From: Colombian Labor Monitor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 22:04:44 -0500 (CDT) To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: AI: UA 147/01 on Colombia ________________________________________________________________ AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION APPEAL ________________________________________________________________ Go to http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html to read this month's newsletter. 13 June 2001 UA 147/01 Fear for Safety COLOMBIA: Indigenous communities of Pueblo Viejo, La Robada, Tres Cruces, Cambia and Los Chancos y El Salado in the Nuestra Senora Candelaria de la Montana reservation, Caldas department Paramilitaries have threatened indigenous families living in a reservation (resguardo) in the central Department of Caldas, forcing them to flee their homes. Amnesty International is concerned for their safety and for that of other indigenous communities in the area. On 7 June, a group of paramilitaries belonging to the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), Self-Defense Groups of Colombia, reportedly ordered 13 families living in the community of El Salado in the Nuestra Senora Candelaria de la Montana reservation to leave their homes by the next day. The families fled to the municipal capital of Riosucio. Paramilitary gunmen have also ordered other indigenous communities in the area, including Pueblo Viejo, La Robada, Tres Cruces, Cambia and Los Chancos y El Salado, to leave. Since 5 June, they have set up illegal checkpoints and have controlled the movement of the civilian population. They have threatened to kill those who do not show their identity documents. Indigenous communities have informed the Colombian authorities of the paramilitary presence. However, although troops with the Ayacucho and Quimbaya batallions of the VII Brigade of the Colombian Army have reportedly beem stationed in the municipalities of Riosucio and Supia for the last month, the authorities have reportedly failed to take effective action to protect the indigenous population, and paramilitary forces have apparently been able to operate unhindered in the area. BACKGROUND INFORMATION The security forces and their paramilitary allies have frequently committed serious human rights violations against peasant, black and indigenous communities living in conflict areas. Such violations are committed with virtual impunity. In the last five years several thousand civilians have been killed by paramilitary groups. Guerrilla forces have also carried out numerous killings and other violations of international humanitarian law against peasant, black and indigenous communities. The Colombian government suspended the constitutional legal base for the formation of paramilitary organizations and issued directives to the armed forces to combat and disband such groups in 1989, yet they continue to work with the support of the security forces - by action or omission - in many areas of the country. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send /faxes/airmail letters: - expressing serious concern for the safety of the indigenous communities named above, whom paramilitaries have ordered to leave; - urging the authorities to take immediate and effective measures to guarantee their safety; - expressing concern that the government and security forces have taken no effective action against paramilitary groups in the Department of Caldas, despite repeated commitments and UN recommendations to combat and dismantle such groups; - calling for a full and impartial investigation into links between the security forces and paramilitary groups operating in the Department of Caldas, with the results made public and those found responsible for supporting and participating in such groups brought to justice; - urging the authorities to take immediate and decisive action to dismantle paramilitary groups, in line with repeated government commitments and UN recommendations. APPEALS TO: Colombian fax numbers can be difficult to reach. Please be patient and try during Colombian office hours (Eastern Daylight Savings Time). President of the Republic: Senor Presidente Andres Pastrana Arango Presidente de la Republica Palacio de Narino Carrera 8 No.7-26 Santafe de Bogota, COLOMBIA Fax: 011 57 1 336 2109 / 337 1351 Salutation: Dear President / Excmo. Sr. Presidente Minister of Interior: Sr. Armando Estrada Villa Ministro del Interior Ministerio del Interior Palacio Echeverry Carrera 8a, No. 8-09, piso 2o Santa Fe, Colombia Faxes: 011 571 341 9583 / 011 571 334 3960 / 011 571 286 8025 / 011 571 342 3201 / 011 571 281 5884 Salutation: Dear Minister / Sr. Ministro Governor of the Department of Caldas: Sr. Luis Alfonso Arias Aristizabal Gobernacion de Caldas Carrera 21, Calle 22 y 23 Manizales, Caldas, Colombia Fax: 011 57 68 842204 COPIES TO: National Indigenous Organization: ONIC AA 32395 Santa Fe, Colombia Ambassador Luis Alberto Moreno Embassy of Colombia 2118 Leroy Pl. NW Washington DC 20008 Please send appeals immediately. Check with the Colorado office between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm, Mountain Time, weekdays only, if sending appeals after July 19, 2001. ________________________________________________________________ **************************************************************** * CLM-NEWS is brought to you by the COLOMBIAN LABOR MONITOR at * * http://www.prairienet.org/clm * * and the CHICAGO COLOMBIA COMMITTEE * * Email us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or * * Dennis Grammenos at [EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To subscribe send request to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * * subscribe clm-news Your Name * **************************************************************** _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
