Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2004 - Colombia
- Document source:
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Date:
14 April 2005
Summary executions
Assassinations and forced disappearances of trade unionists and peasant leaders
Assassination of Mr. Jesús Rojas Castañeda.52 On 3 December 2003, in Barrancabermeja (Santander), Mr. Jesús Rojas Castañeda, a member of the Association of Municipal Teachers (Asociación de Educadores Municipales – ASDEM), brother of Mrs. Jackeline Rojas Castañeda, member of the Popular Women's Organization (Organización Femenina Popular – OFP) and brother-in-law of Mr. Juan Carlos Galvis, vice-chairman of the National Food Industry Trade Union (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Industria de Alimentos – SINALTRAINAL) was killed. The murder seems to be connected with the work of this trade union in the defence of workers. At the end of 2004, even though detailed testimonies were provided, no suspect had been arrested and the investigation seemed to be at a standstill.
Assassination of Mr. Orlando Frias Parada.53 On 9 December 2003, Mr. Orlando Frias Parada, leader of the Communications Workers Union (Unión Sindical de Trabajadores de las Comunicaciones – USTC), was assassinated in Villanueva (Casanare). The murder happened as the USTC was speaking out against irregularities in the process whereby the national telecommunications company Telecom and 12 associated companies were being put into liquidation and merged into one company, Colombia Telecomunicaciones S.A.
Assassinations of Mesrrs. Ricardo Barragan and Deyton Banguera.54 Between 16 and 18 January 2004, Mr. Ricardo Barragan, an active member of the Cali Trade Union of Municipal Service Workers (Sindicato de Trabajadores de las Empresas Municipales de Cali – SINTRAEMCALI), and Mr. Deyton Banguera, a bodyguard for members of the union, were murdered in Cali (Valle). Mr. Barragan had been very active during protests against the privatisation of the public company EMCALI, in charge of water, electricity and telecommunications services.
Assassination of Mr. Carlos Raul Ospina.55 On 24 February 2004, Mr. Carlos Raul Ospina, treasurer of the local union MERTULUA was killed. MERTULUA is the civil servants' union of EMTULUA, a municipal company in Tulúa (Valle del Cauca), and a subsidiary of the Civil Services Union (Sindicato de Trabajadores y Empleados de Servicios Públicos, Autónomos e Instantes Descentralizados de Colombia – SINTRAEMSDES). This assassination, carried out by unknown individuals riding a motorbike, seems to be linked to a series of well-publicized complaints, made by the union, condemning waste and poor management in Tulúa's public companies and denouncing certain representatives from the municipal authorities. The trade unionists had been subjected to threats from armed groups from the time these denunciations began.
Assassinations of peasant leaders in Arauca district.56 On 26 February, 10 March and 13 March 2004, over 20 people, most of them peasants, were murdered in Sabanas de Cravo Norte, in Puerto Rondon and in the town of Arauca. Among the victims were numerous members and leaders of the Arauca district Farmers' Association (Asociación Departamental de Usuarios Campesinos – ADUC), including Mesrrs. Tiberio Cardoso Dueñas, Eduar Alexander Vargas, Yiye Velandia, Urley Cisnero Castillo, Freddy Cisnero Castillo, Alvaro Cisnero, Fabian Vargas and Pedro Pablo Campo Pinto. It is believed that these assassinations were carried out by paramilitaries.
Assassination of Mr. Angel Maria Rodriguez.57 On 3 march 2004, Mr. Angel Maria Rodriguez, a peasant leader from the commune of Villahermosa (Tolima), former chairman of the Community Action Committee and member of the Association of Small and Medium Sized Tolima Farmers (Asociación de Pequeños y Medianos Agricultores del Norte del Tolima – ASOPEMA), was assassinated by unknown individuals probably belonging to a paramilitary group.
Assassination of Mr. Luis Torres Perez.58 On 4 March 2004, Mr. Luis Torres Perez, an active member of the Barranquilla (Atlántico) section of the National Association of Hospital Workers (Asociación Nacional de Trabajadores Hospitalarios de Colombia – ANTHOC), was assassinated while working at the town's general hospital, by unknown individuals who then got away.
Assassination of the brother of Mr. Edgar Perea of a security agent and of his wife.59 On 14 April 2004, Mr. Edgar Perea, leader of the Yumbo (Valle) section of the Union of the Pacific Iron and Steel Company (SINTRAMETAL), was the target of an attempt on his life, in which his brother, Mr. Raul Perea Zuñiga, was killed. On 2 May 2004, assailants again tried to assassinate Mr. Perea, killing instead a SINTRAMETAL-Yumbo bodyguard, Mr. Hugo Fernando Castillo Sánchez, and his wife, Mrs. Diana Ximena Zuñiga.
Assassination of Mr. Carlos Alberto Chicaiza.60 On 15 April 2004, Mr. Carlos Alberto Chicaiza, a committee member and publicity secretary for the Workers' Union of Civil Services (Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Empresa de Servicios Varios – SINTRAEMSIRVA), representing municipal employees, was assassinated while waiting for a bus in the town of Cali.
Assassination of relatives of Mr. Efraín Guerrero.61 On 20 April 2004, several armed men entered the home of Mr. Gabriel Remolina, brother-in-law of Mr. Efraín Guerrero, a Coca-Cola worker and head of the Bucaramanga (Santander) section of SINALTRAINAL. The men fired indiscriminately at the whole family, killing Mr. Gabriel Remolina and his wife, Mrs. Fanny Robles, and injuring three of their children, including Robinson Remolina, who died a few hours later. Mr. Efraín Guerrero had taken part in a hunger strike of Coca-Cola workers in April 2004, in order to draw international attention to serious human rights violations inflicted on workers in the company,62 and to demonstrate against the closure of ten production lines.
Assassination of Mr. Fabián Burbano.63 On 31 May 2004, Mr. Fabián Burbano, a temporary maintenance worker for the southern administrative division of the Colombian Petroleum Company (Empresa Colombiana de Petróleos – ECOPETROL) in Orito (Putumayo), was assassinated. Mr. Burbano had taken part in the strike called from 22 April to 28 May 2004 by the Oil Industry Workers Trade Union (Unión Sindical Obrera – USO), to preserve ECOPETROL as a national and State company.
Assassination of Mr. Luis Alberto Toro Colorado.64 On 22 June 2004, Mr. Luis Alberto Toro Colorado was assassinated in the town of Bello (Antioquia). He was a member of the National Textile Workers' Union (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Industria de Hilados, Tejidos, Textiles y Confecciones – SINALTRADIHITEXCO), affiliated to the Central United Organisation of Colombian Workers (Central Unitaria de Trabajadores – CUT), and sat on its governing council as a treasurer and a negotiator in union conflicts.
Assassination of Mr. Miguel Espinosa.65 On 30 June 2004, Mr. Miguel Espinosa, founding member of the national section of the CUT and of its section for the Atlanticó region, was assassinated in Barranquilla (Atlántico).
Assassination of Mrs. Carmen Elisa Nova Hernández.66 On 15 July 2004, Mrs. Carmen Elisa Nova Hernández, treasurer for the Clinics and Hospitals Workers' Union in Santander (Sindicato de Trabajadores de Clínicas y Hospitales de Santander – SINTRACLINICAS), was assassinated while on her way home. Two men on a motorbike fired three shots, killing her almost instantly. Mrs. Hernández was a nurse at Bucaramanga clinic for almost 30 years, and had gradually become involved in the defence of workers' rights within SINTRACLINICAS. The assassination happened in spite of complaints and requests for protection lodged by SINTRACLINICAS with the Prosecutor's department, the Defender of the People (Defensoría del Pueblo), the Ministry for Social Protection and institutions dedicated to the defence of human rights with the Colombian Vice President, following numerous other acts of harassment directed against the organisation, notably the attempted kidnap of the union's chairwoman in March 2002.
Assassination of Mr. Benedicto Caballero.67 On 21 July 2004, in the town of Mesitas del Colegio (Cundinamarca), Mr. Benedicto Caballero was assassinated as he was leaving the Tequendama Agrarian Cooperative (Cooperativa Agraria del Tequendama – COAGROTEMA). He was the vice-president of the National Federation of Agrarian Cooperatives (Federación Nacional de Cooperativas Agropecuarias – FENACOA) and coordinator of the COAGROTEMA. Mr. Caballero was shot dead by four hired killers on motorbikes.
Assassinations of Mesrrs. Héctor Alirio Martínez, Jorge Eduardo Prieto Chamusero and Leonel Goyeneche Goyeneche.68 On 5 August 2004, Mr. Héctor Alirio Martínez, chairman of ADUC, Mr. Jorge Eduardo Prieto Chamusero, chairman of ANTHOC in Arauca, and Mr. Leonel Goyeneche Goyeneche, director of the CUT, were assassinated. These three leaders were known as spokesmen for social organisations working for peace and social justice in Arauca, a district where inhabitants – indigenous and peasant communities as well as social movements – are subjected to recurrent human rights violations, especially since the implementation of the "democratic security" policy of President Álvaro Uribe Vélez (massacres, collective assassinations, forced disappearances, arbitrary detention, torture and degrading treatment). Since 2002, Mesrrs. Héctor Alirio Martínez and Jorge Eduardo Prieto Chamusero had both benefited from provisional protection measures (medidas cautelares) requested by the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR) because of serious threats to their safety.
According to the authorities, these executions happened during a military operation, conducted by members of the Revéiz Pizarro mechanised battalion of the army based in Saravena (Arauca), on 5 August 2004, in the village of Caño Seco. Following these events, the Vice President of the Republic and the spokesman for the aforementioned battalion accused the victims of belonging to a subversive movement. The Defence Minister claimed that they were "delinquents", that were armed and were under arrest warrants.
However, according to the results of the Prosecutor's investigation, there was no fighting in that village on 5 August 2004 and the three union members appear to have been summarily executed. The Prosecutor ordered the detention of a non-commissioned officer in the army, two soldiers and a civilian. At the end of 2004, this civilian, Mr. Daniel Caballero Rozo, alias "Patilla", an alleged hired killer, was in detention at the Combita high security prison, in the north of Bogotá.
Assassination of Mr. Gerardo De Jesús Velez and attempted assassination of Mr. Henry González López.69 On 5 August 2004 Mr. Gerardo De Jesús Velez and Mr. Henry González López, members of the Worker's Trade Union of the San Carlos Refinery (Sindicato de Trabajadores del Ingenio de San Carlos), in Valle del Cauca, were shot by two hired killers on motorbikes when travelling to work in the company bus. Mr. González López, who was driving the bus, was seriously wounded, and Mr. De Jesús Velez died.
