WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #571, JANUARY 7, 2001
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012
(212) 674-9499 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*6. COLOMBIA: NEW PARAMILITARY MASSACRES IN ANTIOQUIA
Eleven campesinos, including two who were over 70 years old, were
massacred by a group of between 100 and 200 rightwing
paramilitaries on the night of Jan. 3 in the Colombian
municipality of Yolombo, in the central eastern region of
Antioquia department. The massacre took place in the villages of
Verduguita and Cachumbal. In December, a group of National
Liberation Army (ELN) rebels had tried to take Yolombo, but were
repelled by police after they managed to sack the Agrarian Bank.
Yolombo is near Nudo de Paramillo, the hideout of Carlos Castano
Gil, leader of Colombia's main paramilitary umbrella group,
United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). [Reuters 1/4/01;
Hoy (NY) 1/5/01 from AP; El Nuevo Herald (Miami) 1/5/01 from AFP]
On Dec. 25, eight campesinos were murdered by paramilitaries as
they traveled along the road linking the municipalities of
Guatape and San Vicente, in the south-central region of Antioquia
department. [Hoy (NY) 12/26/00 from AP]
Meanwhile, about 10 Antioquia municipalities remained without
power on Jan. 4 following two weeks of attacks on electricity
pylons by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Local officials say the worst affected area is northwestern
Antioquia, in Uraba, the country's main banana-producing region.
[Reuters 1/4/01]
*7. COLOMBIA: PARAMILITARIES ABDUCT CIMITARRA VALLEY CAMPESINOS
On Jan. 3, a group of paramilitaries abducted 24 campesino
residents of the Cimitarra River Valley who were on their way to
the village of Puerto Matilde aboard four canoes. The
paramilitaries told relatives of the hostages that the hostages
will be killed if leftist rebels do not return a speedboat to the
paramilitaries, along with two people and a corpse that were
inside when rebels apparently seized it some days earlier.
Paramilitaries have had the Cimitarra River Valley region under
siege for over a month, with some 600 paramilitaries staked out
in the communities of San Lorenzo, Cuatrobocas and El Cagui,
where they are apparently building a base. The paramilitaries
have permanent checkpoints set up at La Rompida (10 minutes from
the Navy's Barrancabermeja checkpoint), El Tigre (5 minutes from
the base of the Army's "45 Heroes de Majagual" Battalion in
Puerto Casabe, Yondo), Cuatrobocas and Las Palmas. At the
checkpoints, the paramilitaries are killing and kidnapping people
and stealing products entering and leaving the region. On Dec.
29, Libardo Taburete was killed by paramilitaries at the La
Rompida checkpoint as he headed for the Cimitarra river.
Residents of more than 20 communities have been forced to flee
the area, and those who remain are suffering from food shortages
and epidemics. Combat between rebels and paramilitaries has also
been taking place nearly constantly over recent weeks. [Cimitarra
Valley Campesino Association (ACVC) Communique 1/5/01]
On Dec. 2, some 200 paramilitaries invaded several villages in
the Cimitarra River Valley, forcing some 2,500 residents to flee
their homes. Meanwhile, the 60th Infantry Batallion of the Navy
and the 45th Military Batallion have set up illegal bases
throughout the area to control the entry and exit of residents;
the 60th Infantry Battalion detained some of those who fled and
stole their belongings. [Urgent Action prepared by CSN-
Pittsburgh, Sister Community to the Cimitarra River Valley, sent
via email on 1/5/01]
The Cimitarra Valley Campesino Association (ACVC), representing
some 25,000 residents of 122 communities in the rural
municipalities of Yondo, Cantagallo, San Pablo and Remedios, and
the Cienaga del Opon neighborhood of Barrancabermeja, is
demanding that an inter-institutional commission be formed
immediately, headed by the Office of the Defender of the People,
to provide for the prompt release of the abducted residents. The
ACVC is also demanding that the government "neutralize and
dismantle" the paramilitary bases and checkpoints, as the defense
minister promised during a meeting at his office with
representatives of social organizations from the region on Jan.
4. In addition, the ACVC wants emergency humanitarian assistance
for residents of the region, compliance with the accords signed
by President Andres Pastrana Arango following a campesino exodus
in 1998, and formation of a commission to investigate the
systematic violation of human rights in the Magdalena Medio
region. [ACVC Communique 1/5/01]
The ACVC and local human rights groups are calling for messages
focused on these demands to be sent to President Pastrana (fax
+571-286-7434/6842, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]); and
Military Commander Gen. Fernando Tapias Stahelin (fax +571-222-
2935, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). [US elected officials can also
be contacted and told to suspend military aid to Colombia since
military forces are continuing to violate human rights in
collaboration with paramilitary groups.]
*8. COLOMBIA: POLICE, ARMY JOIN PARAMILITARIES IN OIL PORT CITY
According to a Dec. 28 report from Sistema de Informacion Patria
Libre (SINPAL) in Barrancabermeja, from Dec. 21 to 28 urban
guerrilla commandos were fighting combined forces of army, police
and paramilitaries in the southeastern section of
Barrancabermeja, an oil port city on the Magdalena river, in the
heart of the Magdalena Medio region. The military-paramilitary
operations involve the special police intelligence force Sijin,
the Administrative Security Department (DAS), the National Police
and the Army; they are being led by Joaquin Correa Lopez, former
commander of the Operational Commando of the Magdalena Medio
Police.
On Dec. 21, reports SINPAL, members of the Sijin and the National
Police dropped off 30 paramilitaries into the Simon Bolivar and
Miraflores neighborhoods of Barrancabermeja. On Dec. 23, combined
units of the ELN's Yariguies Urban Resistance Front and of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) entered the same
neighborhoods; a clash occurred in which one paramilitary was
killed and another wounded. Ten minutes later the Sijin and the
National Police arrived to rescue the paramilitaries. Later the
same night, the paramilitaries and the Sijin entered the Primero
de Mayo (May 1) neighborhood and clashed with urban guerrilla
forces until just before dawn the next morning; one paramilitary
and one guerrilla were wounded. Two civilians were killed by the
paramilitaries: Edwin Bayon, a minor; and Gustavo Lobo Salcedo.
Since then, the paramilitaries have been staked out in three
homes in the Primero de Mayo neighborhood, supported and guarded
by the National Police and the Sijin. Every time the urban
guerrillas attack the paramilitaries, reports SINPAL, troops come
from the "45 Heroes del Majagual" Counter-Guerrilla Batallion,
along with an armored vehicle of the National Police. [Equipo
Nizkor/Derechos Human Rights/Serpaj Europa Informacion 1/1/01,
from SINPAL]
Two civilians were reported killed in a bomb explosion in
Barrancabermeja on Jan. 6. The explosion left more than 15 people
injured, including civilians and police agents. Police say ELN
members set off the 30-kilo bomb as an armored tank passed
through the city on a routine patrol [the source did not say in
which neighborhood the attack took place]. The ELN has been
seeking to establish a peace process with the government, and on
Dec. 23 it released 42 police agents and soldiers who it had
captured in combat over the past two years. [CNN en Espanol
1/6/01 with info from Reuters]
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Weekly News Update on the Americas * Nicaragua Solidarity Network of NY
339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012 * 212-674-9499 fax: 212-674-9139
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