COLOMBIA

More than 1,000 civilians were killed by the security forces or paramilitary groups operating with their support or acquiescence. Many victims were tortured before being killed. At least 150 people "disappeared". Human rights activists were threatened and attacked; at least six were killed. "Death squad"-style killings continued in urban areas. Several army officers were charged in connection with human rights violations; many others continued to evade accountability. Armed opposition groups were responsible for numerous human rights abuses, including deliberate and arbitrary killings and the taking of hundreds of hostages.

Conservative Party candidate Andrés Pastrana Arango was elected President and assumed office in August. He immediately announced his willingness to negotiate with armed opposition groups to end decades of armed conflict. During the presidential campaign both principal armed opposition groups – the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, and the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), National Liberation Army – expressed their willingness to enter into talks with the incoming government.

In October Congress gave preliminary approval to a draft bill designed to incorporate the crimes of forced disappearance, genocide and massacre into the Penal Code. A previous bill had failed to pass a second hearing (see Amnesty International Report 1998). Congress again failed to pass a draft bill to reform the Military Penal Code which had received preliminary approval in December 1997 (see Amnesty International Report 1998). The government announced a national human rights action program which included steps to combat impunity and to protect human rights defenders.

During a visit to Colombia in October, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reiterated the UN's concern about the human rights situation and, while welcoming the possibility of peace talks, clarified that international standards exclude the possibility of amnesties or pardons for crimes against humanity.

In July the ELN signed an agreement with representatives of "civil society", committing the organization to initiating a peace process. In addition, the ELN agreed to end certain practices which violated international humanitarian law and reaffirmed its acceptance of recommendations made by Amnesty International, including the ending of deliberate and arbitrary killings of non-combatants. A meeting in October between government representatives and the ELN command decided to hold a series of "national conventions" in 1999 to discuss issues including human rights, justice and impunity, as a prelude to formal peace talks.

In December the government concluded the temporary demilitarization of five municipalities in the south-central departments of Meta and Caquetá, thereby fulfilling a condition imposed by the FARC as a prerequisite to formal talks in the designated area. Talks were scheduled to begin in January 1999.

Despite agreements in principle to hold peace talks, no cease-fire was agreed and the armed conflict continued to escalate in many areas of the country. Over 1,000 people were killed during military confrontations, including scores of civilians. The army and police suffered a series of major defeats during attacks principally by the FARC or combined FARC and ELN forces. By the end of the year, the FARC were holding over 300 captured army and police personnel.

Paramilitary forces, declared illegal in 1989, continued their offensive which was increasingly characterized by attacks against civilians in areas of guerrilla presence. Regions particularly affected included the departments of Putumayo, Santander, Bolívar, Cesar, Chocó and Meta. Victims were frequently tortured before being shot dead or were decapitated and dismembered. At least 300,000 people were internally displaced by the conflict.

In May a unit attached to the national paramilitary organization Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), United Self-Defence Groups of Colombia, attacked the village of Puerto Alvira, municipality of Mapiripán, Meta department. At least 18 civilians, including a six-year-old girl, were shot, stabbed and burned to death. A further eight "disappeared". Although the government had received numerous warnings of an impending attack against Puerto Alvira the authorities failed to take action to prevent the attack or to protect the inhabitants. In July 1997 up to 30 civilians had been killed by the AUC in a similar attack on Mapiripán (see Amnesty International Report 1998).

In July, 7,000 civilians from southern Bolívar department in the central Magdalena Medio region fled a major paramilitary offensive in the area and converged on the town of Barrancabermeja, Santander department. They returned to their communities in October after reaching a number of agreements with the government. President Pastrana personally signed the accords guaranteeing the safety of the returnees through the deployment of a special armed forces' unit to combat paramilitary groups, and emergency assistance to displaced families. The government failed to comply with these commitments and paramilitary groups renewed their attacks against the communities of returnees, targeting particularly community leaders. Compelling evidence emerged of close cooperation and complicity between regular armed forces and paramilitary groups in the region.

