AI Index : AMR 23/045/2005
Further Information on UA 312/05 (AMR 23/042/2005, 12 December 2005)
COLOMBIA Population of CurumanÌ municipality, Cesar Department
New names : Members of the non-governmental human rights organization Minga
20 December 2005
The human rights organization Minga has launched a campaigning initiative on behalf of the community of CurumanÌ, Cesar Department, where at least 22 peasant farmers were killed by paramilitary gunmen on 4 and 5 December 2005, and the leader of an army-backed paramilitary group has responded by labelling the human rights group a « guerrilla organization ». This amounts to a death threat, as others labelled this way have often been killed by the army or paramilitaries.
At least 22 peasant farmers were reportedly killed in the municipality of CurumanÌ on 4 and 5 December, by paramilitary gunmen. Minga (the AsociaciÛn para la PromociÛn Social Alternativa, Association for the Promotion of Social Alternatives), publicised the killings and began a campaign to pressure the authorities to protect the community and to investigate the killings.
On 12 December paramilitary leader Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, known as « Jorge Cuarenta », one of the commanders of the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), Self-Defence Groups of Colombia, in negotiations with the government to arrange their demobilisation, accused Minga through a radio message broadcast by the nationwide Radio Caracol station and subsequently reproduced by some Colombian newspapers of « creating a scandal » and of being a part of the left-wing guerrilla group EjÈrcito de LiberaciÛn Nacional (ELN), National Liberation Army.
The Attorney General’s office has reportedly begun an investigation into the massacre.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Minga is a national human rights organization based in the capital, Bogot·, which has campaigned against human rights violations committed by the security forces and their paramilitary allies.
In the past Minga workers have faced death threats after the organization approached the Colombian authorities and national media to draw attention to human rights violations. Colombian human rights defenders have frequently been killed by paramilitaries or the security forces after being accused of being guerrillas or guerrilla collaborators.
The present government of President Alvaro Uribe VÈlez has been engaged in a process of dialogue with army-backed paramilitary groups. The main paramilitary umbrella organization, the AUC, declared a ceasefire in December 2002, but since then over 2,300 people have « disappeared » or been killed
RECOMMENDED ACTION : Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Spanish or your own language :
expressing concern for the safety of members of the human rights organization Minga and urging the authorities to take all measures deemed appropriate by Minga themselves, to ensure that they can carry out their legitimate and important work for the defence of human rights in safety ;
reminding the authorities that their obligations to human rights defenders are laid out in the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, the Organization of American States Human Rights Defenders in the Americas resolutions and in repeated recommendations made to them by the UN ;
asking the authorities what action they have taken to protect the civilian population of CurumanÌ in the wake of the paramilitary massacre of 4 and 5 December.
APPEALS TO :
President of the Republic
SeÒor Presidente ¡lvaro Uribe VÈlez
Presidente de la Rep˙blica, Palacio de NariÒo, Carrera 8 No.7-2, Bogot·, Colombia
Fax : + 57 1 337 5890
Salutation : Excmo. Sr. Presidente Uribe/ Dear President Uribe
High Commissioner for Peace
Alto Comisionado Para la Paz
Dr. Luis Carlos Restrepo
Casa de NariÒo - Carrera 8 No. 7-26, Bogot·, Colombia
Fax : + 57 1 560 9946
Salutation : Estimado Dr. Restrepo/ Dear Dr. Restrepo
Attorney General
Dr. Mario Germ·n Iguar·n
Fiscal General de la NaciÛn, FiscalÌa General de la NaciÛn,
Diagonal 22B 52-01 (Ciudad Salite), Bogot·, Colombia
Fax : + 57 1 570 2000 (a message in Spanish will ask you to enter extension 2017)
Salutation : Dear Dr. Iguar·n / Estimado Dr. Iguar·n
COPIES TO :
Non-governmental human rights organization
MINGA
Calle 19 # 5-88, oficina 1203
Bogot·, Colombia
Ambassade de la République de Colombie
Ave F.D. Roosevelt 96A
1050 Bruxelles
fax : 02/646.54.91
email : colombia emcolbru.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 31 January 2006.