Assassination of Miguel Córdoba.70 On 26 August 2004, Mr. Miguel Córdoba, secretary of the Trade Union of Valle de Cauca Sugar Cane Workers, Growers and Manufacturers (Sindicato de Trabajadores, Cultivadores y Procesadores de la Caña de Azúcar de los Departamentos del Valle del Cauca – SINTRACAÑAVALC), was assassinated by three hired killers during an attack on the union.
Disappearance of Mr. Gabriel Buitrago Duque.71 On 18 September 2004, peasant leader Mr. Gabriel Buitrago Duque disappeared on his way from Bogotá to his family home in Ibagué (Tolima). Mr. Buitrago had been one of the cornerstones of peasant mobilisation in 1995 in Tolima, and had been subjected to threats and forced removals for the past three years.
Assassination of Mr. Juan de Jesús Miranda Uzula and assault on Mr. Arnoldo Cantilla.72 On 23 November 2004, taxi driver Mr. Juan de Jesús Miranda Uzula, affiliated to the Trade Union of Cartagena Taxi Drivers (Sindicato de Conductores de Taxi Cartagena – SINCONTAXCAR), was attacked and killed in the San Francisco district of Cartagena. The following day, Mr. Arnoldo Cantilla, also affiliated to SINCONTAXCAR, was himself attacked and wounded in the El Carmelo district of the town.
Mr. Diofanol Sierra Vargas's murderer condemned.73 On 15 November 2004, paramilitary César Julio Reina was sentenced to 21 years and 4 months in prison for the assassination, on 8 April 2002 in Barrancabermeja, of Mr. Diofanol Sierra Vargas, leader of SINALTRAINAL and OFP collaborator. Paramilitaries had followed him through the streets and gunned him down in front of his family.
Assassinations and forced disappearances of civil society representatives
Assassination of Mrs. María Lucero Heano and her son, and acts of torture.74 On 6 February 2004, Mrs. María Lucero Heano and her 16-years old son, Yamid Daniel, were executed by individuals in plain clothes, probably belonging to paramilitary groups. These men forced them to leave their house in the village of Puerto Esperanza, near El Castillo (Meta). Mrs. Lucero Heano called to her mother and children, who came out to try and prevent the kidnapping, but the paramilitaries prevented them from following. A few minutes later, the family heard several gunshots, but stayed in the house for fear of paramilitary reprisals. At dawn the next day, the bodies of Mrs. Lucero and her son were discovered. Yamid Daniel's body bore the marks of torture. Mrs. Lucero Heano had already been the target of one assassination attempt and had been threatened twice in the previous three years. She had spoken out against the situation of the people of Puerto Esperanza, who had been forcibly displaced, and to the continued presence of paramilitaries in the area. At the end of 2004, the investigation into these events had produced no results.
Assassination of Mr. José Mendivil Cárdenas.75 On 7 February 2004, Mr. José Mendivil Cárdenas, a human rights defender who worked for numerous social and humans rights organisations, including Amnesty International, was assassinated in Barranquilla. The killing was carried out by two unidentified individuals who fired on Mr. Cárdenas's vehicle from their motorbike.
Assassination of Mr. Carlos Berna and Mr. Camilo Jiménez.76 On 1 April 2004, Mr. Carlos Bernal, a lawyer and member of the Permanent Committee for Human Rights (Comité Permanente por los Derechos Humanos – CPDH), and his bodyguard, Mr. Camilo Jiménez, were killed by an unidentified man in the Prado Norte district of Cúcuta city (Norte de Santander). Mr. Bernal was also a former union leader at the Free University, and had been involved in improving human rights in Cúcuta and in Norte de Santander, within various regional and municipal administrations.
Forced disappearance of Mr. Carlos Alberto Hurtado Aramburo and arrest of Mr. Luis Bernabé Angulo Aramburo.77 On 11 May 2004, two unidentified men arrived in a taxi at the home of Mr. Carlos Alberto Hurtado Aramburo in Buenaventura (Valle de Cauca), and kidnapped him. Carlos Alberto Hurtado Aramburo is the nephew of Mr. Jorge Issac Aramburo García, one of the most important leaders in the history of the Black Movement in Colombia, and leader of the community council of the United Blacks' Association of Río Yurumanguí (Consejo Comunitario y de la Asociación de Negros Unidos del río Yurumanguí – APONURY). This disappearance clearly constitutes an act of reprisal aimed at Mr. Aramburo García's family, intended to discourage him from pursuing his activities to promote the rights of the Afro-Colombian community.
Since 2000, 11 members of his family have been assassinated by paramilitary groups operating in Buenaventura. On 1 October 2003, the IACHR had asked for protection measures for Mr. Aramburo García and his family.
On 26 August 2004, another nephew of Mr. Aramburo's, Mr. Luis Bernabé Angulo Aramburo, was arrested by elements of the Navy's infantry division, with a warrant from the Prosecutor. Mr. Luis Bernabé Angulo Aramburo is a leading member of APONURY in Buenaventura. Suspected of having links with the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – FARC), he was charged with terrorism, kidnap and rebellion. When he was arrested, he had just received a grant for his community from the Colombian Institute of Electrical Energy, in his position as a treasurer of the Electrification Committee for the village of Río Yuramanguí (Comité de Electrificación de la Vereda Juntas del Río Yuramanguí).
Assassination of Mr. Freddy Arias Arias.78 On 3 August 2004, Mr. Freddy Arias Arias, director of the Kankuamo Indigenous Organisation in Vallepudar (Cesar), was assassinated by two unidentified persons. Mr. Freddy Arias Arias had spoken out against systematic human rights violations suffered by the indigenous populations of Kankuamo between 2002 and 2004, including the assassinations of more than 100 people, and the forced removal of more than 1,000.
Assassination of Pr. Alfredo Correa de Andreis.79 On 17 September 2004, Mr. Alfredo Correa de Andreis, a professor and member of the University Network for Peace, and his bodyguard, Mr. Edward Ochoa Martínez, were killed in Barranquilla. The two men were attacked by two hired killers on a moped, a few streets away from Mr. Correa de Andreis' home, in the El Prado district of the town. Mr. Correa de Andreis had worked for the past 23 years as a researcher at the Northern University and Simón Bolivar University and was a fervent defender of peace, democracy and human rights. He had previously been falsely accused by the Prosecutor's office in Carthagena (Bolívar) of being 'the ideologist of the Caribbean branch of the FARC and had been arrested on 17 June 2004, in Barranquilla, on the basis of the testimonies from three demobilized guerrilleras. He had been released in July 2004 for lack of evidence, thanks to national and international mobilisation.
Assassination of Mrs. Teresa Yarse.80 On 6 October 2004, Mrs. Teresa Yarse was assassinated. She was the head of the Women's Association of Independences (Asociación de Mujeres de las Independencias – AMI) in Medellín (Antioquia), and vice-chairwoman of the Community Action Committee for "Independence 3", an organisation affiliated to the AMI. Mrs. Yarse was near her home, on the local sports ground, when she was gunned down with three bullets. This crime is attributed to paramilitary groups, who control the working-class area of Medellín popular district Commune 13. The AMI is a women's organisation that not only promotes women's rights, but also tries to combat the poverty in which Commune 13's inhabitants live.
Assassination of Mr. Mariano Suárez Chaparro.81 On 6 November 2004, Mr. Mariano Suárez Chaparro, indigenous leader and "Mamo" (one of the most highly respected authorities) of the indigenous Arhuaco Community in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, was executed in the village of El Chinchorro (Magdalena). At the time of his assassination, Mr. Suárez Chaparro was organising the establishment of a new site for his community on the banks of the Aracataca River. Members of the FARC, who are thought to be opposed to the creation of new indigenous settlements in this area, are probably behind the murder.
Mr. Suárez Chaparro had played a major role in the process of unification and cultural revitalisation conducted for several years by the Arhuaco people. He had received threats from the Front 19 of the FARC for encouraging the union of the Arhuacos with members of the indigenous Kogui community.
Assassination of Mr. José Joaquín Cubides.82 On 7 November 2004, Mr. José Joaquín Cubides was shot dead at his home, in front of his wife and children. He was a coordinator for the Civil Society Permanent Assembly for Peace (Asamblea Permanente de la Sociedad Civil por la Paz – APSCP) in the town of Fortul (Arauca) and general secretary of the Trade Union of Small and Medium-Sized Agricultural Producers (Sindicato de Pequeños y Medianos Productores del Agro – SINDEAGRO). His home had already been searched several times before his murder, the last time on 6 November 2004. The Assembly, which promotes a political, negotiated solution to the armed conflict tearing Colombia apart, is a civil initiative, whose members come from various churches and social, cultural, political and human rights organisations, across the country.
Arbitrary detentions
Arbitrary detentions of trade unionists and peasant leaders
Arbitrary detentions of Mr. Policarpo Camacho and Mrs. Gloria Holguín.83 On 8 January 2003, Mr. Policarpo Camacho and Mrs. Gloria Holguín, leaders of the National Unionist Unitarian Federation of Farmers (Federación Nacional Sindical Unitaria Agropecuaria – FENSUAGRO), were detained in Calarcá (Quindió), after their apartment was searched. While Mrs. Holguín was finally released without charges a few days after her arrest, Mr. Camacho was charged with rebellion. Because of his age (71), he was released in mid-March 2004, after 13 months in detention.
Arbitrary detention of Mr. Hermes Vallejo Jiménez.84 On 12 August 2003, Mr. Hermes Vallejo Jiménez, a member of ASOPEMA, was arrested in Bogotá. On 26 October 2004, the Quinto Penal del Circuito court acquitted him and four other trade unionists, for lack of evidence. Witnesses, who afterwards turned out to have been manipulated during the trial, had accused them of belonging to a section of the National Liberation Army (Ejercito de Liberación Nacional – ELN) known as the "Bolcheviques de Líbano".
Arbitrary detention of SINDEAGRICULTORES leaders.85 On 11 June 2004, in Sincelejo (Sucre), Mr. Eliécer Florez, treasurer for the Administrative Council of the Small and Medium-Sized Agricultural Workers' Union of Sucre (Sindicato de Pequeños y Medianos Agricultores de Sucre – SINDEAGRICULTORES), was arrested by agents of the Judicial Investigation and Intelligence Service (Seccional de Policía Judicial e Investigación – SIJIN). This detention comes in the context of a policy of mass detentions of peasants affiliated to the National Unionist Unitarian Federation of Farmers (Federación Nacional Sindical Agropecuaria – FENSUAGRO) in the Sucre and Cauca regions.
