A Test of Governance - CCAI and the Legitimacy of La Union Peneya

8/9/2019 A Test of Governance - CCAI and the Legitimacy of La Union Peneya

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Destroyed Nestles Milk Plant, El Doncello, Caquet

Bloody parking lot in front of Nestle MilkPlant, El Doncello, Caquet

A Test of Governance: CCAI and the Legitimacy of the La Union Peneya Resettlement

Lieutenant Colonel Patrick J. Christian, US Army Special ForcesUS MILGP-Colombia PATT Station Florencia (6th Division, COLAR)

On 17 January 2007, elements of the FARCs Teofilo Forero Mobil Column or TFMCcrippled the Nestle Milk processing plant in the village of El Doncello, Department of

Caquet, southern Colombia.In the early morning hours, atruck bomb was driven up tothe plant and it explodeddestroying Caquets primarymilk processing plant andbringing milk processing for thedepartments dairy farmers toless than 30% of capacity.Sources confided to militaryand police investigators that

plant officials had recentlybecome confident enough inthe security of the Departmentof Caquet to begin refusing topay the routine extortiondemands of the FARCs 15thFront and TFMCs 3rd, 4th and

6th Companies operating in western centralCaquet. The destruction of the plantsfacilities was accompanied by the woundingand killing of several plant workers who wereon duty at the time. Given the plants centralposition in processing the milk for thedepartments dairy farmers and the number of jobs it provides, the outcry over the bombingwas substantial. One positive developmentwhich resulted from this incident was the startof a (long overdue) public-private sectorpartnership for infrastructure security and thedevelopment of better governance.

Interagency & Intergovernmental Civil Military OperationsThis partnership took the form of a unique interagency and intergovernmental

civil-military-police operations (CMO) coordinating group of about 30 40 officialsfrom both the public and private sectors of Caquet. This coordinating group (callingthemselves a Gran Comit) brought itself into existence under the guidance of the


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departmental military brigadeand the Presidents AccinSocial coordinator ofoperations for Caquet. Afterfour difficult days of bargainingover the direction and agendaof this CMO coordinating

group, they finally held theirfirst meeting with the USEmbassy-Bogotas PoliticalOfficer and members of the USSouthern Commands J5 Officeof Plans & Policy as observers.The group now meetsregularly to manage issuessuch as infrastructuremaintenance and construction,

critical infrastructurevulnerability identification andremediation, and managing the many civic action (Accin Social) projects whichinvolve a myriad of agencies and levels of government. One such ongoing projectinvolves the resettlement of the formerly abandoned town of La Union Peneya.

The village of La Union Peneya (formerly of approximately 2000 inhabitants) insouthern Colombia was abandoned in January of 2004 when government troops fromthe 12th Brigade and FARC Forces fought for control ofthe town. During fierce fighting between governmentforces and insurgents using the town as a base of

support and operations, significant portions of thetown sustained damage including the hospitalclinic, church, both the elementary and highschools as well as many of the residentshomes. As the fighting grew, theinhabitants (led by the towns catholicpriest) who were not activemembers of the FARC insurgencyrelocated to homes of relatives innearby villages and municipalities.

After eliminating FARC resistancein the Municipality of Montanitawhere La Union Peneya is located,the 12th Brigades Guipe Battalionestablished a company sized outpost in the hills overlooking the town. For the nextthree and half years, the village remained abandoned as it lay, guarded bygovernment forces stationed there. There was never any evidence of looting bygovernment forces, but the town suffered serious deterioration over the years with noone to maintain it. This past July 2006, in concert with Accin Social, the Departmentof Caquet, the Bishop of Caquet, and supported by advisory assistance from the US

First meeting of the Florencia, Caquet based Interagency,

Inter overnmental Civil-Militar Coordinatin Grou


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Fromupperleftclockwise:vaccinationstand;beddingforreturnees;

barbershop;shoe&clothingrepair,dentalandorthodonticservices;

medicaldiagnostic&treatment;welcomingcommittee;andthe6th

DivisionBand

Colombian officials discuss the planned resettlementof La Union Peneya with US Military Group andUS Southern Command officers

PATT, the 12th Brigade began laying plans for the reestablishment of La Union Peneyaand the return of its inhabitants. After initial consultations with religious leaders whosignaled their willingness to assist, the joint teams of Federal, Departmental andMunicipal officials began laying the groundwork for the return of over a thousandknown inhabitants.

