Peace Community Reports Killing and Abuses
News from Colombia |
on: Thursday, 2 February 2012
The San Jose Peace Community in northern Colombia has reported the killing of another peasant. Gustavo Guzman Urrego was killed on January 11th at quarter to six, 5 minutes outside the town of San Jose de Apartado. The shots were heard in the settlement of San Josesito, where the Peace Community has its main offices. The Peace Community reported the shots to the Peoples’ Ombudsman, who said that the armed forces had no knowledge of the killing, despite the heavy police and army presence in the area. The man’s body lay unattended for 20 hours while the security forces claimed not to be able to find it. Meanwhile, the Peace Community reports that the body lay in plain view. On the 17th the army arbitrarily arrested 4 people and accused them of having carried out the murder, the Peace Community called on the Peoples’ Ombudsman to verify the accusation, but it took no action. Several hours afterwards the army released the arrested men without any explanation.
Days later, on the 14th of January paramilitaries in camouflage gear and carrying heavy weapons entered the settlements of La Esperanza and El Porvenir from their ‘New Antioquia’ base. The base has been used by paramilitaries for the last 15 years according the Peace Community. The paramilitaries proceeded to call at the houses, where they told peasants that they were going to return to kill people, and that the Community had to be exterminated since it stands in the way of their control of the region. They told the peasants that their actions are coordinated with the army and the police, and that they will soon begin joint patrols in the area. Finally they told the peasants that more paramilitaries would be coming to join them soon, and that those peasants that fail to act as informants for them will have to leave or “face the consequences.”
On the 20th of January another group of paramilitaries, this time from the Playa Larga base, arrived in the settlement of La Esperanza. Here they threatened the inhabitants before moving on. The same occurred in the settlement of El Porvenir with another group of paramilitaries the same day. The Peace Community has called these events evidence that the “state continues supporting and reinforcing paramilitarism” in the region.