The same day, Mr. Luis Miguel Gómez, chairman of SINDEAGRICULTORES, was also arrested by police in the town of Coloso (Sucre). After two hours in detention, Mr. Gómez was released, only to be rearrested that same evening. On this occasion, Mr. Gómez was subjected to threats and pressure in an attempt to make him join the network of police informers, which he categorically refused to do.
Arbitrary detention of Mr. Eduardo Hernández Cabrera.86 On 14 October 2003, Mr. Eduardo Hernández Cabrera, a trade union leader in the public companies of Espinal commune (Tolima), disappeared, after having been approached by some unknown individuals, probably members of the Unified Action Group for Personal Freedom (Grupo de Acción Unificada por la Libertad Personal – GAULA), made up of people from the Security Administrative Department (Departamento Administrativo de seguridad – DAS), the Technical Enquiry Corps (Cuerpo tecnico de investigaciones – CTI), the Prosecutor's office and the armed forces. In November 2003 he was said to be detained in Ibagué Prison. Meanwhile, his sister, Mrs. Rocío del Pilar Hernández Cabrera, was also arrested in Villavicencio (Meta). They were released without charges in June 2004 and February 2004 respectively.
Assassination, arbitrary searches and arrests of members of the ACA.87 Mrs. Luz Perly Córdoba, chairwoman of the Farmers' Association of Arauca (Asociación Campesina de Arauca – ACA), general secretary of the FENSUAGRO and head of its human rights department, had to leave Arauca to live in Bogotá, because of death threats by soldiers and paramilitaries. The IACHR had asked for measures to be taken for her protection.
On 18 February 2004, Mrs. Perly Córdoba was arrested by DAS members in Bogotá, who had a warrant from the Prosecutor. She was detained on DAS premises in Palo Quemao until the evening of 21 February 2004. She was then transferred to the "Buen Pastor" detention centre in Bogotá, where she remained at the end of 2004.
Following her arrest, her home was searched during a police swoop. Her computer's hard disk was seized, as well as floppy disks, documents and photos. Moreover, several members of the Judicial Investigation and Intelligence Police Authority (Dirección de Policía Judicial e Investigación – DIJIN), the CTI, the DAS, and the ordinary police force searched the offices of the ACA in Arauquita, claiming to be looking for subversive documents, in accordance with a warrant issued by the Prosecutor, Mr. José Ramon Uribe. They confiscated documents and equipment. They also searched the house of Mrs. Nubia Vega, head of the ACA, and arrested Mesrrs. Víctor Enrique Amarillo and Moisés Elías Eregua, bodyguards chosen by the Ministry of the Interior to protect ACA members, as requested by the IACHR.
On 19 February 2004, Mr. Juan Jesús Gutiérrez, ACA's treasurer, was arrested in Saravena and taken to the army's 18th Brigade, following the issue of arrest and search warrants by the Prosecutor's Support Unit (Fiscalía) in Arauca. He was denied a visit from a lawyer, as well as food and clothing.
On 3 March 2004, Mr. Rodolfo Rios Lozano, a defence lawyer for political prisoners, who was providing Mrs. Luz Perly Cordoba's defence, and who was regularly subjected to harassment and death threats, received telephone threats ordering him to leave the country.
Mrs. Luz Perly, Mr. Juan Jesús Gutiérrez and the whole executive council of the ACA, despite benefiting from the protection programme set up by the Ministry of the Interior and protection measures dictated by the IACHR, were accused of rebellion and criminal association. On 6 May 2004, Mrs. Luz Perly Córdoba abandoned her public defence in midst of preparations for her trial, due to the absence of procedural guarantees and to the disrespect of her rights.
On 23 February 2004, Mr. Martiniano Mosquera Cosme, a nursing auxiliary at the Health Centre in Saravena, was captured without a warrant by members of the army, in place of his brother, Mr. Pedro Jaime Mosquera Cosme, a leading figure in the ACA, whom the soldiers were unable to find. During this operation, several other members of the ACA were detained, including Mesrrs. Andrés Pérez, Vicente Blanco, Fanny Quiroga, Abelardo Barajas, William Gómez, Héctor Carrillo, Neftalí Romero, Elver Ramírez, Luis Alfredo García Lamus, and Mauricio Lamus Flórez.
It finally became clear that Mr. Pedro Jaime Mosquera Cosme had been assassinated in obscure circumstances. His body, which bore marks of torture, was found on 7 October 2004 in Arauca.
On 16 December 2004, Mr. Oswaldo Martï¿nez, a member of the ACA, was detained in the offices of the DAS, without being informed of the reasons for his detention. At the end of 2004, he remained in detention in Bogotá and charged with rebellion.
Arbitrary detention of Mr. Carlos Alberto Nuñez Flores.88 On 1 March 2004, Mr. Carlos Alberto Nuñez Flores, vice-chairman of the peasants' group ADUC, was arrested in Saravena by members of the army, for the third time since December 2003. During these detentions, he was accused of being a guerrillero and an ideologue behind guerrilla operations.
Arbitrary detention and legal proceedings against several ECOPETROL workers on strike.89 Since the start of the nationwide strike called for by the Oil Industry Workers Trade Union (USO) with the aim of preserving ECOPETROL as a national and State concern, many trade unionists have been subjected to legal proceedings, and some were arbitrarily detained, sometimes in degrading conditions. This was notably the case of Mesrrs. Fredys Fernández Suarez, Luis Roberto Schmalbach Cruz, Ignacio Vecino, Fernando Jiménez, Humberto Rodriguez, Sandro Efrey Suarez and Ricardo Harold Forero. Mr. Humberto Rodriguez was arrested by the national police on 14 May 2004 in Barrancabermeja, without being told of the reason for his arrest and without a warrant. He was then informed that he was accused of threatening a colleague, and released 26 hours later. On 18 May 2004, Mr. Sandro Efrey and Ricardo Harold were arrested in Barrancabermeja by armed civilians, who then handed them over to members of the national police who arrived ten minutes later. They were accused of having insulted third parties and caused damage to their property. It was claimed that they had been caught in the act, despite the fact that the police were not present at the time of their arrest. They remained in custody for about four days in an improvised cell – in reality a bathroom – at the premises of the army's Magdalena Medio Special Operations Unit (COEMM).
Arbitrary detention of M Ricardo Fabián Otalvaro Osorio.90 On 19 June 2004, in the context of Operation Corinto III in the Cauca region, Mr. Ricardo Fabián Otalvaro Osorio, a farmer and affiliated member of the Corinto Association of Agricultural Reserves (Asociación Zonas de Reserva Campesina de Corinto), living in the village of Cominera, was arrested by the DAS, agents of the Third Brigade, the CTI and the Prosecutor's Office. His arrest took place at dawn, at his mother's house. The doors were forced and he was violently dragged out.
At the end of December 2004, Mr. Ricardo Fabián Otalvaro Osorio was still imprisoned in the buildings of the army's Third Brigade and charged with rebellion.
Illegal searches and detention of USO members.91 On 17 June 2004, members of the Barrancabermeja police arrested the trade union leader Mr. Ramón Rangel, after violently entering the USO offices in Barrancabermeja without a warrant. In all, nine workers were detained: Mesrrs. Fernando Rojas, Debinson Noriega, Freddy Toro Galvis, Virgilio de la Rosa Diaz, Oscar Javier Celis, Jairo Carvajal, Hernando Ariza and Luis Daniel Polo.
Arbitrary detention of Mr. Adolfo Tique.92 On 18 July 2004, Mr. Adolfo Tique, a peasant leader and member of ASOPEMA, affiliated to FENSUAGRO, was arbitrarily arrested by troops from mobile brigade number 8, who forcibly detained him and took him to an unknown place. Mr. Tique had no access to a legal authority and no formal charge was brought against him at the time of his arrest.
Arbitrary detention of Mr. Samuel Morales Flores and Mrs. Raquel Castro.93 On 5 August 2004, Mr. Samuel Morales Flores, chairman of the CUT in Arauca, and Mrs. Raquel Castro, a member of the Arauca Teachers' Association (Asociación de Educadores de Arauca – ASEDAR), were arbitrarily detained by members of the army's Revéiz Pizarro mechanized battalion based in Saravena (Arauca), who carried out a military operation that same day, in the village of Caño Seco.
Arbitrary detentions of members of the civil society
Arbitrary detention of the chairwoman of the Arauca section of the CPDH.94 On 3 March 2003, Mrs. Teresa Cedeño Galíndez, a lawyer and chairwoman of the Arauca Section of the Permanent Committee for Human Rights (Comité Permanente de Derechos Humanos – CPDH) and member of the national "Eduardo Umaña Mendoza" Association of Defence Lawyers, was arrested and tortured in Bogotá by members of the national police force, after she protested about the fact that the national police force was exercising certain functions which properly belong to the CTI. Mrs. Cedeño was released on 4 March 2003, following national and international protests.
On 30 July 2003, Mrs. Cedeño was again arrested in Bogotá and charged with "technical fraud" after having given a speech at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a few hours before to State representatives responsible for the implementation of protection measures. During this statement, she spoke out against the persecution of lawyers who defend human rights in Arauca and attributed responsibility for it to members of the Support Unit of the National Attorney General's Office, to military leaders and to some security organisations. On 1 August 2003, Mrs. Cedeño was hospitalised, before being transferred on 2 August to the women's prison "El Buen Pastor". On 6 August 2003, the Prosecutor's office confirmed the charges against Mrs. Cedeño and ruled that she should be released on bail on 8 August 2003.
In November 2004, Mrs. Cedeño Galíndez was summoned to appear before the court. The "José Alvear Restrepo" Lawyers' Collective Corporation (CCAJAR), representing her, appealed the summons.
At the end of October 2004, Mrs. Teresa Cedeño Galíndez was once again subjected to threats in Arauca and was forced to leave the country.
Accusations against members of the Justice and Peace Commission.95 On 21 August 2003, the general head of the armed forces, Mr. Jorge Enrique Mora Rangel, organised a press conference during which he accused members of the Justice and Peace Commission (Comisión Justicia y Paz – CJP) of "abuse of trust" and of "creating illegal groups", describing the communities of the CJP as "FARC concentration camps administered by an NGO called Justice and Peace". These declarations from General Mora Rangel were repeated in the press, which helped stigmatising and discrediting the CJP both nationally and internationally. It then turned out that criminal proceedings had been opened against the CJP in four separate cases, two for rebellion, one for creation of illegal groups and one for breach of trust. These accusations mentioned 15 members of the Coordinating Committee of the Cacarica community and the following members of Justice and Peace: Mr. Danilo Rueda, Father Daniel Vásquez, Mrs. Ana María Lozano, Mr. Enrique Chimonja and Mr. Abilio Peña. These proceedings were based solely on unverified testimonies, and some of the witnesses have admitted that they were paid for testifying.