The first returnees arrived in La

Union Peneya on the 25 of January2007 and the opening ceremoniesoccurred over the weekend ofSaturday and Sunday the 3rd & 4thof February 2007. In a two dayextravaganza for these batteredinhabitants, a host of Federal,Department, and Municipalagencies as well as ColombianMilitary and Police forces provided

a wide range of services such asOrthodontic and dental care,medical diagnostic andvaccinations, clothing and shoerepair, haircuts, child nutritionalsupplements, and of course, typicalColombian entertainment with the

6th Division Band & Musical Group.The real civil-military work occurred during 8 hours of hard negotiating between

members of the civil-militarycoordinating team led by the

Governor of Caquet andPresident Uribes Accin Social.Their efforts were supported bythe 12th Brigade Commander andthe Municipality of Montanita. Inan atmosphere that ranged fromconciliatory to accusatory, theparties argued the relative meritsof the suffering and hardshipendured against the backdrop of

scarce funding, limited resourcesand the ever present threat ofhunger and attacks by the FARCs15th Front which operates in thearea. Much of the Governorsmessages dealt with patience,and he appeared to have deepsupport for his message. Manyof the returnees were familiar


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with him and the towns returning residents nearly mobbed him while he passed outhealth and education booklets to the residents.

Unfortunately for the governor and the residents of La Union Peneya, theirstruggle for survival began soon after they arrived. The night of the second day of

opening ceremonies, the 15th Front detonated acylinder bomb less than a kilometer outside of thetown. Despite military fortifications and security

outposts located in all directions by a company ofthe Guepi Battalion and the 87th Counter GuerrillaBattalion, the 15th Front managed to make itspresence felt in the 2 months following theresettlement. The FARC leadership clearlyunderstands the stakes in permitting the return ofelected civil governance to La Union Peneya. Sucha major coup by Colombians in their quest to build

legitimacy of governance may cause the FARC to increase its efforts to penetrate thesecurity buffer protecting this fragile experiment in resettlement. In the weeks

following the resettlement, government troops securing the village were repeatedlyengaged by FARC forces trying to slip past them as they tried to attack the village. Atone point, two FARC guerrillas were killed in action as they tried to lay a minefield (of9 anti-personnel mines) along the outskirts of the town. Had they been successful,this one act might have been sufficient to demonstrate to the returnees that theirgovernment cannot protect them.

As the damage all around the cleaned up areas of La Union Peneya continues toattest, bringing peace to this town against the will of the FARC will be an uphill battle.The newly formed GranComit, or interagency,intergovernmental

coordinating group forcivil-military operationsmay be the only waythis town will survive aconcerted effort to wrestit from civilian control.The working groupsability to coordinatehumanitarian relief,infrastructure security

and the reestablishmentof its supporting farms,dairies and ranchesseems to be the onlyway ahead for thedepartment of Caquetsongoing struggle for thehearts and minds of theCaqueteos of southernColombia.

From upperleft clockwise: newly returned residents listen as designated town

leaders press for 3 years of lost services and infrastructure;US Embassy& SCJ5

personnel observe bargaining; Secretary of Education for Caquet Dr. Fransisco

JavierMontes Tangarife;BG JamieCalderon CDR 12thBDEwith TheGovernorof

Caquet,JuanCarlosClarosPinzonandhisspouse


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La Union Peneya as an objective lesson in Governance and test of Political Legitimacy

The resettled town of La Union Peneya has now come to represent an ongoinglesson in modern governance, and has become a test for political and social legitimacyin a Department still heavily contested by the FARC. As a resettled town, La UnionPeneya has some of the most difficult problems facing any state and county level

government. The problems associated with this town cross every public and privateagency operating in the municipality and department, including those belonging tonational level offices. For every problem that one public or private agency beginsdealing with, their resolution trail quickly ends in another agency. Their frustrationlevel over the complexity of the towns problems is exceeded only by the frustration ofthe townspeople who struggle with daily existence. Some of the problems faced bythe public and private agencies involve the most critical elements of social stability;land ownership and employment &education opportunity.

- Homes (viviendas) Titles: only 15 of367 families living in La Union Peneya havetitle or legal permission to live in the housethey are occupying. The remainingoccupied houses are rented (17) or havebeen simply taken over by returnedresidents who are squatting (335).Farm (fincas) Titles: only 32 of 80established small farms are in the hands of legal owners. The remaining 48 areoccupied by squatters who are daily improving them and who will one day try to layclaim to them against their legal owners.

- Small Businesses ownership: there are now27 retail or service shops operating in La UnionPeneya; but their ability to succeed depends upon thecash flow into the town from exports to themunicipality, department and beyond.

- Beyond this, Accin Social (President Uribescoordination agency for internal social development)reports that an additional 260 members of that townposses temporary or part-time employment. However,a survey of this work shows that these jobs do not

increase the amount of money circulating through theeconomy of La Union Peneya.- All three of the towns schools are in ruins, and

the townspeople are making do with makeshiftfacilities until they can obtain resources to rebuild.

