From: Colombian Labor Monitor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 14:01:13 -0500 (CDT)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: AI: Urgent Action #238/01 on Colombia
For regular updates throughout the day visit the most thorough
and complete Colombian news service at www.prairienet.org/clm
_________________________________________________________________________
Visit http://www.prairienet.org/clm
_________________________________________________________________________
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
________________________________________________________________
Go to http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/newslett.html
to read this month's newsletter.
19 September 2001
UA 238/01 Fear for Safety/Extrajudicial Executions
COLOMBIA
Segundo Salinas (m)
Cesar Chaverra (m)
Ruben Renteria (m)
Ines Blandon (f)
Other members of San Francisco de Asis, Natividad de Maria and
Nuestra Senora del Carmen Peace Communities of Choco
department
Paramilitary gunmen have killed four members of the Pueblo Nuevo
and Puerto Lleras hamlets, which belong to the San Francisco de
Asis 'Peace Community', in the northwestern department of Choco.
Amnesty International is concerned that the inhabitants of this and
other 'Peace Communities' as well as other recently returned
displaced communities in the region are in grave danger.
Amnesty International has received reports that on 12 September
2001 around 170 heavily-armed men who said they were members of
the paramilitary group Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC),
United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia, some reportedly dressed in
military uniforms bearing army insignia, entered the Puerto Lleras
Community and seized Segundo Salinas, Cesar Chaverra and Ruben
Renteria from their homes, accusing them of being guerrilla
collaborators. They reportedly killed Segundo Salinas and Cesar
Chaverra using garrotes, beating them with rocks and stabbing them
in the head. They reportedly struck Ruben Renteria in the head with a
machete and later decapitated him.
Later that morning the AUC paramilitaries reportedly entered the
Pueblo Nuevo Community firing guns and throwing grenades. Ines
Blandon was reportedly killed while she was washing in the River
Jiguiamiando with other women and children, who fled towards the
nearby mountain. Among those who fled was a 16-year-old boy who
has not returned.
The gunmen reportedly robbed both communities of the clothes and
food in their homes. When leaving the communities the men
reportedly shouted that the inhabitants should leave the area - that it
was a 'disputed territory' (territorio de disputa, implying that it was an
area of conflict between the security forces and armed opposition
groups.
In recent months there have been several paramilitary incursions in
the area during which the paramilitaries have ordered the
communities to abandon their lands. Members of these returned
displaced communities have frequently been labelled guerrilla
collaborators. Guerrilla forces maintain a strong presence in the
region. Such accusations have been followed by serious human
rights violations including extrajudicial executions and
'disappearances' committed by army-backed paramilitaries. Guerrilla
forces have also been responsible for arbitrary killings and threats
against members of these communities they have accused of siding
with their enemies. Despite all this the people of the 'Peace
Communities', who were forced to flee the fighting in the region four
years ago, say that they want to remain on their lands.
These killings heighten concerns for the safety of the people of San
Francisco de Asis, as well as the recently returned forcibly displaced
communities of Cacarica, who have also been threatened by army-
backed paramilitaries who are converging on the area despite the
large security force presence (UA 136/01 issued 4 June 2001). The
'Peace Communities' and the communities of the Cacarica River
Basin have called on both sides in the conflict to respect their right to
life and their right as civilians not to be drawn into the conflict.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The San Francisco de Asis Peace Community was set up in October
1997, by 49 displaced communities who wanted to return to their
homes in Choco department. They were backed by the Diocese of
Apartado and the Colombian non-governmental organization Centro
de Investigacion y Educacion Popular (CINEP), Research and
Popular Education Centre. They declared the establishment of the
Peace Community after reaching agreements with the government
that the security forces would guarantee the safety and security of the
areas to which they would return. They asked armed groups to
respect the boundaries of the communities and not enter them.
Further Peace Communities were set up between December 1998
and February 1999, backed by CINEP and the Parish of Riosucio.
Among these are Natividad de Maria (about 105 families) and
Nuestra Senora del Carmen (about 250 families). (For more
information see AI report: Colombia: Return to Hope, AMR 23/23/00,
June 2000).
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly
as possible:
- calling for a full and impartial investigation into the 12 September
killing of San Francisco de Asis Peace Community members
Segundo Salinas, Cesar Chaverra, Ruben Renteria, Ines Blandon,
and into recent attacks on Peace Communities in the region;
- expressing serious concern for the safety of the inhabitants of the
San Francisco de Asis, Natividad de Maria and Nuestra Senora del
Carmen Peace Communities in Choco, and urging the authorities to
take all measures that the communities themselves deem appropriate
to guarantee their safety;
- calling for a full and impartial investigation into links between the
security forces and paramilitary groups in the department of Choco,
for the results to be made public and for those responsible for
supporting and participating in such groups to be 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:
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
Faxes: 011 57 1 566 2071
Salutation: Dear President / Excmo. Sr. Presidente
Minister of Defense:
Dr. Gustavo Bell
Ministro de Defensa Nacional
Ministerio de Defensa Nacional
Centro Administrativeo Nacional
Avenida Eldorado - Carrera 52, OFI 217
Santafe de Bogota, Colombia
Telegram: Ministro de Defensa, Bogota, Colombia
Telex: 396 42411 INPRE CO; 396 44561 CFAC CO
Faxes: 011 57 1 222 0059
Salutation: Dear Minister / Sr. Ministro
Governor of the Department of Choco:
Sr. William Halaby Cordoba
Gobernador del Departamento del Choco
Gobernacion del Choco
Quibdo, Choco, Colombia
Fax: 011 57 4 971 1777
Salutation: Sr. Gobernador/Dear Governor
COPIES TO:
Non-governmental organisation:
Centro de Investigacion y Educacion Popular (CINEP)
AA 25916
Santafe de Bogota, 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 October 31, 2001.
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.
Please do not repost this appeal to any part of the Internet
without prior permission from Amnesty International. Thank you for
your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
PO Box 1270
Nederland CO 80466-1270
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 303 258 1170
Fax: 303 258 7881
________________________________________________________________
****************************************************************
* 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]
__________________________________________________