On 28 January 2005, the Second Specialised Prosecutor (Fiscal Segunda Especializada) with the National Human Rights Unit dropped the charges for rebellion against them.
On 8 October 2003, the IACHR required the Colombian State to respect the right of members of the Justice and Peace Commission to a fair trial – in particular with regard to time limits and the cumulative nature of the proceedings – and that the remarks made on 21 August 2003 should be publicly rectified. Despite the IACHR's recommendations, the six months' duration for the preliminary phase of an investigation, inscribed in the Criminal Code, was not respected.
Arbitrary detention of Mr. Ismael Uncacias.96 On 2 March 2004, Mr. Ismael Uncacias, leader of the Indigenous Communities of Arauca and ex-chairman of the former Regional Indigenous Council of Arauca (CRIA), now the Association of Councils and Traditional Indigenous Authorities of Arauca (Asociación de Cabildos y Autoridades Tradicionales Indígenas de Arauca – ASCADITAR), was arbitrarily detained by Reinaldo Alarcon, a former guerillero turned into an informer who was travelling in an army patrol car, and taken to the battalion headquarters of the 18th mechanised group, where he was subjected to intimidation and threats. He was released after 28 hours.
Arbitrary detention of Mr. Mauricio Avilez Álvarez.97 On 10 June 2004, Mr. Mauricio Avilez Álvarez, a representative of the human rights group Colombia-Europe-United States Coordination (Coordinación Colombia-Europa-Estados Unidos – CCEEU), was arrested in Barranquilla by GAULA members. They took him to the local police cells. He was officially charged with rebellion, extortion and aggravated homicide, having been held responsible for planting a bomb that killed one person in the SAO shopping centre in Barranquilla on 16 December 2003. However, Mr. Avilez Álvarez was taking part in a coordination workshop that day, and so could not have been involved in the killing. It appears that he was since released.
Arbitrary detention of Mesrrs. Hernan Rua, Leonardo Rua, Roland Higuita and "Pasajeros" band members.98 On 12 June 2004, in Copacabana (Antioquia), the members of the rock band "Pasajeros" were arrested just as they were about to give a concert in solidarity with the community of northern Antioquia, an event organised by the CUT to protest about the "social tax" and the tax on increased property values (cobro de la valorización). During the assembly, unidentified individuals in civilian dress took photos and filmed the participants. Later, members of the Elite Anti-Terrorist Corps (Cuerpo Elite Antiterrorista – CEAT) demanded the identity papers of Mesrrs. Hernan Rua Ceballos, Leonardo Rua Ceballos and Roland Higuita Marin, and of all the band members of "Pasajeros", and informed them that they were going to be arrested, although no arrest warrant was produced. A few moments later, a local prosecutor arrived and ordered their detention under the pretext that they were suspected of participation in insurrectional movements. The members of "Pasajeros" were also charged with rebellion and terrorism.
The Prosecutor of office 51, attached to the CEAT, ordered an investigation to be opened and an arrest warrant to be issued, without making any attempt to evaluate or challenge the witness statements taken by the criminal investigation police.
Arbitrary detention of Mr. José Guillermo Larios Gómez.99 On 29 November 2004, in Bogotá, Mr. José Guillermo Larios Gómez, a member of the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (Corporación Regional para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos – CREDHOS), was followed and then arrested by three men identified as being members of the DAS. On 30 November 2004, Mr. Gómez was said to be held in a room belonging to the DAS in Paloquemao, Bogotá. On 1 December 2004, the media announced that he was suspected of being a guerrillero and of complicity with terrorist acts.
Questioning of, and legal proceedings against Father Joakín Mayorga.100 On 7 December 2004, Father Joakín Mayorga, head of Justice and Peace (Justicia y Paz) within the diocese of Magangué (Magdalena), was arrested and placed in detention following a legal investigation into his work in Magangué and his position as a priest and human rights defender. Father Joakín Mayorga was freed the same day and was then informed by officer Pérez, from the San Gil police station, that his detention was due to mistaken identity. Father Joakín Mayorga had already been detained under similar circumstances in August 20004 in the town of Onzaga (Santander).
At the end of 2004, Father Joakín Mayorga was facing trial for the alleged offences of slander and insults. The action was brought by members of the Colombian army's Nariño battalion, from the town of El Banco (Magdalena). The charge related to his public condemnation of the arbitrary detention, forced disappearance and assassination of three minors, Jiovanny Vega Atencio, Jairo Villalba and Nolberto Campusano Zuleta, and the forced disappearance of 13-year-old Osnaider Solano Zuleta, in the village of El Coco at the end of January 2004.101
Threats, harassment and attacks
Threats, harassment and attacks against trade unionists
Harassment and threats against members of SINALTRAINAL.102 On 28 January 2004, Mr. German Cataño, chairman of the Santa Maria (Magdalena) section of SINALTRAINAL, was threatened by armed unidentified individuals who turned up at the union's offices. These threats came when the union was trying to prevent the illegal closure of ten Coca-Cola production lines in a number of municipalities.
On 19 March 2004, the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (Auto-Defensas Unidas de Colombia – AUC) issued a press release threatening to turn SINALTRAINAL members into "military objectives" unless they left the town of Palmira (Valle de Cauca) within three months. These threats were made four days after SINALTRAINAL members in Bucaramanga, Cúcuta, Barrancabermeja, Carthagena, Valledupar, Cali, Medellin and Bogotá had begun a hunger strike to draw the international community's attention to serious human rights abuses suffered by Coca-Cola workers (assassinations, forced disappearances, acts of harassment, death threats, etc.).
Moreover, just a few days after the publication of the Palmira third civil court judge's decision ordering the reinstatement of two workers at the company of Burns Philp Colombia S.A., a letter written in the same tone arrived at the offices of the Palmira section of SINALTRAINAL. It stated that the association's leaders were instigating insurrection in the Cauca Valley.
On 14 April 2004, Mr. Onofre Esquivel, a member of the national leadership of SINALTRAINAL and a factory worker for the Nestlé multinational in Bulgalagrande (Valle), was threatened at his home by several individuals travelling in two vehicles. Mr. Onofre Esquivel had already received death threats from the AUC on 11 October 2003, and his house had been searched on 22 October 2003. These acts of harassment took place when workers affiliated to SINALTRAINAL were negotiating a list of demands with Nestlé.
Threats against ASOINCA members.103 On 9 January 2004, a letter addressed to the management of the Cauca Teachers Association (Asociación de Institutores del Cauca – ASOINCA), and containing threats against the academics, which it defined as "terrorists, disguised as democrats", was received at the association's headquarters in Popayan. From the beginning of January 2004 onwards, a number of phone calls were received at the headquarters of ASOINCA threatening its management. Moreover, on 15 March 2004, at 4.00 a.m. an individual who had already been noticed on three occasions near the house, loitered in front of the home of professor José Elias Chanchi, a member of the ASOINCA management. The same individual came back later that morning.
Threats against Mr. Jesus Alfonso Naranjo and Mr. Mario Mora.104 On 21 January 2004, Mr. Jesus Alfonso Naranjo and Mr. Mario Mora, trade union leaders of the sections of Barranquilla and Bolivar of ANTHOC, received a leaflet with the heading of the AUC of Magdalena Medio, in which they were accused of defending the guerrillas, and which consequently declared them to be "military targets". These statements came on top of other threats that these men had received in December 2003.
Threats against ASEDAR.105 On 23 January 2004, the management of the ASEDAR – which had met for a protest action against the departmental government's policy – received threats by the AUC. Mr. Jaime Castillo, president of the management committee, Mr. Celedonio Jaimes, general secretary, Mr. Francisco Rojas, former president and Mr. Marcos Garcia, affiliated professor, were directly denounced and threatened by paramilitaries through posters, leaflets and appeals.
Threats and attempted attacks against SINTRAEMCALI.106 On 6 February 2004, a bomb placed against the entrance of the SINTRAEMCALI was discovered only twelve hours after its president, Mr. Luis Hernandez, had denounced the serious threats and persecution suffered by the union since the beginning of 2004 before a security council composed of the region's authorities (administrative, military and the police). Mr. Luis Hernandez particularly provided proof enabling the identification of the AUC as being responsible for the threats. He also denounced the assassination, in January 2004, of Mr. Ricardo Barragan, a member of SINTRAEMCALI, and of Mr. Deyton Banguera, a union body guard,107 as well as the telephone harassment suffered by the adviser of SINTRAEMCALI's Human Rights Department, Mrs. Berenice Celeyta, and the slanderous accusations brought publicly against the union by the Colombian President Mr. Uribe Vélez.
On 5 May 2004, a large police contingent consisting of members of the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (Escuadrón Móvil Anti Disturbios – ESMAD) and the military police, attacked the workers affiliated to SINTRAEMCALI and the inhabitants of the district. As the workers were meeting in order to examine the implications of the Collective Agreement brought in the day before, the police fired several shots, throwing the district's inhabitants into a panic.108
Threats against members of USO.109 On 7 February 2004, a letter was sent by fax to the USO headquarters in Carthagena (department of Bolivar), in which direct threats were addressed to Mr. Rodolfo Vecino Acedo, the director of the section, and to his family, to Mr. Hernando Meneses Veladès, director of the national USO, and to Mr. Rafael Cabarcas Cabarcas, adviser to the Carthagena section. The letter, as well as accusing the trade unionists of being "guerrilla collaborators", threatened them and their spouses, children and other family members, giving very precise details regarding their movements and activities.
In addition, on 6 November 2004, an unidentified person driving a motorcycle followed the security vehicle in which Mr. Cabarcas was travelling. On 21 October 2004, his nine-year-old son José Luis had been the victim of an attempted kidnapping in the district of la Concepción.
Surveillance and assassination attempt during a peaceful gathering.110 On 26 February 2004, on the occasion of the protest against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (Área de Libre Comercio de las Américas – ALCA), organised in Cali by the CUT section, two people were discovered illegally filming a union meeting. These individuals, who were trying in particular to film the union leaders, were detained until the arrival of the police. They then put the police in telephone contact with their superior, and immediately passed from the status of suspects to that of victims whom the police then tried to protect, which seems to point out to their being State security agents.
Shortly after these events took place, Mr. Oscar Figueroa, a trade union leader, was the victim of an attempted attack on the part of unidentified persons who pursued him by car and motorcycle as he was leaving the protest.
