What you should do
-
Call and/or fax the armed actors who have a presence in the zone, so
that those who have Diana in their power recognize this fact, respect her
physical integrity and immediately release her.
-
Ask Colombian authorities to begin immediate search actions in the
perimeter where DIANA was last seen, and encourage American authorities to
request that the same be done in Colombia.
-
Ask Colombian and American authorities to investigate the reasons why the municipal
administration did not fulfill its promise to pick up the peasants at agreed
place and time.
Contacts
Madeleine Albright
Secretary of State
+1 (202) 647 1533
William Cohen
Department of Defense
+1 (703) 697 9080
Ambassador Curtis Kamman
+57 1 315 2163
Colonel Diego Gutierrez
XVII Brigade of the National Army
Telephone:
+57 4 823 6844
+57 4 823-9527
+57 4 823-9526
General Herrera Verbel
IV Brigade of the National Army
Telephone:
+57 4 230-4411
+57 4 230-5127
Gustavo Bell Lemus
Vice-President of the Republic
Fax:
+57 1 286-3589
Andres Pastrana
President of the Republic
Fax:
+57 1-5616580
Jaime Bernal Cuellar
Prosecutor General of the Nation
Fax:
+57 1-2827614
Alfonso Gomez Mendez
Attorney General of the Nation
Fax:
+57 1-5700200
Fernando Castro Caycedo
Defender of the People
Fax:
+57 1-345-2300
Brigadier General Gabriel Eduardo Contreras
I Division of the National Army
Telephone:
 +57 5 423-1802
 +57 5 421-0996
 +57 5 421-0482
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The Intercongregational Commission of Justice and Peace is making known to
national and international human rights organisms the disappearance of DIANA
SALAMANCA MARTINEZ, which occurred yesterday, November 10, in the
municipality of Dabeiba, Antioquia.
Acts:
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DIANA SALAMANCA MARTINEZ, 22, a student of social work at the National
University who, as part of her internship work, works as a volunteer with
our Intercongregational Commission of Justice and Peace, accompanying
forcibly displaced women and children of the village of La Balsita,
provisionally settled in the municipality of Dabeiba (Antioquia), has been
missing since 2:00 p.m. yesterday, November 10, 1999.
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At 8:00 a.m. on that day, a group of 11 members of the displaced
community of the village of La Balsita, settled in the municipality of
Dabeiba (Antioquia), left in the dump truck of the municipal goverment,
accompanied by Diana, in search of wood for cooking. They headed toward the
site known as ALTO BONITO, located approximately ‡ hour from the city,
between kilometer markings 49 and 50, on the highway that leads to MUTATA.
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It is important to note that, before leaving the city, municipal
administration officials promised the displaced community to pick them up in
the afternoon, in order to guarantee their return. The officials did not
fulfill this agreement.
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Around 2:00 p.m., DIANA, accompanied by a member of the community, left
the group that was cutting wood, as they were 20 meters away from the main
highway. The peasant who accompanied her returned to the site where the
other persons were, leaving DIANA seated along the side of the road on a
bridge marked by a red inscription that reads "209 + 719". From that
moment, the peasants lost contact with DIANA.
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Around 3:30 p.m., an hour and a half after DIANA, the accompanier,
separated from the group, when the peasants had finished their work and went
to meet up with DIANA, they observed a truck with a white cab with men
inside, dressed as civilians and with backpacks on their backs. An armed man
dressed in blue jeans and a white shirt and carrying a backpack on his back,
ran near the truck and boarded the vehicle.
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The group of peasants went to the bridge where she had been. When they
did not see her, they initiated a search without finding her. Given this
and the fact that the dump truck that the municipal administration had
promised to send never returned, a peasant returned to the city of Dabeiba
to inform the missionary team of our Commission about the DIANA's
disappearance, while the rest of the group remained in the place trying in
vain to locate her.
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Around 5:00 p.m., a commission comprised of members of religious
communities and the displaced community left for Alto Bonito, looking for
her in and around that site for over an hour, but the search for DIANA was
unsuccessful. At this moment, she remains disappeared.
At this time, the following questions arise: How does one explain the
municipal administration's failure to fulfill its promise about the dump
truck, which should have picked up the peasants in the afternoon and did not
arrive? How does one explain the presence of armed actors at the site, when
the Coyara Battalion of the XVII Brigade is located 30 minutes away?
Antecedents:
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The Intercongregational Commission of Justice and Peace has been
accompanying the displaced communities of the Village of La Balsita since
the month of December 1997, one month after this population was the object
of an atrocious action by paramilitary groups who, in complicity - by action
or omission - with the Public Forces, obligated them to leave their land and
to settle in the municipality of Dabeiba.
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Our Commission has denounced more than 250 assassinations and
disappearances that the paramilitary groups have perpetrated, in the most
absolute impunity, in the municipality of Dabeiba, during the period from
mid-1996 to early 1999.
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Following the paramilitary actions that caused bloodshed among the
civilian population in the zone, Dabeiba has been the scene of confrontation
since August 1998 between the insurgency and the Army-paramilitaries, a
confrontation during which the FARC have invaded the municipality on two
occasions, once during the month of September 1998 and again during the
month of May 1999, also leaving behind victims among the civilian
population.
Requested Action:
We make a call to our fellow friends of life, asking them to:
-
Exert pressure on the armed actors who have a presence in the zone, so
that those who have DIANA in their power recognize this fact, respect her
physical integrity and immediately release her.
-
Ask Colombian authorities to begin immediate search actions in the
perimeter where DIANA was last seen.
-
Ask Colombian authorities to investigate the reasons why the municipal
administration did not fulfill its promise to pick up the peasants at agreed
place and time.
Intercongregational Commission of Justice and Peace
Santafe de Bogota, November 10, 1999
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