Watergirl and the Colombian Paramilitaries

The time I stumbled into a human trafficking operation

Colombian Paramilitaries near Aguachica (photo courtesy of http://ojosparalapaz-colombia.blogspot.com)

Taganga, Colombia- We departed Cucuta in a van overflowing with Venezuelans. Personal space was naught but a distant and much longed for abstraction. The passing detail that we were the only passengers who paid the fare should have been the first clue that it wouldn’t be a typical journey.

But the bus station was a vortex of chaos, with hundreds of Venezuelans waiting for buses, selling cheap goods and petitioning “donations.” It was a cacophony of honking buses, barkers and mendicants. I was focused on not losing my cameras- they would be hard to replace in the Colombian frontier towns in which we would be spending the next few weeks.

And I was distracted by the box of live chickens someone had brought.

We left the blistering heat of Cucuta, and slowly crawled north along badly-maintained and windy roads. Our destination was Aguachica, or “Watergirl” translated into English- a name I found absolutely charming.

I had no idea that we would be spending the evening in the city that serves as the frontier base for the Colombian Paramilitary forces, known here as “Paracos”.

It was the first stop on a three day journey towards the town of Maraicao, on the…