Surveillance of the home of Mr. Tomas Ramos and search of his father's house.111 On 22 April 2004, certain members of the family of Mr. Tomas Ramos, a leader of the CUT, reported that a van was watching their house while he was taking part in the Coordination of Human Rights in Barranquilla (which provides legal support for displaced persons) in his capacity of representative of the CUT. On 28 April 2004, the home of Mr. Ramos' father was searched by police officers who claimed to be looking for weapons.
Aggression of Mr. Jorge Enrique Giraldo Reina and Mr. Luis Hernando Ortiz Bejarano.112 On 29 April 2004, during the election of the new board of directors of the Cali section of the National Association of Officials and Employees of the Judicial Branch (Asociación Nacional de Empleados y Funcionarios de la Rama Judicial – ASONAL JUDICIAL), which was held at the law courts, the trade unionists Mr. Jorge Enrique Giraldo Reina and Mr. Luis Hernando Ortiz Bejarano were verbally and physically attacked by officer Carlos Meneses Patiño and lieutenant Omar Marino Muñoz Potes, police officers under the orders of commander Carlos Yimi Meneses Patiño. The two policemen entered the building claiming that it was their intention to prevent the inauguration of a mural painted by the employees of the law courts affiliated to ASONAL JUDICIAL. Mr. Luis Hernando Ortiz, candidate to the executive board of the union, was then beaten by Mr. Carlos Meneses for insisting that the ceremony continue despite the arrival of the two policemen. Mr. Jorge Henrique Giraldo was also beaten by lieutenant Muñoz, and was sprayed gas in his face.
Threats and harassment against Mr. Oscar Arturo Orozco Sánchez.113 In May 2004, Mr. Oscar Arturo Orozco Sánchez, president of the vice-management of the Electricity Workers' Union of Colombia (Sindicato de la Electricidad de Colombia – SINTRAELECOL) and of the Caldas section of the CUT, received threats and was subjected to a harassment campaign, particularly in the form of a dismissal procedure started against him by Mr. Hugo Emilio Velez Melguizo, manager of the hydroelectric plant of Caldas (Central Hidroeléctrica de Caldas – CHEC). On the basis of a risk assessment study carried out by the DAS following these incidents, the Ministry of the Interior assigned him two escorts comprising two vehicles and five body guards, as well as the reinforcement of the premises of their trade union headquarters.
Repression of trade union protests.114 On 1st May 2004, the workers and peoples' march organised by the workers associations of the country in Bogotá was brutally dispersed by ESMAD forces, which attacked the rear end of the march and brutalized the marchers. Moreover, during the protest which took place on the same day in Medellín, Ms. Leydy Acevedo, a student, was beaten up by a police officer and suffered a head injury.
Threats against Mr. Pedro Galeano and Mr. Eduardo Rugeles.115 On 2 June 2004, teachers Messrs. Pedro Galeano and Eduardo Rugeles, leaders of the University Workers Union of Colombia (SINTRAUNICOL), linked with the University of Tolima, were threatened through the post both at their homes and at the union headquarters in the same town. The Ministries of the Interior and of Justice never followed up on the requests for protection submitted by the SINTRAUNICOL leaders following these incidents. On 12 July 2004, the trade unions also informed the University of Tolima of these facts and demanded that the lives of the threatened people be protected. On 19 July 2004, the management of the University of Tolima addressed a letter to Mr. Galeano and Mr. Rugeles, in which it stated that they should continue to work as usual at the university, otherwise they would be punished.
Fierce repression of a demonstration in Barrancabermeja.116 On 17 June 2004, the Barrancabermeja police attacked and mistreated civilians and journalists who were starting out on a peaceful protest demonstration together with the leaders and members of the USO to claim for the respect of their rights as workers. The demonstration was brutally repressed by the ESMAD. A journalist of the Télévision Enlace channel, Mrs. Luz Dary Innes, was wounded, and Mesrrs. Wilzon Lozano, Reinaldo Patiño, Jhon Jairo León and Ricardo Mejía, journalists and photographers, were unable to perform their job of informing the public owing to police repression.
Threats against Mr. Miguel Antonio Ruíz Beltrán and Mr. William José Paternina Hérnandez.117 On 24 June 2004, Mr. Miguel Antonio Ruíz Beltrán, a member of the board of directors of the SINTRAEMSDES, was approached by an individual who claimed to know him, saying that he had attended a trade union meeting of the section of Sucre of SINTRAEMSDES at which Mr. Ruíz Beltrán had also been present. According to this person, eight people who had also taken part in this meeting were preparing an assassination attempt against him. These eight people in particular would have enjoyed the logistic support of a worker of the organisation, who would have been paid for collaborating. Mr. Ruíz Beltrán had already received threats in 2002. Furthermore, Mr. César Castillo Moreno, the union's vice-president, was the victim of a phone harassment campaign.
The AUC threaten with death Arauca social leaders and activists.118 On 22 October 2004, leaflets signed by members of the AUC, claiming to belong to the "Conquerors' Block of Arauca" (Bloque Vencedores de Arauca), were distributed in the town of Saravena, accusing the leaders of eleven trade unions and social organisations known for their commitment to the defence of human rights, of being "obstacles to the society", owing to their opposition to government policies, and warning them to leave the region as soon as possible. The paramilitaries also pointed out that they would not allow any opposition to the State's policies, which they consider to be right for the country. The following organisations were explicitly targeted: ANTHOC, CUT, the Regional Youth and Student Association (Asociación Juvenil y Estudiantil Regional – ASOJER), the Municipalility Action Group (Asociación Comunal de Juntas – ASOJUNTAS), ASEDAR, the Community Aqueduct and Sewer Company (Empresa Comunitaria de Acueducto y Alcantarillado – ECAAS), the National Association of Peasant Workers (Asociación Nacional de Usuarios Campesinos – ANUC), Cooperativa (COOPECARNES), the Civil Servants' Trade Union of the Municipality of Medellín (Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Alcaldía Municipal – SIDEM), the Education Workers' Union in Arauca (Organización Sindical del personal administrativo y de servicios de los planteles educativos in Arauca – SINTRENAL), and SINTRAELECOL.
Members of SINTRAUNICOL declared as military targets.119 On 30 October 2004, a pamphlet signed by the "National University Commandos" (Comandos Nacionales Universitarios) of the armed forces of the AUC, containing death threats against several of the union's members and demanding its dissolution, was sent to the offices of the Bogotá section of SINTRAUNICOL. Mesrrs. Antonio Flórez, Milena Cobo, Ariel Díaz, Carlos Gonzáles, Ibagué Eduardo Camacho Rúgueles and Alvaro Villamizar Mogollon, who were declared "military targets" to be executed by the end of 2004, were specifically mentioned. The AUC claimed that "certain members were openly ready for armed combat, while others pulled strings in the dark, including certain adherents of SINTRAUNICOL who disguised themselves as defenders of the workers and human rights and infiltrated universities and colleges in order to strengthen their military machine". In addition, the pamphlet proclaimed that these "University Commandos" aimed at "eliminating the communist threat posed by educational institutions, even if they had to use armed force to do so".
On 30 November 2004, the Bogotá section of SINTRAUNICOL once more received a pamphlet signed by the National University Commandos, containing death threats against several of its members, including Mr. Álvaro Villamizar, treasurer of the Bucaramanga section and a member of the National Coordination of Human Rights. In addition, on 16 December 2004, as he was leaving the industrial university of Colombia (UIS), Mr. Álvaro Villamizar was approached by two men who threatened and insulted him.
On 26 November 2003, the AUC paramilitaries had decreed various SINTRAUNICOL human rights leaders at a national level to be military targets, including Mesrrs. Antonio Flores Gonzáles, Alvaro Villamizar Mogollon, Ibagué Eduardo Camacho Rúgueles, Ana Milena Cobos, Carlos González, and Ariel Díaz.
On 6 May 2004, preventive measures were requested for the protection of teachers and workers of the University of Cordoba who had united in the Association of University Teachers (Asociacíon de Profesores Universitarios – ASPU) and SINTRAUNICOL – Cordoba, and on 30 June 2004 a request had been submitted to the human rights and international humanitarian law department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the effect that, in keeping with these preventive measures, protection measures be implemented in favour of ASPU and of SINTRAUNICOL – Cordoba members.
Expulsion of Victor Báez, Antonio Rodríguez Fritz, Rodolfo Benitez, Cameron Duncan and Pilar Morales.120 On 30 October and 1 November 2004, several international trade union leaders, including Mesrrs. Victor Báez Mosquira, secretary general of the Inter-American Regional Organisation of Workers of ICFTU (Organización Regional Interamericana de Trabajadores – CIOSL-ORIT), Antonio Rodríguez Fritz of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), Rodolfo Benitez of Union Network International (UNI), Mr. Cameron Duncan, secretary of Public Services International (PSI) and Mrs. Pilar Morales of the Trade Union Confederation of Workers' Commissions (Confederación sindical de comisiones obreras – CC.OO) of Madrid, who had been invited to participate in the 4th National Active Women Congress organised by the CUT in Colombia, were prevented from entering the country and were expelled by governmental order upon their arrival at the Colombian airport of El Dorado. The government is also believed to have published a list of trade union representatives banned from Colombia, which in particular is said to include the names of several members of an international solidarity mission in Colombia in September 2004, organised by the Conferderation of Colombian Workers (Confederación de Trabajadores de Colombia – CTC), affiliated to ICFTU, the General Confederation of Democratic Workers (Confederación General de Trabajadores Democraticos – CGTD), affiliated to the World Confederation of Labour (WCL), the United Workers Central Organisation (Central Unitaria de Trabajadores – CUT), and the Confederation of Colombian Pensioners (Confederación de Pensionados de Colombia – CPC), ICFTU, WCL and their regional organisations CIOSL-ORIT and the Latin American Central of Workers (Central Latinoamericana de Trabajadores – CLAT/WCL). The mission had approached the government and President Uribe to end the assassinations of Colombian trade unionists and all other forms of anti-unionist repression widespread in the country. Three of the four above mentioned representatives had attended a meeting with the President, Mr. Uribe, on 16 September 2004.
Harassment and threats against USO-Carthagena section.121 On 3 November 2004, in the Plaza de Toros in Carthagena de Indias, three officers of the national police intercepted the security van assigned to the Carthagene section of the USO, on board of which travelled Mr. Jorge Ortega Hernández, Mr. Antonio de la Torre Goez and Mr. Heriberto Bolívar Defex, members of the USO management committee.
On 6 November 2004, Mr. Isaac Barcenas Barcos, the general secretary of USO's Carthagena section, was subjected to harassment and threatened with death by two people on a motorcycle.