These statistics outline the unemployment situationwithin the town, and its corresponding susceptibility to recruiting by the FARCs 15thFront. At 80% unemployment, the town continues to survive only by ongoing aid bythe various public and private support organizations. Given La Union Peneyas history


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as a former safe haven for the insurgents, evidenced by the significant excavation ofthe towns facilities and streets by the Army looking for weapons caches, a return to

FARC control of the town isnot unthinkable.

The Caquet OccidentalGran Comit de Cooperacin

has taken responsibility foridentifying problems andsolutions for the resettlementof La Union Peneya, and it isthis struggle to bringagencies and governmententities together that hasraised the stakes for theColombians. The publiccommitment of this

coordinating group poses animportant challenge to theSouthern Block leadership ofthe FARC. If this GranComit is successful (real orperceived) then FARC Inc will

find itself with a diminishing resource base from which to satisfy production, securityand transportation demand as well as safe havens from which to launch militaryoperations. The GranComit faces obstaclesto its success based

upon culturalresistance toparticipation in non-hierarchicalorganizationalstructurescharacteristic ofmodern interagency,intergovernmental,public-private

partnerships. Thecultural dependence onhierarchy is deeprooted in theirSpaniardWeltanschauung of theindividual as strongman as saviorparadigm. This putsthe leaders of the

NewlyreturnedresidentsstoptolistenwhiletheCaquetGovernorJuan

CarlosClarosPinzonexplainstheresultsofhisnegotiationswiththetownsdesignated leaders and the way ahead for rebuilding the

BeforeandAfterphotosoftheMedicalClinicatLaUnionPeneya:Photos include

theAmbulance,Pharmacy,ExaminingRooms,ConsultOffices,PatientRecordsand

OBGynsection. AsofearlyFebruary2007,acombinedMissionMedicalteamfrom

theDepartmentofCaquetandtheMunicipalityofMontanita/Florenciaisliving&workingonsitetorepairthefacilityandrestartcommunitymedicalsupport.


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many agencies at odds as they struggle for influence and control in the inter-organizational process of cooperation. Often, the key to success has been the carefulselection of appropriate attendees who do not conflict with the groups status quo, orlead to a competition over who is in charge. Other barriers to success of governmenteffectiveness are the relative maturity of government employees versus therequirements of their positions. In the complicated environment of war-torn southernColombia, seasoned, experienced government leaders would have a difficult time with

the interagency, intergovernmental challenges presented here. The chief planner andengineer of the Department of Caquet for instance (who works in the Secretariat ofInfrastructure), is supposed to work with the head of planning and engineering for theMunicipality of Montanita to organize scopes of work and estimates for repairing thewater system andpreparing to receive theUS Embassy contractorswho are going tosupervise the renovationof the 3 schools in La

Union Peneya. Duringthis process, the USPATT advisors spend agreat deal of precioustime pushing theseofficials to exchangeemail addresses andphone numbers, andcoordinate, communicateand partner on a dailybasis. Only after

technology barriers areovercome, are wesuccessful in pushingthese governmentrepresentatives tocoordinate theiractivities, riven as theyare with sectarian agencyprotection.

Adding to the difficulty

of cultural biases againstinteragency partnering isthe ongoing FARCmilitary operationsagainst La Union Peneya,and the rapidexpenditures ofresources required to combat the growing threat. The area of La Union Peneya is keyterrain for the FARCs 15th Front. Lying astride the Peneya River, it is an importantnorth-south mobility corridor to the FARC. With the return of the population and its


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accompanying commerce, farming, and security services, this corridor is degraded.Prior to the resettlement of La Union Peneya, a platoon oversaw security for theabandoned town. Now however, the Brigade Commander (BG Calderon) is forced tostation 160 180 soldiers there supported by an engineer platoon to harden theirpositions. The amount of helicopter support required by the Gran Comit inperforming its civil affairs and nation building functions has stressed the availableflight hours of both the Bell Ranger helicopter and the MI-17 Transport helicopter used

to ferry supplies to the town. With talk and planning of repaving the road, intelligencereports increased presence of FARC intelligence gathering, as a repaved road wouldcut the time of travel between La Union Peneya to Montanita from 6 hours to 1.5.This would have the effect of negating the 15th Fronts ability to interdict the road withextortion demands and permit the Army to reinforce its garrison there on a 2 hournotice, increasing dramatically the operational risk of 15th Front operational field unitsto destruction by the Colombian Army.

The participants in this life and death drama will ultimately determine their abilityto craft viable life and a supportable future in this battered land of southern Colombia.The truest measurement of their right to succeed and live free is their willingness to

sacrifice for the future with deposits of blood, treasure and fear today. It is thisreluctance to suffer, borne of a deep sensitivity caused by generational life in a warzone that has robbed them of their ability to trust in their future as a free culture.

A Test of Governance - CCAI and the Legitimacy of La Union Peneya

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