At least 150 people "disappeared" after capture by paramilitary groups. In May AUC forces raided several poor neighbourhoods of Barrancabermeja. Eleven people were killed outright in the attack and 25 "disappeared". Paramilitary leaders publicly admitted responsibility for the attack and claimed to have executed the captives. They also reportedly informed national authorities where the bodies of the "disappeared" could be found. The government, however, failed to take action to secure the captives' release or recover their bodies and their whereabouts remained unknown at the end of the year. Evidence emerged of complicity of members of the Colombian security forces in the attack. In August an army corporal was arrested and charged with participating in the massacre, and in December the Procurator General opened formal disciplinary proceedings against eight members of the security forces, including the regional police commander. They were charged with dereliction of duty for failing to respond to pleas from witnesses to the attack to pursue the assailants or attempt to rescue the captives.

Responsibility in many hundreds of presumed politically motivated killings was difficult to establish. During the year more than 200 civilians were killed in Putumayo department – a long- time FARC stronghold – as paramilitary forces attempted to gain control of the region. Roman Catholic priest Alcides Jiménez Chicanganá was shot dead in September by two unidentified men as he celebrated mass in the church of Puerto Caicedo, Putumayo department. Earlier that day he had led a peace march. Father Alcides had received a number of death threats from both the FARC and paramilitary groups because of his work for peace. No organization accepted responsibility for the killing.

Investigations into links between the armed forces and paramilitary groups increasingly implicated senior army commanders. In August the Attorney General announced that General Fernando Millán, then commander of the 5th Brigade, was under investigation. Evidence emerged that, in association with regional paramilitary commanders, General Millán had set up a civilian vigilante association, known as Convivir, in Lebrija, Santander department, which was responsible for a series of killings in 1996. In October the case was passed to the military justice system, in breach of the 1997 Constitutional Court ruling that excluded serious human rights violations from military jurisdiction (see Amnesty International Report 1998). In October, while still under investigation, General Millán was promoted to head the army's intelligence operations.

Distinctions between legalized Convivir groups and illegal paramilitary groups were further blurred in August when 300 Convivir groups renounced their government licences but continued to operate illegally. Thirty-nine Convivir groups publicly announced their intention of joining the AUC paramilitary forces. The move came in response to an attempt by the government to impose weapons restrictions and other controls on the Convivir.

Human rights defenders continued to be intimidated and attacked; at least six were murdered. Dr Jesús María Valle Jaramillo, president of the Comité Permanente por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, (CPDH), Permanent Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, was shot dead in his office in Medellín, Antioquia department, in February. Dr Valle Jaramillo was the fourth president of the CPDH to be killed in 10 years. Five people were arrested and charged in connection with the killing. Paramilitary leader Carlos Castaño Gil was charged in absentia with ordering the murder. He was also charged in connection with the killings of human rights and environmental activists Carlos Mario Calderón and Elsa Alvarado in May 1997 (see Amnesty International Report 1998). No progress was made, however, in enforcing numerous arrest warrants against him.

Internationally renowned lawyer Dr José Eduardo Umaña Mendoza was shot dead in his office in the capital, Bogotá, in April. Shortly before his death, he had informed judicial officials that an attempt on his life was being prepared by the army's intelligence department, the xx Brigade, and judicial police. For more than 20 years Dr Umaña Mendoza had represented political prisoners, trade unionists and relatives of the "disappeared" and had investigated and denounced numerous cases of serious human rights violations. Six people were arrested in connection with his murder.

Judicial officials investigating human rights abuses were also increasingly threatened, intimidated and attacked. Officials of the Human Rights Unit of the Attorney General's office responsible for investigating crimes attributed to members of the armed and security forces, paramilitary groups and guerrilla organizations were particularly vulnerable to attack.

Journalists, political activists and trade union leaders were among those targeted. Jorge Ortega García, Vice-President of the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), Trade Union Congress, was shot dead in October in Bogotá. The killing coincided with a strike of public sector workers, led by the CUT. Jorge Ortega had received numerous death threats. Despite repeated requests, he had not been provided with adequate protection by the authorities. A key witness to the killing was murdered in November.

The killing of so-called "disposables" – homosexuals, prostitutes, petty criminals and vagrants – by police-backed "death squads" and urban militias linked to armed opposition groups continued. In September in the northern city of Cúcuta, assailants threw a grenade into a group of sleeping homeless people, killing two and injuring six. In June formal disciplinary proceedings were opened against two police officers and two agents charged with participating in a "death squad" which killed up to 35 people in Yarumal, Antioquia department, between 1993 and 1994.