Aggression against Mr. Jairo Machado Moreno.122 On 21 November 2004, some representatives of the criminal investigation police, as well as some members of the army and of the Attorney General's office carried out a brutal search of the home of Mr. Jairo Machado Moreno, leader of the Bolívar section of SINTRAELECOL, whose left hand was fractured.
Threats, harassment and attempted assassination against members of the civil society
Threats against members of FUN and of MODEP.123 In December 2003, the members of the National University Federation (FUN) and of the Movement for the Defence of the People (MODEP), which is also formed by members of the commissions of FUN, were threatened, denounced and intimidated by paramilitary groups. In particular, Adriana Lozano, Miguel Angel Barriga, Yamil Garzón and Claudia Angélica Beltran, members of FUN, have been made the object of direct denunciations and threats. Already in November 2003, five university students members of FUN had been arrested for 6 days on arbitrary charges in Cucuta, while they were returning from the 2nd Peoples' Congress in Caracas, Venezuela. Accused of being rebels, they had been the victims of intimidation and ill-treatment on the part of the authorities.
President Uribe repeats his accusations against human rights activists.124
President Álvaro Uribe Vélez continued to discredit the work of human rights organisations in the name of the fight against terrorism, thus aggravating the climate of violence which activists face daily in Colombia.
In his statements before the European Parliament on 10 February 2004, in Strasbourg (France), President Uribe criticised the work of certain organisations for the defence and safeguard of human rights in Colombia, mentioning in particular the CCAJAR. He also accused some of these organisations of using the issue of human rights as a cover-up for terrorist acts, and the defenders were portrayed as auxiliaries or sympathizers of the guerrilla. These statements go to add to those of the 8 and 11 September 2003, in which President Uribe had accused certain NGOs of "hiding behind the banner of human rights" and of being "terrorism's spokespersons".
Moreover, in a statement made before a security council on 27 May 2004 in Apartadó, in the department of Antioquia, President Uribe criticized in lively terms the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartadó,125 as well as the members of the Peace Brigades International (PBI) and of several other NGOs operating in the region. He accused them of hindering the work of the authorities, in particular that of the Human Rights Unit of the Prosecutor's Office. He declared that the government was prepared to support this office with the help of the police and the armed forces, and that the arrest or expulsion of opponents on the charge of obstruction to justice was not to be excluded. He thus insisted on the fact that "foreigners who hinder the administration of justice in Colombia shall not benefit from any kind of immunity" and warned that "if it proves necessary to deport those who do not abide, it will be done".
Following this speech, army troops accompanied by representatives of the intelligence services – members of the DAS and of the SIJIN circulated on 2 June 2004 in San José de Apartadó, filming the members of the community and demanding the names, addresses and activities of its leaders, including those of Mr. Wilson David and Mr. Gildardo Tuberquia. Information was also requested regarding the dates and reasons for the meetings held by these leaders. In addition, certain members of the DAS and of the SIJIN spoke to some PBI representatives who were in San José at the time and, despite the fact that their papers were in order, summoned them to appear the next day in order for their personal details to be verified at the DAS in Apartadó.
Finally, on 16 June 2004, during a promotion ceremony of the Colombian police, President Uribe accused Amnesty International of not condemning the violations of humanitarian law perpetuated by the guerrillas and of legitimating terrorism.
Torture, threats and harassment of OFP members126
Attempted assassination of Mrs. Yolanda Becerra. On 27 January 2004, a group of armed individuals fired against three members of the Popular Women's Organisation (Organisación Feminina Popular – OFP), among whom was their leader, Mrs. Yolanda Becerra. The latter were accompanied by a humanitarian commission consisting of four delegates of the Norwegian Refugee Council, two representatives of the Consultants in Latin American Projects (Consejería en Proyectos Latinoamericanos) and a member of PBI, and intended to visit some accommodation projects run by OFP for displaced women and women who are the sole supporters of their families in the south of the department of Bolivar.
On 24 December 2004, Mrs. Yolanda Becerra learnt that a paramilitary of Barrancabermeja had claimed that he intended to assassinate her and that he had been constantly following her for a month.
Detainment and torture of Mrs. Inés Peña. On 28 January 2004, Ms. Inés Peña, aged 22 and a militant of the Youth Movement of the University Convention OFP-UNIPAZ (Movimiento Juvenil del Convenio Universitario OFP – UNIPAZ), as well as the co-ordinator of the "María Cano" documentation centre of the OFP, was detained and tortured by paramilitaries. The latter forced her at gunpoint to get in a vehicle near the main police station of Barrancabermeja. Ms. Peña also hosts and is a member of the editorial committee of the television programme La Mohana, as well as a member of the human rights youth network of the regional Peoples' defender's Office (Defensoría Regional del Pueblo). The paramilitaries shaved her head and burnt the soles of her feet with boiling water; they also intimated her to leave the OFP. She was then dumped behind the Coliseum Luis F. Castellano, a strategic spot regularly checked by the army.
No further threats or new aggressions on the part of the paramilitaries had been directed at Ms. Peña at the end of 2004. Nevertheless, following her reports to the authorities, the latter, rather than enquiring into the actions perpetrated against her, had decided to keep her under surveillance.
Attack against the OFP in Barrancabermeja. On 6 March 2004, some OFP members found a Molotov cocktail in front of the door of the Casa de la Mujer (Women's Home), in Barrancabermeja, two days before Women's Day, on the occasion of which the OFP had planned several activities. This attack was probably carried out in retaliation against the Campaign for Civility that the women members of the organisation had carried out door-to-door in town the day before.
Impunity in the assassination of Mrs. Esperanza Amarís. At the end of 2004, the enquiry into the assassination on 16 October 2003, of Mrs. Esperanza Amarís, an OFP member, following her kidnapping in Barrancabermeja on the part of three members of the paramilitary group the Bolívar Central Block (AUC), failed to identify those responsible. Witnesses of the assassination were threatened. For example, Mrs. Graciela Alfaro, also a member of the OFP and a key witness in the case, had to leave Barrancabermeja following threats issued by the para-militaries against her and her family.
Harassment of the Education Corporation COMBOS.127 In February 2004, the Education Corporation COMBOS, a Colombian NGO which works to defend the rights of children and women of the poorer strata of the population, was subjected to acts of harassment. Unidentified men burst into the organisation's headquarters in Medellín on several occasions and intimidated the people present. On 17 February 2004 and in the following days, Mr. Pietro Carobbio, a volunteer worker for COMBOS, was also threatened several times out on the street.
Harassment of Mrs. Lilia Solano.128 In March 2004, Mrs. Lilia Solano, who teaches at the National University of Bogotá and is the director of the NGO "Justice and Life Project" (Proyecto Justicia y Vida), was the victim of particularly serious harassment and threats endangering her life and safety as well as those of her students. Indeed, the Bolívar Central Block (AUC) accused her on their web site of being a "narcoguerrilla ideologist" who "corrupts the mind of the students".
Harassment and threats against indigenous activists.129 Threats were received by some members of the Colombian delegation which took part in the 35th World Congress of the FIDH which was held in Quito, in Ecuador, from 1 to 6 March 2004. On 2 March 2004, while Mr. Gilberto Arlanht Ariza, leader of the indigenous group Kankuamo, was speaking up at the congress against the mass killing which is being perpetrated against his people since 2001, an armed group broke into his home in Bogotá and attacked and threatened the people present, as well as Mr. Arlanht Ariza himself. In the same way, on 3 March 2004, leaflets were distributed during the General Assembly of the University of Tolima accusing two students who were taking part in the Quito congress, Mr. Germán Acosta and Mr. Diego Sierra, of being part of the guerrilla. The leaflets also accused other members of the University Welfare Students' Committee (Comité Estudiantil de Bienestar Universitario) of supporting violent protest actions.
Threats against the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Collective Corporation (CCAJAR)130
Threats on the part of the AUC.131 On 6 March 2004, the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Collective Corporation (Corporación Colectivo "José Alvear Restrepo" – CCAJAR) received a threatening letter signed by the AUC, which accused the members of the Collective, as well as "the communist revolutionaries of the departments of Risaralda et Cundinamarca" of being part of the guerrillas, thus marking them out as their potential targets. At the end of the letter was a list of persons directly designated as targets, including Mr. Alirio Uribe Muñoz, president of the CCAJAR, and Mr. Reinaldo Villalva Vargas, a lawyer belonging to the association.
Harassment of Mr. Pedro Julio Mahecha Ávila on the part of the DAS.132 Mr. Pedro Julio Mahecha Ávila, a lawyer member of CCAJAR, and currently part of a team of lawyers defending three Irish citizens -Messrs. Niall Connolly, James Monaghan and Martin Mc Kauley – was harassed by the DAS, who accused him of being a member of the FARC. On 14 May 2004, while he was in Carthagena for work reasons, he was followed by some persons who were identified as DAS officials. The pressures made on him were so strong that Mr. Mahecha Ávila was forced to ask for the help of the police and finally to leave the town and cancel his trip to Barranquilla, which was planned as part of the European Union's "Country, democracy and development" programme. Following a petition issued by CCAJAR, the head of the judicial section was questioned in relation with these incidents. The latter, while acknowledging the facts, denied any operation was underway concerning Mr. Mahecha Avila, and claimed that the harassment had been part of a wider crime prevention programme within the region.
Harassment of Mrs. Diana Teresa Sierra Gomez.133 Mrs. Diana Teresa Sierra Gomez, a CCAJAR member who was to travel to The Hague (Netherlands) on 2 September 2004 to take part in the Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC), was obliged to cancel her departure for fear of retaliations by the DAS. Indeed, on the same day, the CCAJAR was informed of a trustworthy witness according to whom the DAS intended to arrest Mrs. Sierra Gomez at the airport of El Dorado in Bogotá. Mr. Carlos Franco, the director of the Presidential Programme for Human Rights of the Vice-Presidency of the Republic stated that an enquiry would be carried out into the incident.
Harassment of and theft of information from a CCAJAR member.134 On 1 October 2004, Mr. Efraín Cruz Gutiérrez, legal assistant for the CCAJAR, was followed by a jeep from the offices of the Prosecutor of Bogotá on his way to the Collective's offices. The Transport Secretariat later found that the registration plates of the car in question corresponded to those of an official vehicle registered with the municipality of Ubaté in the department of Cundinamarca.
The home of Mr. Efraín Cruz Gutiérrez had already been burgled on 15 September 2004, and his personal computer and fax stolen, among other things, while other objects which could have been more easily carried and of greater value had not been taken away. The stolen items contained important data relating to the work that Mr. Efraín Cruz is performing as a human rights activist for the CCAJAR.
