COLOMBIAÂÂ3/2/2004Â13:08
BARRANCABERMEJA: PARAMILITARIES STRIKE OUT AT HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS
The abuse continues of paramilitaries against activists of the OFP (Popular Womenâs Organisation) of Barrancabermeja, the key oil centre of the north-eastern Colombian department of Santander. The Observatory for the protection of human rights defenders denounced the case of 22-year-old InÃs PeÃa, the co-ordinator of the âMaraà Canoâ Documentation Centre of the OFP, abducted in the past days and submitted to violence and torture by a group of âparasâ. The young woman, presenter of the âCulture for lifeâ TV programme of the âMohanaâ broadcast, was abducted and forced onboard a vehicle, in which she was assaulted and mistreated: the paramilitaries shaved her head and burned the soles of her feet with boiling water, demanding her to leave her organisation and television activities. The woman was then abandoned on the side of the road near the âLuis F. Castellanoâ theatre, a zone normally presided by regular troops and her assailants left undisturbed. Always in the past days, three members of the OFP, including the president Yolanda Becerra, that were accompanying a foreign humanitarian commission, were attacked while travelling on a boat along the Magdalena River. At the height of the location of Palo Quemado, not far from the permanent military presidium situated between Barrancabermeja and San Pablo, gunmen opened fire against the boat from the banks. There were no victims. According to the Observatory, these two new episodes are part of the âcampaign of violence and persecution for years aimed at OFP membersâ, among the most significant womenâs organisations of Colombia, founded over 30 years ago and that today counts around 1,500 members. In the past years, particularly starting in 2000, the OFP was attacked in several occasions by the paramilitaries: numerous members have been persecuted, forced to flee or killed. The last victim, in order of time, was Esperanza Amaris Miranda, abducted in front of her daughter and assassinated 16 October 2003. On several occasions, Esperanza had reported to judicial authorities to have received death threats from paramilitary groups intent on âsilencing the voice of women denouncing human rights violations in the regionâ.
[BO]
"The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the state."
- Dr. Joseph M. Goebbels - Hitler's propaganda minister