In July outgoing President Ernesto Samper Pizano formally accepted state responsibility for a series of massacres carried out by army and police personnel and paramilitary organizations, including the killing of eight children in Villatina, Medellín, Antioquia department, in 1992; the killing of 20 members of the Paéz indigenous community in El Nilo, Cauca department, in 1991; and the massacre of 17 peasant farmers in Los Uvos, Cauca department, in 1991. Although judicial investigations established the identity of armed forces and police personnel implicated in the massacres, no one had been brought to justice by the end of the year.

In October the Attorney General's office ordered the arrest of retired Colonel Bernardo Ruiz Silva, former commander of the xx Brigade, in connection with the murder of leading conservative politician Alvaro Gómez Hurtado in November 1995 (see previous Amnesty International Reports). The xx Brigade was formally disbanded in August following repeated allegations that it was operating "death squads". Colonel Ruiz Silva remained a fugitive from justice at the end of the year.

Official statements suggested that over 400 people were arrested during the year on charges of paramilitary activity. The renowned paramilitary leader Victor Carranza was arrested in February accused of sponsoring illegal paramilitary organizations in the eastern plains region and Boyacá department. Little progress was made, however, in enforcing numerous arrest warrants against national paramilitary leaders such as Carlos Castaño Gil (see above), who continued to be protected by members of the Colombian armed forces.

Investigations by the Attorney General's office into human rights abuses attributed to armed opposition groups made progress. In November an alleged member of the FARC's 51st Front was arrested and charged in connection with the attack on a judicial commission in Usme, Cundinamarca department, in November 1991, in which six judicial officials and three national police were killed.

Armed opposition groups were responsible for numerous human rights abuses, including deliberate and arbitrary killings and indiscriminate attacks in which many civilians died.

Over 70 civilians burned to death and scores were seriously injured when the ELN dynamited Colombia's largest oil pipeline in October causing a fire which engulfed the village of Machuca, Antioquia department. The ELN subsequently accepted responsibility for the attack which it described as a "grave error" and promised to punish those responsible and compensate the victims.

Ten civilians died and over 30 were injured during a FARC attack on the towns of San Francisco and Cocorná, Antioquia department, in November.

The FARC and the ELN were also responsible for numerous deliberate and arbitrary killings of people they accused of collaboration with the security forces or paramilitary organizations.

Despite commitments made by the ELN to reduce kidnapping and claims by FARC commanders that they were holding no civilians, they and other armed opposition groups kidnapped at least 800 people. Victims included mayors and local and national politicians, journalists, health workers and judicial officials.

In August the ELN kidnapped prominent Liberal Party Senator Carlos Espinosa Facciolince. He was released in September with a message for the government from ELN commanders outlining their demands for assistance for the internally displaced.

Mayors and other local officials were also frequently threatened or kidnapped in order to coerce them into adopting pro-guerrilla policies or to subject them to "popular trials" for alleged corrupt practices. Many other people, including employees of multinational companies, landowners and businessmen, were kidnapped and held hostage against payment of ransom money. Most were eventually released. However, others were killed during escape or rescue attempts, or when ransom demands were not met.

Amnesty International raised its concerns about Colombia at the UN Commission on Human Rights. Some of these concerns were addressed in a statement by the Chairman of the Commission which expressed concern about the gravity and scale of human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law and, inter alia, urged the government to take steps to end impunity and to take effective action to prevent internal displacement. The Commission welcomed the agreement with the Colombian government to extend the mandate of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia until April 1999.

Throughout the year Amnesty International consistently called on the authorities to investigate and bring to an end human rights violations by government forces and paramilitary groups acting with their support or acquiescence. In May the organization wrote to the President expressing its grave concern about the systematic persecution of human rights defenders and calling on the government to urgently adopt measures to ensure their protection and to bring those responsible to justice.

Amnesty International delegates visited Colombia on four occasions. In a meeting with Vice-President Gustavo Bell in November, the organization expressed its deep concern about the continuing widespread and systematic human rights violations and urged the government to urgently adopt measures to disband paramilitary groups and to end impunity.

Amnesty International condemned abuses committed by armed opposition groups and called for the release of hostages. The organization urged all parties to the conflict to observe basic humanitarian standards.

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