Serious harassment and threats against Mrs. Claudia Julieta Duque.135 On 7 September 2004, Mrs. Claudia Julieta Duque, a journalist who has been working for the CCAJAR since August 2003, took a taxi to return home but noticed that the driver – who was an employee of the taxi company "Tax Aeropuerto" – was behaving in a suspect manner, and questioned her concerning the phone conversation she had just had with some members of the Foundation for the Freedom of Press. After dropping her off, the driver parked and took notes. On the same day, Mrs. Julieta Duque received a vulgar message on her answering machine in which she was threatened with death. These facts were reported to colonel Luis Alfonso Novoa, the director of the National Police's Human Rights Department and to sergeant Fabio Cepeda. The latter told Mrs. Julieta Duque that no enquiry could be carried out without an order of the Public Prosecutor's Office (Procuraduría) or of the Prosecutor General's Office (Fiscalía), which had decided not to follow up on the case as of the end of 2004.
Moreover, on 17 November 2004, Mrs. Claudia Julieta Duque received a call on her cell pone in which a male voice checked her identity and also mentioned the name of her 10-year-old daughter. Without identifying himself, the man then told her that he would be obliged to kill her daughter. The phone number from which the call was made was immediately tried, and a man finally answered, who said his name was Alex. In the background, the sound of walkie-talkies could be heard, like those commonly used by the State police. The man was then asked if he was in a CAI (Centro de Atencíon Inmediata de la Policia), at which he answered that he was at the corner of Caracas avenue and the sixth road. This address corresponds to the buildings of the SIJIN and of the headquarters of the police task force (Fuerza Disponible) and of the metropolitan police. These acts of harassment took place two days after the Protection Programme for journalists was finally approved by the Ministry of the Interior, and after a Security Plan was approved especially for Mrs. Julieta Duque, according to which she had been granted the use of an armoured vehicle as well as other protection measures.
On 15 December 2004, Mrs. Claudia Julieta Duque decided to leave the country because of the danger to herself and her daughter.
Already in June 2004, sergeant Fabio Cepeda had advised the journalist to leave her house for security reasons, advice which she followed until august 2004. On this occasion, Mrs. Duque had given sergent Cepeda a list of phone numbers from which she had received threatening calls, as well as of number plates of cars which had followed her in the course of the year 2004. This situation was communicated to the Risk Assessment Committee (CRER) of the Ministry of the Interior, which communicated on 30 June 2004 that it would take security measures in this respect.
Slander of the CCAJAR by the governor of the department of Cesar. On 11 October 2004, during a meeting held at Valledupar regarding the implementation of protection measures for the Kankuamo indigenous community of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the governor of Cesar, Mr. Hernando Molina Araujo, verbally attacked the CCAJAR, explaining that he considered their work to be subversive and their critiques of the government to be an obstacle to peace in the country. These declarations followed a comment made by the lawyer Mrs. Jomary Ortegón Osorio, who expressed some anxiety regarding the governor's announcement of a government-supported plan of negotiations with the paramilitary groups of the region.
Escape of a soldier charged with several aggressions and assassinations of trade unionists.136 On 3 November 2004, Mr. César Maldonado Vidales, a retired army major general, escaped from the structures of the military battalion of Bogotá where he had been held since 28 October 2004, when the High Court of Bogotá confirmed his sentence to 27 years imprisonment for his moral responsibility in the attack carried out in December 2000 against Mr. Wilson Borja, then president of the National Federation of State Workers (FENALTRASE) and today a member of Parliament.137 A few days after his escape, certain members of the family of Major César Maldonado Vidales and his lawyer, Mrs. Gloria Duarte, accused the CCAJAR of being responsible for his disappearance. The CCAJAR was the plaintiff for Mr. Wilson Borja and also represents – in another proceeding involving Major César Maldonado Vidales – the members of the families of trade unionists Ramon Alirio Perez, who survived, and Nelson Ortega and Gerardo Lievano, who were tortured and assassinated during events which took place in Bucaramanga in 1992. These facts pose a real threat to the CCAJAR, which had already been subjected to several acts of harassment linked to these cases.138
Enquiry into the attempted assassination and threats against Mrs. Soraya Gutiérrez Arguello.139 On 14 February 2003, the car of Mrs. Soraya Gutiérrez Arguello, a lawyer belonging to the CCAJAR, had been intercepted by a vehicle from which several men armed with sub-machine guns had descended. Mrs. Gutiérrez had managed to lose her aggressors, but the front window of her car had been damaged by several bullets. In the days before, Mrs. Gutiérrez Arguello had received a number of anonymous phone calls at her home. She had reported her attempted assassination to the national police and her car had been taken to the DAS in order to carry out ballistic tests.
Furthermore, on 20 February 2003, the household help of Mrs. Gutiérrez had received three phone calls from a man asking where the latter was, and on 3 March 2003, a man phoned at Mrs. Gutiérrez's house and asked at what time her daughter came home from school. A few moments later, as the household help went to pick the little girl up from school, she noticed that she was being followed by a taxi, whose driver, having pulled up alongside her had asked whether she was going to pick up Soraya's daughter. He had then parked and got out of the car, and only driven off once the little girl had arrived. On that same day, the concierge of the building in which Mrs. Gutiérrez lives informed her that a man claiming to work for Cablecentro had asked for the number of her apartment. After checking, it was ascertained that Cablecentro had not sent anyone to that address. These extremely serious incidents had been reported to the Attorney General, who is in charge of enquiries into harassment and threats against the members of the CCAJAR.
Following the report of these two cases, despite the fact that an enquiry was officially opened, no investigations have been carried out at the end of 2004.
Search of the headquarters of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó.140 On 12 March 2004, the headquarters of the organisation Peace Community of San José de Apartadó (Antioquia) was searched by collaborators of the Prosecutor General, accompanied by soldiers of the Berajano Muñoz battalion and of the DAS. Following this search and that of her own home, Mrs. Diana Valderrama, a member of the Internal Council of the Peace Community, was arrested for "possession of documents inciting the population to keep on the margin of the conflict and not collaborate with the armed forces, including the army". During the time she was detained, Mrs. Diana Valderrama was threatened and intimidated by hooded individuals. She was released 24 hours later without charges.
Death threats against Mr. Ademir Luna and attempted assassination of one of his relatives.141 On 29 Mars 2004, two men on a motorcycle approached the taxi belonging to Mr. Eduardo Luna, the father of Mr. Ademir Luna, a journalist and member of the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (Corporación Regional para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos – CREDHOS) in Barrancabermeja.
Mr. Fabian Correa, who usually drives the vehicle, was forced to turn into a dead end. He was then threatened at gunpoint and told: "Are you Ademir Luna? We are going to kill you". Mr. Fabian Correa was then pushed against the car, and his attackers – insulting him all the while poured petrol over him and the car and threatened to set him on fire. They then tried, in vain, to do so, but as their lighter did not work they left. The taxi driver immediately reported the fact to the police. Mr. Ademir Luna had already been the victim of several threats and intimidations, including on 3 February 2004, when several men watched and loitered around his house.
His partner, Mrs. Janeth Montoya, who is also a journalist, had been forced to leave the town of Barrancabermeja in November 2003 and had given up her job at the newspaper Vanguardia Liberal following death threats against her issued by paramilitary groups.
Threats and harassment against Mr. Guillermo Castaño Arcila and Mrs. Luz Adriana González Correa.142 In April 2004, Mr. Guillermo Castaño Arcila and Mrs. Luz Adriana González Correa, respectively president and secretary general of the Risaralda section of the CPDH, were harassed and threatened on several occasions. During more than three weeks, a group of armed men tailed Mrs. Gonzáles Correa, and in February 2004, several individuals stationed at night in a white car in front of the door of the country house of Mr. Guillermo Castaño Garcia. When questioned by the concierge, they started the car and drove off at high speed without proffering any explanation. The next day, on the same spot where the car had been parked, a bag was found containing blankets, clothes and two towels bearing the initials of the Colombian National Army. Two days later, two of the men came to claim their bag back, explaining that it contained provisions for a few days' fishing outing.
Subsequently, on 14 April 2004, on two occasions, a man claiming to be part of an illegal armed group phoned the apartment of Mr. Castaño Arcila demanding that he pay him 10 million pesos, or that they would set fire to his country house. Mr. Castaño Arcila complained with the DAS about the incident, but without success.
These events took place at the time when trustworthy sources claimed the existence of a conspiracy to assassinate Mr. Arcila and Mrs. Correa, in which persons close to the national intelligence services were said to be involved.
Paramilitary groups had already threatened Mrs. González Correa and Mr. Castaño Arcila through a press release distributed on 22 August 2002, and they had consequently been included – on 27 August 2002, together with several trade unionists and other members of the Committee – in an IACHR protection scheme.
Search and harassment of the APSCP.143 On 4 May 2004, four unidentified armed and hooded persons burst into the offices of the Permanent Assembly of Civil Society for Peace (Asamblea Permanente de la Sociedad Civil por la Paz – APSCP) and asked the person there for information regarding the office hours of the secretary general of the organisation. They then tied up his hands and feet and threatened him with automatic weapons. The criminals searched the offices and stole a cell phone and the money contained in one of the cashboxes.
During the night of 10 November 2004, seven armed men, five of them hooded, burst into the APSCP premises in the La Soledad district in Bogotá. The men obliged the person who was in the office at the time to lie face down on the floor and then started to take the hard disks from the computers. Nevertheless, the attempted theft failed thanks to the help of neighbours and of the security guard of the nearby school of criminology of the Prosecutor General's Office (Escuela de Criminalística de la Fiscalía), who exchanged gunshots with the intruders.
Threats against Mr. César Augusto González Ortiz.144 On 29 June 2004, Mr. César Augusto Gonzalez Ortiz, a law student at the national university, received three consecutive messages on his mobile phone threatening him with death. Mr. César Augusto González Ortiz is a student leader, co-founder of the Student Council of the Law and Political and Social Sciences Faculty of the national university, as well as of the AURORA human rights project of the same faculty. He was also the instigator in 1999 of the campaign for the liberation of the USO leaders, and of the Colombian Platform for Human Rights, Democracy and Development (Plataforma Colombiana de Derechos Humanos, Democracia y Desarrollo).145
Threats and harassment against two leaders of the League of Displaced Women.146 On 2 July 2004, around midnight, a group of three people, two of them hooded, broke into the home of Mrs. Ana Luz Ortega Vásquez, a leader of the League of Displaced Women (Liga de Mujeres Desplazadas), in the Pozón district in Carthagena. The intruders then had everyone leave the house at gunpoint and kept Mrs. Ortega Vásquez and her seven children as hostages. They then stole some valuable objects and threatened to take Mrs. Ortega Vásquez's eldest son, aged 15. The same mode of action was used the same evening in the home of Mrs. Irene Leonor Toro Trios, a leader of the same association who lives next to Mrs. Ortega Vásquez's house, and who was also kept hostage by force.
