COLOMBIA : Members of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado

AMR 23/010/2007



Further Information on UA 48/05 (AMR 23/003/2005, 28 February 2005) and follow ups (AMR 23/043/2005, 16 December 2005 ; AMR 23/010/2006, 13 March 2006 ; AMR 23/011/2006, 16 March 2006 ; AMR 23/042/2006, 4 October 2006 ; AMR 23/003/2007, 7 February 2007) –
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Fear for safety BR/>
COLOMBIA : Members of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado (Antioquia Department)
Killed : Francisco Puerta (m), peasant leader
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16 May 2007
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A peasant leader living in an area associated with the San Jose de Apartado Peace Community has been shot dead by army-backed paramilitaries, and both paramilitaries and the army have threatened community members. Paramilitaries are reportedly planning to attack the community. BR/>
Though he was not a member of the Peace Community, peasant farmers’ leader Francisco Puerta lived in the hamlet of Miramar, which is linked to the Peace Community. On 14 May at 7am he was reportedly approached by two local paramilitary gunmen, in the bus station in the municipality of Apartado. They demanded his identity papers. After checking his papers, a witness heard the men say, « Este hijo de puta es de esa hija de puta comunidad » (« This son of a bitch is from that son of a bitch community. ») They then shot him. The gunmen were reportedly able to leave unchallenged, although there were police officers nearby.

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On 9 May three peasant women involved with the Peace community were reportedly stopped at a paramilitary checkpoint in El Mangolo, the last neighbourhood on the outskirts of ApartadÛ on the road to San Jose de Apartado. The men at the checkpoint were heavily armed and said they were members of the Aguilas Negras (Black Eagles) paramilitary group. They said they had been looking for the three women, but were ordered to let them go after radioing their commander to say that the women’s identity papers did not match the names they were looking for. They told the women they would be killed if they told anyone what had happened. BR/>
On 13 May, a businessman from Apartado visiting the Peace Community told them that paramilitaries had been overheard discussing a plan to attack them. The paramilitary plan reportedly consisted of killing community leaders to weaken the community and to cause large numbers to flee the area. BR/>
Soldiers have also threatened members of the Peace Community. On 9 April, close to the community, soldiers approached two inhabitants demanding to know where they would find a woman, a member of the community. They said that they would capture her dead or alive, but preferably dead. BR/>
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
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The Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado was created by civilians living in the San Jose de Apartado area of the municipality of Apartado in March 1997, in an effort to persuade both the armed forces and guerrillas to respect their right as civilians not to be drawn into Colombia’s long-running conflict. The Peace Community has always insisted that combatants remain outside its homes and farmland. As a result the security forces and their paramilitary allies have accused the community of subversion. The guerrilla group Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, have in turn accused the community of cooperating with their enemies. Since the Peace Community was created, over 160 of its members have been killed or have been the victims of enforced disappearances the vast majority at the hands of the security forces and their paramilitary allies, the remainder at the hands of the FARC. BR/>
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights of the Organization of American States has called on the Colombian authorities to take appropriate measures to guarantee the safety of inhabitants of the Peace Community, but the authorities appear to have taken little action to implement the Court’s requests. BR/>
Colombia’s army-backed paramilitary groups have supposedly demobilized in a government-sponsored process. Despite this, Amnesty International has continued to receive reports of human rights violations committed by paramilitary groups operating with the cooperation of the security forces. It appears that many paramilitary groups have not demobilized at all, but are continuing to operate, often using new names in an attempt to cover up the fact that they have not actually demobilized. Recent public statements by paramilitary organizations have made clear that their command structures remain intact. BR/>
RECOMMENDED ACTION : Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Spanish or your own language : BR/>

 expressing concern for the safety of the inhabitants of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado, following the 14 May killing of Francisco Puerta, and reports that paramilitaries are threatening to attack ; BR/>

 calling for full and impartial investigations into the killing of Francisco Puerta and into the reported paramilitary threats against members of the Peace Community, for the results to be made public, and for those responsible to be brought to justice ; BR/>

 calling on the authorities to take all measures necessary to guarantee the safety of the Peace Community, whose lives are in danger, as deemed appropriate by the community themselves, BR/>

 calling on the authorities to take decisive action to confront and dismantle paramilitary groups operating in the region and to break their links with the security forces, in line with repeated UN recommendations. BR/>
APPEALS TO :
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President of the Republic
Senor Presidente Alvaro Uribe Velez
Presidente de la Republica, Palacio de Narioo, Carrera 8 No.7-2, Bogota,
Fax : +57 1 337 5890 / 342 0592
Salutation : Dear President Uribe/ Excmo. Sr. Presidente Uribe BR/>
Minister of the Interior and Justice
Dr. Carlos Holguin Sardi
Ministro del Interior y Justicia
Ministerio Del Interior Y De Justicia, Carrera 9a. No. 14-10, Bogota· D.C. Colombia
Fax : +57 1 560 46 30
Salutation : Sr. Ministro/Dear Sir BR/>
Attorney General
Dr. Mario German Iguaran Arana
Fiscal General de la Nacion, FiscalÌa General de la Nacion
Diagonal 22B (Av. Luis Carlos Gal·n No. 52-01) Bloque C, Piso 4
Bogota,
Colombia
Fax : + 57 1 570 2000 (a message in Spanish will ask you to enter extension 2017)
Salutation : Estimado Sr. Fiscal/Dear Mr Iguaran BR/>
COPIES TO :
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Human Rights Ombudsman
Sr. Volmar Antonio Perez Ortiz,
Defensor del Pueblo, Defensoria del Pueblo,
Calle 55, No. 10-32/46 oficina 301, Bogota, Colombia BR/>
Ambassade de la République de Colombie
Avenue F.D.Roosevelt 96A, 1050 Bruxelles
Fax : 02.646.54.91
Email : colombia emcolbru.be BR/>
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 28 June 2007.