Colombia
05.01.01
Urgent Interventions
Colombia: deaths and disappearances in paramilitary raids
Case COL 050101
The International Secretariat of the OMCT requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Colombia.
Brief description of the situation :
The International Secretariat of the OMCT is seriously concerned about the presumed forced disappearance of several persons and the killing of others which occurred during two paramilitary raids in Santander de Quilichao, Department of Cauca and in Tuluá, Department of Valle. OMCT is also concerned by the reports of death threats against several persons in the Municipality of Cabrera, Department of Cundinamarca. These persons had reportedly been declared military targets.
According to information from several organizations, among them the Committee of Solidarity with the Political Prisoners, member of the OMCT network, an armed group, apparently made up of paramilitaries, carried out extra-judicial executions in Santander de Quilichao on December 20, 2001. Three men, Messrs. José María Sánchez Bilarte, Carlos Ernesto Fernández and Alirio Fernández, were killed in a billiard room in the Corregimiento of San Pedro. Messrs. Hernán Alfonso Dizut, Efraín Pazos Sánchez, Irenso Dizut Escue, José Raúl Dizut Guejia, Milton Dagua Yule and Ramiro Ipia Morta were killed and Mrs. Eva Guejia was severely injured in the Cambalache district.
On December 18 2001, another raid by alleged paramilitaries occurred in the Corregimiento Barragán, Municipality of Tuluá. Messrs. Humberto Silva, Olmes Riaño and a man by the name of Fabio were killed and 13 persons forcibly removed. Messrs. Ulpiano Gálvez, Frank Esteban Beltran, Viané Zapata, Angel María Zapata, Cornelio Barona, Ariel Silva, Jaime de la Cuesta, Armando Torijano, Olmes Hugo Carreño, two other adults and two minors, whose names are still unknown, are presumed victims of forced disappearance. There has been until now no new information about their whereabouts or their personal integrity.
The reports add that in Cabrera, Cundinamarca, on December 7, 2000, a threatening letter arrived at the Municipal Unit for Technical Assistance (Unidad Municipal de Asistencia Técnica-UMATA) in which a list of persons accused of collaborating with the guerrilla who had been “investigated” and “declared military targets” because they were “traitors to the country ” were warned to leave the municipality, making reference to a repetition of the events of Cienaga Grande.
Persons appearing in the list are social and political leaders of the Municipality, including the mayor, Mr. Néstor Sánchez, and ombudsman and municipal responsible for human rights, Mr. Joaquín Hernández, as well as Messrs. Josué Ancízar Cruz, Demetrio Guerrero, Carlos Iván Dimaté, Luis Efrén Sánchez, Octavio Pardo, Humberto Benavides, Jorge Villalba, Enrique Higuera, Armando Díaz, Enrique Yacopí, Blanca Nelly Barbosa, Ana Cornelia Varela, Manuel Guillermo F., Pancho Ríos, Jesús Ricardo Sánchez, Antonio Mora, Luis Eduardo Riveros, Víctor Vargas, Diego Dimaté, Flaminio Sanabria, Héctor Millán, Henry Robayo, Oliver Fernández, Guillermo García, Marceliano Beltrán.
The International Secretariat of the OMCT condemns once more this persecution of the civilian population and of the peasant and indigenous communities, and furthermore condemns the apparent impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators and the lack of effective protective measures by the governmental authorities.
Requested Action:
Please write to the Colombian Authorities urging them to:
i. take all measures necessary to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the above-mentioned persons and to locate those who are missing;
ii. order a thorough and impartial investigation into the above-mentioned events, especially the reports of torture, in order to identify those reponsible, bring them to justice and apply the civil, penal or adminstrative sanctions stipulted by law;
iii. fully execute the recommendations made by international and regional human rights organisations, including those of the High Commission for Human Rights, the United Nations Human Rights Commission, the Inter.American Human Rights Commission as well as national and governmental human rights organisations;
iv. guarantee the respect of human rights and fundamental liberties in all the country in accordance with national law and international human rights norms.
Addresses
· S.E. Álvaro Uribe Vélez, Presidente de la República, Cra. 8 n .7-26, Palacio de Nariño, Santafé de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 566 20 71
· Consejería Presidencial de Derechos Humanos, Calle 7 n . 6-54 Piso 3, Santafé de Bogotá, D. C. Fax: (+57 1) 337 13 51
· General Fernando Tapias Stahelin, Comandante de las Fuerzas Militares, Avenida el Dorado con Cra. 52, Santafé de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 222 29 35; e-mail: siden@mindefensa.gov.co ; pilaque@cgm.mil.co
· Mission Permanente de la Colombie auprès de l’Office de las Nations Unies et des institutions spécialisées a Genève. Chemin du Champ d’Anier 17-19, 1209 Genève. Tel : (+41) 22 798 4554, 798 4555. E-mail: mission.colombia@ties.itu.int
Please also write to the embassies of Colombia in your respective country.
