It is official — Colombia is dispensing with its paramilitary units.
From now on, the Colombian Army will do the killing itself.
‘Justice for Colombia’ just sent out a note (included below) that says uniformed men of the 18th Brigade of the Colombian Army perpetrated a massacre in Arauca, Colombia, on May 21. They disappeared 13 people. 11 of whose corpses were found the next day. That’s two days ago — Saturday. The story made Colombia’s national newspaper, El Tiempo, today.
The United Nations said 250,000 Colombians were displaced by violence in 2003, by this kind of paramilitary violence.
It is appalling that the Colombian military and paramilitaries would act in this way, especially when the country’s leaders set such a high standard for civilized behavior.
Take Fernando Londono, the architect of many of Uribe’s policies (including the failed referendum of October 2003). He called anti-free trade protesters ‘barbarians’ in an El Tiempo column. Rings a little hollow when the government is supporting mass slaughter though.
President Uribe himself sort of lost it the other day in Madrid. Looking for military and other aid, Uribe was trying to make a speech when some Spanish activists (from Ecologistas de Accion), pointed out that his presence at a ceremony in ‘solidarity’ with the victims of terrorism in Spain rang a little hollow since his government holds the record for most terrorist in the Americas (doing the bidding of the government that holds the record for most terrorist in the world). They chanted statistics on human rights violations in Colombia. Uribe first said: “The first human right is the right to the liberty of opinion of others.” The activists were apparently unconvinced. At that point various Colombian diplomatic officials started shouting the activists down, chanting: “Down with the ambassadors of of the narcoguerrilla!” Things went downhill from there.
On Friday May 21st a group of 200 heavily armed men entered the communities of Flor Amarillo and Cravo Charo in the Colombian department of Arauca and perpetrated a massacre. According to witnesses the men were a mixed group of paramilitaries and Colombian soldiers from the following army units: 5th Mobile Brigade, 43rd Counter-guerrilla Battalion of the 18th Brigade and the ‘Narvas Pardo’ Battalion also of the 18th Brigade.
Upon arriving the men took away 13 local residents including Julio Vega, a local community leader and regional organiser in the agricultural workers’ trade union. On Saturday May 22nd 11 of the victims were found dead with signs of torture outside the nearby village of Pinalito.
The Colombian NGO Corporacion Reinciar had written to the Colombian Government on May 20th asking that they protect the inhabitants of the above mentioned communities due to reports that a paramilitary unit had entered the area. According to the NGO, the paramilitaries were threatening people and looting shops and homes, accusing residents of sympathising with FARC guerrillas. The Government did not respond and as a consequence 11 people are now dead and a further two, including an important regional trade union activist, are disappeared, presumed dead.
Please write to the Colombian Government demanding that action be taken to prevent further attacks. Please also write to Bill Rammell MP at the UK Foreign Office and insist that UK military aid to the Colombian army be suspended. Although Justice for Colombia have asked Mr Rammell if any of the above mentioned army units are receiving UK military aid he has refused to say.
E-mail addresses of those to write to, as well as model letters which you can adapt, can be found on our website by clicking here: http://www.justiceforcolombia.org/action.html
