STATEMENT TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC: FR. JAVIER GIRALDO 
DECLARED A "MILITARY TARGET"

The Religious Conference of Colombia and the Intercongregational 
Commission of Justice and Peace wish to make known to national and 
international public opinion, diplomatic delegations, the media, and the 
Colombian State that:

1.  Following the military operation ("allanamiento") of the 
headquarters of the Intercongregational Commission of Justice and Peace 
on May 13th of this year, threats have continued against members of the 
Commission who accompany the legal proceedings of the civil population 
in the affirmation of their rights in the midst of the conflict; 
likewise, the Commission continues to be object of condemnation and 
stigmatization, just as it has been thoughout its ten years of 
existance.

2.  We have received confidential information, which we consider 
reliable, that has originated from persons who make up part of the 
religious community, the media, diplomatic representatives and organisms 
under the control of the State, according to which the Executive 
Secretary of Justicia y Paz, Fr. Javier Giraldo M., S.J., has been 
declared a "military target" and, moreover, there exists a operation in 
progress to assassinate him.  We also know that high-ranking military 
officials have openly expressed their adamant opposition to Fr. Javier 
Giraldo.

3.  Despite knowing such information and being certain of its veracity, 
for the first time in Justicia y Paz ten years of existence, we find 
ourselves with "our hands tied" by the apparent lack of "objective" 
elements that would permit us to denounce such criminal plans and 
iniciate some action, penal or disciplinary -- however unproductive they 
have been up until now -- that would prevent the execution of another 
crime of lesa humanity, determined, designed and executed by agents of 
the State or with their aquiescence.

4.  Once again, we wish to make known, with pain and horror, the 
perfection of the methods of dirty war and of the mechanisms of 
repression, which extend their radius of action to vast sectors of the 
population; the refinement of mechanisms intended to guarantee --even 
before their execution -- that crimes go unpunished, making it 
impossible that the Truth regarding those crimes be known and serve as a 
foundation for the demands of Justice and Reparation and, obviously, to 
prevent the consummation of other crimes.

5.  We are convinced that the assault against human rights defenders 
makes up part of a strategy aimed at impeding their active participation 
in any process of negociation in the conflict and guaranteeing that the 
thousands of crimes of lesa humanity that have been committed up until 
now, remain forgotten, just as if the victims had never existed and the 
victimizers enjoy a complete and unconditional pardon.

6.  The recent assassinations of Jesœs Mar’a Valle and Eduardo Uma–a 
Mendoza let us see clearly the intention of exterminating persons who, 
by their historic trajectory and their socio-political position, formed 
a guarantee  to not let everything that has happened remain in impunity.  
For this reason, a possible attempt on the life of Fr. Javier Giraldo 
would mark yet another act to further demonstrate this logic of 
annihilation.  They are attacking not only the persons, but also what 
they represent:  the struggle to uncover the impunity of crimes, the 
denunciation of the powers that promote these crimes, and the demand for 
real guarantees in the practice of human rights.

7.  For the above reasons, Fr. Javier Giraldo has had to adopt methods 
of precaution in order to safeguard his life, and this has affected his 
daily work in solidarity with the victims.  Similarly, he was not able 
to participate personally in the meeting in Maguncia, Germany, which 
began on the 12th of this month and to which he had been invited, 
despite the fact that he held this as an extremely important event, 
since it constituted an historic opportunity to visualize the challenges 
to consider in any serious process of political negociation of the 
internal armed conflict that has developed for over 30 years in 
Colombia, and in which the public backing of military privilege (fuero 
militar), the rise of paramilitarism, and the structural injustice of 
the Colombian judicial system have worked together to justify the almost 
26,000 political assassinations and 2,500 forced dissappearances.  This 
has produced a silencing of the clamor of the victims and of their 
families, communities and organizations.

As religious men, women and lay people committed to the defense of 
dignified life:

-  We make this known to you, not as a formal denunciation, but as an 
historical record of what we are experiencing.  We are not requesting 
any investigation from State or government institutions.  We are not 
requesting forms of protection, either.  Our experience these past ten 
years has proven to us that these methods have not prevented foretold 
crimes from being committed.

-  We reaffirm our option in defense of dignified life, and with that in 
mind we reiterate that any process of political negociation of the armed 
conflict should be based on the Historic Truth regarding the crimes of 
lesa humanity that have been committed in our country, such as political 
murders, genocide, detention and forced dissappearance, torture, and 
forced displacement.  Moreover, any process of political negociation 
should guarantee the Right to Justice, understood as the trial and 
punishment of those responsible for the crimes, and Integral Reparation 
in relation to the crimes committed by agents of the State by way of 
action or ommission, or by individuals under the patronage or tolerance 
of the State, for the ethnic communities, regional or local, political 
and trade organizations, victims families and the victims themselves, 
when possible.


In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, of the victims and their families, of 
the hidden truth, of the justice that cries out to heaven, and of the 
possibility of a future with true peace, we say to the victimizers and 
their instigators:  "Woe to those who turn judgement to wormwood and 
cast justice to the ground !  They hate him who reproved at the gate and 
abhor him who speaks the truth."  Amos 5, 10.

We make a plea to all society to not be an accomplice in this possible 
crime and in others that are being planned, since "This is why the 
Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up 
again.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.  I have 
power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.  This command I 
have received from my Father"    John 10, 17-18


Signed,

The Religious Conference of Colombia
        Sr. Silvia Vallejo V.  O.D.N., President
        Sr. Aura Felisa Parra V. HPSPC., Secretary

The Intercongregational Commission of Justice and Peace
        Sr. Libia Duque A.C.I.          Sr. Nohemy Palencia O.P.
        Clemencia Correa                Sr. Isabel GutiŽrrez, S.A.C.
        Sr. Maritze Trigos, O.P.                Danilo Rueda
        Iv‡n Forero                     Mauricio Llanten, S.J.


                                        -- SantafŽ de Bogot‡,  July 10, 1998