rescate Las Varas Community Council, themselves inhabitants of San Luis Robles- the main urban center- and the 15 surrounding villages in the municipality of Tumaco. The Rescate Las Varas Community Council is one of the 15 affiliates of the Network of Community Councils of the Pacific South (RECOMPAS). Fourteen of the affiliates are located in Tumaco, and one, ACAPA, in Francisco Pizzaro (Table 1). The fifteen Councils have been given titles to more than 260 thousand hectares, where almost 55 thousand people live in 238 communities2. Las Varas was the last Afro-Colombian territory constituted in Tumaco (2006) with an area of nearly 15 thousand hectares, and inhabited by 14,674 people (Diocese of Tumaco, 2011).
Source: Diocese of Tumaco 2011, with Incoder and RECOMPAS information, page 166.
“The strength we have comes from the community.”
The first point of clarification from the communities is that what has been achieved to date is the product of a long process of building internal strength and is not part of any Consolidation Plan. In 2008, tired of violence and faced with the death and disappearance of at least 8 people from multiple villages in the Council3, combined with the breakdown of trust between neighbors, the loss of spaces for integration, gathering, and dialogue, and a constant pressure from armed groups (the paramilitary, guerrilla, and army), a Community Council Assembly decided to abandon coca crops and to instead adopt a proposal to be put forward by local leaders to the Provincial Government for voluntary eradication in exchange for investment in crop substitution and the improvement of living conditions for the population (2008-2011).
“We are ill- prepared to assume this challenge. There were 480 people screaming out their demands that they wanted nothing to do with illicit activities because it ruined the bonds within the community and recreational pastimes. 
There were youth with fancy footwear and parties everywhere, but at the same time one did not know if he would arrive alive to his house at night. This was our first petition and we fought hard.”3 (Las Varas Community Council leader).
That is when a long concensus-building process began in every village (from October 2008 to December 2009). The first task of the Board of the Government Council was to restructure the governance in the territory in order to strengthen the decision-making spaces from the base instead of from a top-down structure, making it an exemplary Village Committee government. To do this, the ancestral(*) traditions of dialoguing and consensus and decision- building were recovered(*). One example is the recovery of what are known as &ldquou;mentideros”: bamboo benches where the families of our ancestors would sit for many hours to debate about the principal aspects of development in the community). The creation of roles for oversight and story-telling was important in these social and community strengthening processes, and were demonstrated by the Village Committees through the constitution of thematic sub-committees for infrastructure, productivity projects, youth and women, among others.
In October of 2008, joint work between the community and the Provincial Government of Narinño began. This initiative led to a body for territorial work, based on collaboration and giving rise to the formulation of the YES WE CAN LAS VARAS PROGRAM, backed by the Life Plan of the Community Council (2002) and the Ethno-development plan “Nariño Pacífico” (2008-2011). These had three strategic points that the Council Government Board, accompanied by the Management of the Pacific of the Provincial Government of Nariño, used to initiate the organizing of the Program Projects, and that coordinated regional, national, and international cooperation. The core themes are:
1) Financial Productivity. Understood as: a) Producing for Life: Given the nature of the food shortage produced by the substitution of coca crops, a productive focus on self-sufficiency that leaves a surplus for the local market is needed for the recovery of food security. Beginning in 2010 an implementation of food security farms that plant rice, corn, beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers for the 1,256 families of the Council. b) Production for financial growth and the reinvigoration of the local market: rehabilitating cacao crops and rice processing with the objective of generating revenue and revitalizing the local market through a social responsibility marketing strategy known as “Stamp of the Pacific.”
2) Basic infrastructure for human development (aqueducts and the improvement of roads), restructuring educational programs and proactive health care: the construction of pedestrian bridges, vehicle and tertiary bridges, classrooms, school cafeterias, etc.
3) Culture for Life. Centering its work in: a) the organizational strengthening of the communal structure of the Council for territorial governance b) cultural identity c) the recovery of ethnic values d) the recovery of social fabric.
What is original about the proposal is that for the first time- at least publicly- United States aid supports a program for the gradual and agreed-upon substitution of coca crops, instead of imposing the traditional criteria of “zero coca” as a pre-existing condition for social investment.
This conditionality has impeded similar initiatives to that of the Rescate Las Varas Community Council in other parts of the country, especially in Putumayo, where there was exclusion from the benefits of the Guardabosques (Forest Care- Taker) Program, including instances in which 80% to 90% of possible manual and voluntary eradication had been achieved (leaving a few crops behind on the property of once large-scale growers), leaving the small-scale farmer without alternatives or opportunities.
How to overcome this impediment? The community affirms that it was a difficult process to recuperate trust where undoubtedly the political will and accompaniment of the Provincial Government of Nariño (Management of the Pacific and its Technical Union) played a fundamental role [in challenging it]. To that end, a member of the Board of the Government Council comments: “Social Action (Acciñn Social) and USAID were telling us that they wanted to enter into a territory that was free of coca, but one thing is to say so and another is to do so. If they have not been able to [clear coca] with helicopters, aircrafts and military personnel, how were we going to be able to do it ourselves?”
