Nelson Camabarel, home at last

If things had turned out as planned, Nelson Camabarel, a 32-year-old Colombian immigrant who lives in Revere, might be a politician by now. In his early 20s, Camabarel (not his real name) volunteered for Liberal Party campaigns in the mountain pueblo Dabeiba. (There are two parties in Colombia: Liberal and Conservative.) As he says, "I always wanted to fight for the people."

In Dabeiba, however, democracy was a difficult concept to uphold. The FARC guerrillas did not look kindly on popular elections -- especially those happening in the area that they dominate. "They told us, `You run under our ideas, you do as we say, or we kill you,' " Camabarel recalls

But Camabarel spent five years working on underground campaigns anyway. By 1994, though, he knew that his crusade was doomed -- that's when people on motorcycles began following him. Shortly after that, one of the more popular candidates for whom he'd worked was kidnapped, never to been seen again.

The realization that he might end up in a shallow grave -- as he suspected the politician had -- scared Camabarel into fleeing the country. He took a plane to Panama, then Costa Rica and El Salvador. He later hitched a ride to Mexico City, where he sought what he calls a "contact" to help him cross the US border. Rather than take the cheap route through the desert by foot, he shelled out his savings -- $600 -- for a false green card. As he stood between Mexico and California, Camabarel remembers rehearsing his fake identity in his head: your name is Alphonse Zapato; you are from Mexico; you live in California. He made it past the US border patrol without incident.

Arriving in Boston in 1995, Camabarel applied for political asylum. While his case was pending, he married an American. Today, he works as a cashier at a parking garage in Charlestown.

Even though Camabarel withdrew his asylum application because of his marriage and is safe in this country, he cannot forgot about the troubles in his homeland. Just last month, he learned horrifying news: one of his cousins had been murdered by members of the FARC as payback for her husband's refusal to join them. "The guerrillas shot her three times in the back of the head," Camabarel says, matter-of-factly. He later adds, "The situation is so violent, it is enemy number one against the regular people of Colombia."

-- Kristen Lombardi

Page 1 | 2 | 3

Kristen Lombardi can be reached at klombardi[a]phx.com.