Christmas in Catatumbo - January 03, 2005
By Cecilia Zarate
Paramilitary forces under the control of Salvatore Mancuso and Jorge 40, which supposedly were demobilized on December 10, 2004 and which are nominally under a cease fire and in the process of peace negotiations with the government of President Alvaro Uribe Velez, murdered several peasants in the Catatumbo region of Colombia on December 23 and again on Christmas Day, December 25. Several contingents of paramilitaries belonging to the Northern Bloc, which is involved in peace negotiations with the Uribe government at Santa Fe de Ralito, swept into the Middle Catatumbo region on December 23 and installed a checkpoint, where they kidnapped and later killed the peasant Jesus Humberto Guerrero Jimenez, from whom they stole 10 million pesos, and also killed a youth who did farm work.
On the morning of December 25, the paramilitaries entered the town of Santa Ines and brought together all of the townspeople. After haranguing them for a while, they separated 6 town residents from the others, blindfolded them, and then murdered them. The identities of 4 of the persons killed are known‹Leonel Bayona Cabrales, Samuel Perez Abril, Custodio Melo, and William Montano. Bayona was sadistically stoned by paramilitary soldiers who laughed as they threw stones at him, then beat him to death with a club. The paramilitaries also kidnapped Daniel Abril, who has mental problems, and a peasant named Justo Aguilar, and tortured them for several hours. They also stole 15 head of cattle, money and clothing from the town residents.
According to reports from the town of Convencion, the paramilitaries on December 25 also kidnapped and killed two adult men, whose identity is still not known, between Convencion and the city of Ocana. The paramilitaries have also displaced residents of other towns near Convencion, preventing the displaced people from seeking refuge in the towns. These displaced people, who number nearly 1,000, lack food and medical attention. Faced with these actions, the affected communities have indicated they feel great uncertainty and fear, and are disposed to leave the area as a preventive measure if the government does not offer them guarantees of protection and security. Residents of 3 of the affected communities, La Trinidad, Miraflores, and Cartagenita, had been forcibly displaced previously by paramilitary forces and had returned to their lands on May 20, 2003, placing their confidence in the guarantees of security and protection which the National Government had made.
Please contact Sergio Caramagna, head of the OAS Accompaniment Mission to the negotiation process between the Uribe Government and the paramilitary forces, to urge him to investigate and verify immediately the violations of the ceasefire and the crimes committed against the civilian population by the paramilitary forces in Catatumbo, who instead of disarming and ending their military activities spent Christmas Day murdering innocent peasants and townspeople.
And write to President Uribe and his Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo to question how they explain how supposedly demobilized paramilitaries spend the Christmas holidays murdering their fellow citizens. You might ask them how we can perceive this supposed paramilitary "demobilization" as anything but a farce. And urge them to take corrective measures and severely sanction those, including Salvatore Mancuso, who are responsible for these heinous actions.
Please also write to Ambassador Wood to express your outrage at how our embassy has uncritically lent its support to the fraudulent, feckless "peace process" between the Uribe government and the paramilitaries. And let your U.S. Senators and Representatives know about these events in Colombia. Urge them to demand an accounting for these actions by the paramilitaries and to reconsider U. S. aid to the Uribe government, given its apparent endorsement of paramilitary activities. A battalion of the Colombian Army was reportedly located just 12 kilometers from the hamlet of Santa Marta, yet did nothing to prevent or stop the paramilitary incursion into the region and the resulting murders and displacement.
YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS
COLOMBIA DESK STATE DEPARTMENT
TEL ( 202) 647 3360
200 Constitution Av NW
Washington D.C. 20210
barclayg@state.gov
HUMAN RIGHTS DIRECTOR U.S. EMBASSY BOGOTA
(You can send him your letter to Ambassador Wood)
Mr Craig Conway
ConwayCM@state.gov
MR. ALVARO URIBE VELEZ
President of Colombia
Carrera 8 # 7 - 26
Palacio de Narino
Bogota . Colombia
Fax 011 57 1 566 2071
Email : auribe@presidencia.gov.co
MR. FRANCISCO SANTOS
Vice-President of Colombia
Carrera 8 # 7- 57
Bogota, Colombia
Fax 011 57 1 566 2387 or 565 7682
Email ; fsantos@presidencia. gov.co
MR. JORGE ALBERTO URIBE
Minister of Defense
Avenida El dorado con Cra 52 CAN
Bogota, Colombia
Fax : 011 57 1 222 1874
Email : siden@mindefensa.gov.co
infprotocol@mindefensa.gov.co
mdn@cable.net.co
MR. EDGARDO MAYA
Procurador General ( Office in charge of investigating military abuses)
Carrera 5 # 15 - 80
Bogota, Colombia
Fax : 011 57 1342 9723
Email : reygon@procuraduria.gov.co
anticorrupcion@presidencia.gov.co
High Commissioner for Peace
Luis Carlos Restrepo
Email : ozuluaga@presidencia.gov.co
Fax 011 57 1 565 7688
Representative of the OAS
Sergio Caramagna
Email : scaramagna@mapp_oea.org
US Ambassador to the OAS
Mr. John Maisto
2201 C St NW
Washington D.C. 20520
Tel (202) 647 9376
Fax (202) 647 0911
Email : maistojf@state.gov
Colombia Support Network
P.O. Box 1505
Madison, WI 53701-1505
phone: (608) 257-8753
fax: (608) 255-6621
e-mail: csn@igc.org
http://www.colombiasupport.net