Geneva, May 25, 2001
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The International Secretariat of the OMCT requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Colombia.
Brief description of the situation :
The International Secretariat of the OMCT is seriously concerned about the presumed forced disappearance of several persons and the killing of others which occurred during two paramilitary raids in Santander de Quilichao, Department of Cauca and in Tuluá, Department of Valle. OMCT is also concerned by the reports of death threats against several persons in the Municipality of Cabrera, Department of Cundinamarca. These persons had reportedly been declared military targets.
According to information from several organizations, among them the Committee of Solidarity with the Political Prisoners, member of the OMCT network, an armed group, apparently made up of paramilitaries, carried out extra-judicial executions in Santander de Quilichao on December 20, 2001. Three men, Messrs. José María Sánchez Bilarte, Carlos Ernesto Fernández and Alirio Fernández, were killed in a billiard room in the Corregimiento of San Pedro. Messrs. Hernán Alfonso Dizut, Efraín Pazos Sánchez, Irenso Dizut Escue, José Raúl Dizut Guejia, Milton Dagua Yule and Ramiro Ipia Morta were killed and Mrs. Eva Guejia was severely injured in the Cambalache district.
On December 18 2001, another raid by alleged paramilitaries occurred in the Corregimiento Barragán, Municipality of Tuluá. Messrs. Humberto Silva, Olmes Riaño and a man by the name of Fabio were killed and 13 persons forcibly removed. Messrs. Ulpiano Gálvez, Frank Esteban Beltran, Viané Zapata, Angel María Zapata, Cornelio Barona, Ariel Silva, Jaime de la Cuesta, Armando Torijano, Olmes Hugo Carreño, two other adults and two minors, whose names are still unknown, are presumed victims of forced disappearance. There has been until now no new information about their whereabouts or their personal integrity.
The reports add that in Cabrera, Cundinamarca, on December 7, 2000, a threatening letter arrived at the Municipal Unit for Technical Assistance (Unidad Municipal de Asistencia Técnica-UMATA) in which a list of persons accused of collaborating with the guerrilla who had been “investigated” and “declared military targets” because they were “traitors to the country ” were warned to leave the municipality, making reference to a repetition of the events of Cienaga Grande.
Persons appearing in the list are social and political leaders of the Municipality, including the mayor, Mr. Néstor Sánchez, and ombudsman and municipal responsible for human rights, Mr. Joaquín Hernández, as well as Messrs. Josué Ancízar Cruz, Demetrio Guerrero, Carlos Iván Dimaté, Luis Efrén Sánchez, Octavio Pardo, Humberto Benavides, Jorge Villalba, Enrique Higuera, Armando Díaz, Enrique Yacopí, Blanca Nelly Barbosa, Ana Cornelia Varela, Manuel Guillermo F., Pancho Ríos, Jesús Ricardo Sánchez, Antonio Mora, Luis Eduardo Riveros, Víctor Vargas, Diego Dimaté, Flaminio Sanabria, Héctor Millán, Henry Robayo, Oliver Fernández, Guillermo García, Marceliano Beltrán.
The International Secretariat of the OMCT condemns once more this persecution of the civilian population and of the peasant and indigenous communities, and furthermore condemns the apparent impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators and the lack of effective protective measures by the governmental authorities.
Requested Action:
Please write to the Colombian Authorities urging them to:
i. take all measures necessary to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the above-mentioned persons and to locate those who are missing;
ii. order a thorough and impartial investigation into the above-mentioned events, especially the reports of torture, in order to identify those reponsible, bring them to justice and apply the civil, penal or adminstrative sanctions stipulted by law;
iii. fully execute the recommendations made by international and regional human rights organisations, including those of the High Commission for Human Rights, the United Nations Human Rights Commission, the Inter.American Human Rights Commission as well as national and governmental human rights organisations;
iv. guarantee the respect of human rights and fundamental liberties in all the country in accordance with national law and international human rights norms.
Addresses
· S.E. Álvaro Uribe Vélez, Presidente de la República, Cra. 8 n .7-26, Palacio de Nariño, Santafé de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 566 20 71
· Consejería Presidencial de Derechos Humanos, Calle 7 n . 6-54 Piso 3, Santafé de Bogotá, D. C. Fax: (+57 1) 337 13 51
· General Fernando Tapias Stahelin, Comandante de las Fuerzas Militares, Avenida el Dorado con Cra. 52, Santafé de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 222 29 35; e-mail: siden@mindefensa.gov.co ; pilaque@cgm.mil.co
· Mission Permanente de la Colombie auprès de l’Office de las Nations Unies et des institutions spécialisées a Genève. Chemin du Champ d’Anier 17-19, 1209 Genève. Tel : (+41) 22 798 4554, 798 4555. E-mail: mission.colombia@ties.itu.int
Please also write to the embassies of Colombia in your respective country.
Geneva, May 25, 2001
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.