Persecution and harassment of Mr. Rodrigo Villabón and Mr. Walter Mondragón.147 From 13 to 17 July 2004, a mission to monitor the situation of human rights and of international humanitarian law was carried out in the region of Guaviare, commissioned by the CCAJAR, the Reiniciar Corporation, the CPDH, the FENSUAGRO and the National Solidarity Aid Association (Asociación Nacional de Ayuda Solidaria – ANDAS). Following this mission, in which they had taken part, Mr. Rodrigo Villabón, leader of the community of the town of Calamar (Guaviare), and Mr. Walter Mondragón, a lawyer of the Reiniciar Corporation, arrived in Bogotá on 21 July 2004, and were then subjected to acts of persecution and harassment. An unidentified person visited Mr. Villabón in a car with tinted windows, without a rear registration plate. The person insisted to be given Mr. Villabón's phone number, who refused. As for Mr. Mondragón, he declared that he was followed incessantly by an unknown person both near his office and in other places.
Threats against Arauca social and trade union leaders.148 On 23 and 24 October 2004, some pamphlets signed by the paramilitaries of the "Conquerors' Block of Arauca" (Bloque Vencedores de Arauca) once again addressed threats against some citizens as well as social and trade union leaders of Arauca, whom they claimed to be collaborators of the guerrilla. A list also designated certain members of social organisations as "military targets", including the president of the Arauca section of the CPDH, Mrs. Teresa de Jesús Cedeño Galindo, the municipal councillor of Saravena, Mr. Donaldo Sanchez, and the former councillor, Mr. William Reyes Cadena.
Search, harassment and death threats against a member of CREDHOS.149 On 25 October 2004, six men and one woman, some of whom armed, arrived at the apartment of Mrs. Audrey Robayo Sánchez, a member of the leadership of the CREDHOS and of the Women for the Future Foundation (Mujer y Futuro), in Bucaramanga. These individuals, who introduced themselves as members of the Prosecutor's Office, of the DAS and of the CTI, entered her apartment with a video camera and a search warrant. They filmed every detail, but never mentioned the reason for this. Subsequently, they asked Mrs. Robayo Sánchez and her mother to identify themselves and show their ID. The information thus obtained was communicated via radio.
After almost one hour of fruitless search, the people in question drew up a report; a document signed by a man identified as being the Prosecutor, a representative of the Immediate Reaction Unit (Unidad de Reacción Inmediata – URI), and by Mrs. Robayo Sánchez herself. According to this document, nothing had been found and nobody had been arrested. Finally, the Prosecutor said that they had been looking for weapons and explosives belonging to the FARC.
The IACHR has granted protection to Mrs. Robayo Sánchez since 2000, when she was forced to leave the town of Barrancabermeja owing to death threats directed at her by paramilitary groups.
Threats, harassment and attacks against civil servants involved in human rights protection
Threats against Mrs. Alba Luz Pinilla.150 On 15 January 2004, Mrs. Alba Luz Pinilla, peace councillor at the town hall of Bucaramanga, received death threats from the Bolívar Central Block of the AUC, who sent her pictures of a man who had pretented to be a "displaced" person a few months earlier, and who was under orders to kill her. On 25 February 2004, this person came to the town hall but did not managed to meet her.
Search of the headquarters of the Human Rights Committee of the Senate of the Republic.151 On 30 March 2004 in Bogotá, some CTI agents brandishing an arrest warrant, searched the headquarters of the Human Rights Committee of the Senate of the Republic. The investigators tried to obtain information regarding various matters, took away copies of the Commission's documents and asked the names of about twenty people, including those of social, trade union, and political leaders, as well as of human rights activists who had recently left the country for security reasons. The search was carried out four days after two members of the Committee had received a summons to appear to answer for the alleged crimes of "traffic of emigrants and false complaint".
[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]
52. See Annual Report 2003 and Colombia Special Appeal December 2003-April 2004.
53. See Colombia Special Appeal December 2003-April 2004.
54. Idem.
55. Idem.
56. Idem.
57. Idem.
58. Idem.
59. Idem.
60. Idem.
61. See Urgent Appeal COL 007/0404/OBS 027 and Colombia Special Appeal, December 2003-April 2004.
62. See Urgent Appeal COL 004/0304/OBS 018.
63. See Colombia Special Appeal May-July 2004.
64. Idem.
65. Idem.
66. See Urgent Appeal COL 012/0704/OBS 060 and Colombia Special Appeal, May-July 2004.
67. See Colombia Special Appeal May-July 2004.
68. See Urgent Appeal COL 013/0804/OBS 065 and Colombia Special Appeal, August-December 2004.
69. See Colombia Special Appeal August-December 2004.
70. Idem.
71. Idem.
72. Idem.
73. See Annual Report 2002 and Colombia Special Appeal August-December, 2004.
74. See Urgent Appeal COL 002/0204/OBS 010.
75. Idem.
76. See Press Release, 6 April 2004 and Colombia Special Appeal December, 2003-April 2004.
77. See Urgent Appeal COL 008/0504/OBS 038 and Colombia Special Appeal, May-July 2004.
78. See Urgent Appeal COL 013/0804/OBS 065 and Colombia Special Appeal, May-July 2004.
79. See Press Release, 20 September 2004.
80. See Urgent Appeal COL 017/1004/OBS 079.
81. See Urgent Appeal COL 022/1104/OBS 087 and Colombia Special Appeal, August-December 2004.
82. See Urgent Appeal COL 021/1104/OBS 086 and Colombia Special Appeal, August-December 2004.
83. See Annual Report 2003.
84. See Annual Report 2003 and Colombia Special Appeal, August-December 2004.
85. See Annual Report 2003 and Colombia Special Appeal, May-July 2004.
86. See Annual Report 2003.
87. See Urgent Appeals COL 003/0204/OBS 014, COL 018/1004/OBS 082, Colombia Special Appeals December 2003-April 2004, May-July 2004 and August-December 2004.
88. See Colombia Special Appeal December 2003-April 2004.
89. See Colombia Special Appeal May-July 2004.
90. Idem.
91. Idem.
92. Idem.
93. See Urgent Appeal COL 013/0804/OBS 065 and Colombia Special Appeal, August-December 2004.
94. See Annual Report 2003 and Colombia Special Appeal December 2003-April 2004.
95. See Annual Report 2003.
96. See Colombia Special Appeal December 2003 – April 2004.
97. See Urgent Appeal COL 011/0604/OBS 048.
98. See Colombia Special Appeal May-July 2004.
99. See Colombia Special Appeal August-December 2004.
100. See Urgent Appeal COL 023/1204/OBS 093 and Colombia Special Appeal, August-December 2004.
101. See Urgent Appeal OMCT COL 161104 (grave human rights violations inflicted on populations in the south of Bolívar).
102. See Urgent Appeals COL 004/0304/OBS 018 and COL 007/0404/OBS 027, and Colombia Special Appeal December 2003-April 2004.
103. See Colombia Special Appeal May-July 2004.
104. Idem.
105. Idem.
106. See Colombia Special Appeal December 2003-April 2004.
107. See above.
108. See Colombia Special Appeal May-July 2004.
109. See Colombia Special Appeals December 2003-April 2004 and August-December 2004.
110. See Colombia Special Appeal December 2003-April 2004.
111. See Colombia Special Appeal May-July 2004.
112. Idem.
113. Idem.
114. Idem.
115. Idem.
116. Idem.
117. Idem.
118. See Urgent Appeal COL 018/1004/OBS 082 and Colombia Special Appeal, August-December 2004.
119. See Urgent Appeal COL 020/1104/OBS 085 and Colombia Special Appeal, August-December 2004.
120. See Colombia Special Appeal August-December 2004.
121. Idem.
122. Idem.
123. See Colombia Special Appeal December 2003-April 2004.
124. See Press Releases, 12 February and 1 June 2004, Open Letter to the Colombian authorities, 7 June 2004, and Colombia Special Appeal May-July 2004.
125. Name of a camp set up by displaced persons in the district of San José near the town of Apartado.
126. See Annual Report 2003, Urgent Appeal COL 002/1003/OBS 053.1 and Colombia Special Appeal December 2003 – April 2004.
127. See Colombia Special Appeal December 2003-April 2004.
128. See Urgent Appeal COL 014/0904/OBS 068 and Colombia Special Appeal, August-December 2004.
129. See Open Letter to the Colombian Authorities, 25 March 2004 and Colombia Special Appeal, December 2003-April 2004.
130. See Urgent Appeals COL 008/0504/OBS 038, COL 010/0604/OBS 044, COL 014/0904/OBS 068, Colombia Special Appeals December 2003-April 2004 and May-July 2004.
131. See Colombia Special Appeal December 2003-April 2004.
132. See Urgent Appeal COL 010/0604/OBS 044 and Colombia Special Appeal, May-July 2004.
133. See Urgent Appeal COL 014/0904/OBS 068.
134. See Urgent Appeal COL 014/0904/OBS 068.1.
135. See Urgent Appeals COL 015/0904/OBS 070 and 070.1 and Colombia Special Appeal August-December 2004.
136. Open Letter to the Colombian Authorities, 12 November 2004 and Colombia Special Appeal August-December 2004.
137. See Annual Report 2000.
138. See Annual Report 2002.
139. See Annual Report 2003.
140. See Colombia Special Appeal December 2003-April 2004.
141. See Urgent Appeal COL 006/0404/OBS 023 and Colombia Special Appeal, December 2003-April 2004.
142. See Urgent Appeal COL 009/0504/OBS 040 and Colombia Special Appeal, May-July 2004.
143. See Urgent Appeal COL 021/1104/OBS 086 and Colombia Special Appeals May-July 2004 and August-December 2004.
144. See Colombia Special Appeal May-July 2004.
145. Colombian section of the Inter-American Platform for Human Rights, Democracy and Development, which is formed by various human rights NGOs, social organisations and other institutions of Colombian civil society.
146. Colombia Special Appeal May-July 2004.
147. Idem.
148. See Colombia Special Appeal August-December 2004.
149. See Urgent Appeal COL 019/1104/OBS 083 and Colombia Special Appeal, August-December 2004.
150. See Colombia Special Appeal December 2003-April 2004.
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