Another leader expresses:
“Some people have this type of thing (coca) in their hearts and minds, the ADAM- USAID program and the provincial government were the first to join this proposal of 1,252 food security farms, the building of a bridge, a sports multiplex that cost 300 million Colombian pesos, the improvement of the Robles- Chivi road, and 1,600 million Colombian pesos for the Robles Health Center. They are planning for systems and general-use classrooms. They are planning for highways, drinking water, they aspire to having a university.”
A Project Constructed by the People
More than a project under the initiative and coordination of the Coordination Center for Inter-agency Action (PNCT’s CCAI program), the program “Yes We Can Las Varas” is a proposal constructed from the grassroots (horizontally) in which the Consolidation Policy and CCAI become united afterwards (in February 2010). According to the Government Board of the Las Varas Council, it is this internal organization that allows aid to enter the territory effectively, “more than the consolidation plan, what we look for is coordination among entities”, “we don&rdquolt share [the vision] of Plan Colombia, which implemented projects designed in Bogotá; the strength that we have is rooted in the community, the proposals come from the community, it’s not like the Consolidation Plan which is something imposed on us.”
In contrast to other CCAI and to Tumaco in general, within the Rescate Las Varas Community Council there is no visible presence of the Public Forces. From Tumaco to the Community Council, a trip of approximately 40 minutes, there are no road blocks, police posts, or military personnel stationed at the bridges or main roads.
The community remembers that there was a military presence up until 2008, but not afterwards. During the last 3-4 years, the community itself has taken charge of recovering security, which for them is defined by the absence of illegal armed actors in their territory. When asked, “how did the community achieve this?” they respond, thanks to the recovery of trust between neighbors and using the authority of their own government.
Principles of the Yes We Can Las Varas Program
• To work on expanses of 40 to 50 hectares of land.
• To not fumigate areas taking part in the project (assured by the geo-referencing and monitoring of illicit crops by Satellite Information System –the United Nations’ SIMCI ).
• Security and social cohesion.
• Participation of both growers and non-growers of coca, in order to avoid that non-growers plant coca in order to have access to programs.
• Strengthening Democracy: the programs are consulted with and revised by the community.
• To promote the concurrence of government entities like the National Learning Service (SENA), the Colombian Institute for Family Well-Being (ICBF), the mayor’s office, Ecopetrol and the Office of the Municipal Attorney.
The decision to eradicate coca was not one that was made easily, 
implicating a clash with armed actors who did not accept the decision, and who were given to seek resolution through violence. Even still, one leader indicates, “we clarified our resolve to the armed actors and that our decision was one made by the whole Community Council, telling them that they should respect the community and asking them to abandon our territory. We achieved this, and without the use of a single bullet.”
But this has its costs. Seven leaders gave their lives for pursuing this project. Leaders who came and went from the Council to the city of Tumaco in their role as project promoters were accused of being informants (***) and assassinated. Others have received threats and can’t travel to the territory of other Community Councils. The most difficult situation is the FARC’s threat to all Community Councils and the order given to have them disappeared. Despite this they decided to continue. “We’re here and we’re here to stay”, was their mantra.
“Military presence doesn’t lead to safety, security comes from the community itself”.
Leaders and representatives of the Council are clear in pointing out that conditions of insecurity come from outside the territory. For example, due to the activities of delinquent bands who steal boat motors and murder boat owners, as well as armed actors who desire to control strategic corridors exiting out to the Pacific Ocean, Council citizens don’t enjoy access to the maritime route leading to Tumaco and other Community Councils. For them, the presence of the Public Forces does not guarantee safety. They compare the situation of the Community Council territory to that of Tumaco, where military and police concentration is greater and yet there are still serious problems of governance and violations of human rights.
Sustainability: A Challenge
During the redesign of PNCT4 currently taking place with the support of USAID – AECOM, one of the main challenges is guaranteeing the sustainability of initiatives and participation like those of the “Yes we Can, Las Varas” program, especially faced with the election of new provincial and municipal authorities. As reported in the table below, the “Yes we Can” program is one of the core initiatives of the administration of Navarro Wolf, elected by the Democratic Pole Party, and implemented in the Nariño municipalities of Tumaco and Leyva, culminating in December of this year.
The goal of credibility and trust in the efforts to coordinate and fund the PNCT, and in aid from the United States – the main ally to Integrated Action-demands the continued support of community interventions such as the one examined here, and the expansion of them to other communities in Tumaco and other regions of the country battered by coca crops and narco-trafficking.
1 The visit took place as part of the project International Citizens Monitoring of the Integrated Action Model – Washington Office on Latin America (Wola),Center for International Policy (CPI), MINGA Association and the Institute of Development Studies (INDEPAZ).
2 Diocese of Tumaco, Que nadie diga que no pasa nada. Una mirada desde la Región del Pacífico Nariñense [May No One Say that Nothing is Going On. A Look at the Pacific Region of Nariño] Balance No. 2. March 2011.
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