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For 17 years a guerrilla group and a commune lived in harmony. Then came a brutal killing.
They may have different philosophies but for the last 17 years a band of heavily-armed Marxist guerrillas and a radical commune founded in London have managed to live in harmony in a remote area of Colombia.
While the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (Farc) has grown in strength and influence thanks to drugs money, Atlantis has been promoting organic farming and primal scream therapy. Farc has tolerated – even helped – the commune.
But the two are now at loggerheads after Tristan James, the 18-year-old grandson of the Atlantis founder, Jenny James, and his Colombian friend were stabbed and decapitated, and their bodies set on fire after being accused of spying for pro-government paramilitaries.
Atlantis was founded in London as a “radical primal commune” based on the principles of Reichian, or “Primal Scream”, therapy in 1970. Four years later the group moved to Burtonport, Co Donegal, but their alternative lifestyle earned them suspicion and notoriety.
Newspaper headlines dubbed them the Screamers and Irish MPs called for their deportation. In 1976, the group received a series of bomb threats when they were accused them of abducting a woman.
Back to nature
In 1978 the founder, Ms James, set out for South America with three daughters in tow. “I thought it was time to cut the umbilical cord with all western civilisation. My goal was to go back, and back to a more natural way of life,” she said.
Her plan was to reach Bolivia, in homage to Che Guevara, but in 1983, after travelling throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, Ms James settled in Icononzo in the central Tolima state of Colombia. “I was completely seduced. Colombia has something so vibrant. It’s a country which has everything,” she said.
Although most of their 200-hectare farm was left for reforestation, the commune was largely self-sufficient. As well as growing organic crops, the group toured schools with theatre productions, and taught ecological farming techniques and vegetarian cookery to local schoolchildren and women’s groups. Another farm was founded and they prospered.
Commune member Anne Barr said: “We lived in tranquillity for a long time. People came out of curiosity to see what these crazy gringos were doing, be cause we are in areas where there shouldn’t be foreigners.”
One good reason that there were no other foreigners in Icononzo was that it was a traditional guerrilla stronghold. Farc began as a peasant movement under Manuel “Tiro Fijo” (sure-shot) Marulanda in July 1964 but is now considered one of the biggest and best-armed guerrilla forces in history.
Its stated aims sound benevolent. Farc wants more social investment in rural areas, political reform, a redefinition of the country’s natural resources policy – particularly with regard to oil exploration and the role of foreign multinationals in Colombia – and a scaling down of the country’s armed forces.
But its methods are sometimes brutal. Much of its funding comes from the cocaine and heroin trade. It says it simply “taxes” growers and traffickers but the US government claims it is directly involved in the trade. It also raises money from kidnappings and extortion. Earlier this year the US government sent in more than pounds 1bn-worth (about pounds 700m) of military aid to Colombia officially to help its government wipe out drug trafficking but essentially to help it destroy Farc.
Women commanders
Around one in three of Farc’s 15,000 members are women. Some units are headed by women commanders and most of its roadblocks in its heartland of San Vicente, known unofficially as Farclandia, are organised by women. It effectively controls about two-fifths of Colombia, an area the size of France.
For Atlantis, living in the region meant living alongside the rebels. Ms James said: “If there is a robbery you can go to the police if you want, but the police don’t dare come up to you. So you go to Farc, and they sort it out.”
When armed robbers stole 1m pesos (worth around pounds 700 at the time) from the commune in 1991, the guerrillas made the thieves return the cash, with interest. “We had very good relations for a while . . . It never entered our heads that there would be physical danger.”
But then in February 1998 the rebels told them the commune would have to leave the second farm. “They were afraid that paramilitary spies would be among the visitors, and it seemed like a real fear to us, so we accepted it,” said Ms Barr. In August last year, a new commander in Icononzo ordered the 15 commune members to leave that farm as well. Under the rule of “Commandante Gonzalo” the region fell prey to the intrigues of the local militia.
Tristan James had planned to return to Ireland this autumn but wanted to pay a last visit to the area and to visit his younger brother, Brendan, who had been adopted by a local family.
On July 8 he and Javier Nova, 18, arrived in Icononzo where they visited Brendan. The following evening, despite warnings that they were risking their lives, the two men set out on the two-hour walk to the home of Mr Nova’s family.
Stopping for a drink in Hoya Grande, they were captured by four militiamen. Before an audience of terrified villagers, a drunken militia chief held a mock trial before they were killed. A local woman said: “They did this to fill people with terror so they wouldn’t speak out against them. They are stupid people who want to feel like macho men with their guns. They want to dominate the area, and if anyone stands up to them, they are killed.”
Several commune members are now in hiding but Atlantis leaders say that they will stand up to the killers. Ms James and Ms Barr returned to Icononzo hoping for news of the men. Instead, they found “a wall of absolute terror and silence”.
Farc commanders have promised to investigate the murder, and say that the killers may face “revolutionary justice”.
For now, the commune has no plans to leave Colombia. Ms James said: “It seems a betrayal of Tristan to say this, but Colombia is our home. We feel more rooted than ever, because once your blood is spilled somewhere you have a link to it.”
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