WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #431, MAY 3, 1998
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK 339
LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499
WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #431, MAY 3, 1998
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK 339
LAFAYETTE
ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499
*11. PARAMILITARIES MURDER 23 CAMPESINOS IN COLOMBIAN
TOWN
On Apr. 28 paramilitary death squads murdered 23 campesinos in
the
municipality of Urrao in Antioquia department, Colombia. There were
some
150 selective murders in the town during 1997, according to the
Public
Ministry, but since the paramilitary "self-defense" groups left Urrao
in
December there had been little violence, until a group of some 300
individuals identifying themselves as members of the Campesino
Self-
Defense Group of Cordoba and Uraba (ACCU) entered the community
of La
Encarnacion on Apr. 28. The paramilitaries selectively pulled 10
people
from a bus, accused them of being members or supporters of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and murdered
them. The
paramilitaries then killed another 13 people in the community of El
Maravillo. The FARC's 34th Front is based near La Encarnacion.
Some 200 local residents have fled from the outlying communities
into the
town of Urrao. Despite the paramilitary group's orders that
campesinos
leave the areas where the attacks occurred, several of the widows
said they
wanted to return to their land. "They already killed our husbands,
we're
alone with our children, we want to work the land. Please! Let us
return,"
said one mother whose husband was murdered in the paramilitary
massacre.
Ironically, Urrao was in the midst of its own peace process when the
attacks took place; top church leaders had recently met with
spokespeople
of the FARC's 34th Front to negotiate the departure of the rebels
from La
Encarnacion. Now, said one campesino, "Peace is very far away, while
we
keep dying in the solitude of our countryside, without help from
anyone." [El
Colombiano (Medellin) 5/1/98, 5/2/98]
A group of 75 people--including 40 children--who have been
displaced by
the violence in Antioquia department took over the Veracruz church
in
central Medellin on Apr. 30 in a peaceful protest to draw attention to
their
situation. The protesters had been evicted a day earlier by police
agents and
municipal officials from temporary homes in El Pinar, in the Bello
area of
Medellin, where they had been living. They say they are prepared to
remain
in the church indefinitely. The eviction followed an attack by
paramilitaries
on the refugee community in which several members of the
community were
beaten and tortured and six of its leaders were abducted; three of
the
leaders' bodies were subsequently found in empty lots, while the
other
three remain missing and are believed dead. Bishop Dario Monsalve
said the
protesters are terrified: "Rather than a takeover, what these people
did was
seek refuge after the eviction. We have accepted them in a
humanitarian
way and we have given them food, blankets and medical attention,"
explained Monsalve. The bishop said the problem had been handled
very badly
by authorities. [EC 5/3/98]
*8. ACTIVISTS PROTEST "SCHOOL OF ASSASSINS"
Over 1,000 people gathered in Washington, DC on Apr. 26 for a rally
in front
of the White House to urge US president Bill Clinton to close the US
Army
School of the Americas (SOA) in Fort Benning, Georgia. The protest
was
organized by SOA Watch as part of a three-day lobbying effort for
Senate
bill S980 and House bill HR611, which if passed would immediately
close
the SOA. Many of the SOA's graduates have been accused of serious
human
rights abuses; opponents of the US army training school call it the
"School
of Assassins". [SOA Watch press release 4/27/98] As part of the
campaign,
vigils were held on Apr. 27 at US embassies in several Latin
American
countries, including Honduras, Bolivia, El Salvador and Guatemala.
Some 200
Salvadorans took part in the protest in front of the US embassy in
San
Salvador demanding the closing of SOA. [SOA Watch press release
4/27/98;
Pulsar daily summary 4/30/98, El Diario-La Prensa 4/29/98 from
AP;
Prensa Libre (Guatemala) 4/29/98; La Nacion (Costa Rica) 4/28/98
from
Reuter]
Amnesty International USA recently passed a resolution calling for
the
closing of SOA. [Amnesty International Group 75-News April 1998]
Meanwhile, SOA Watch reports that the army is sending "letters of
exclusion" to the 601 people who were arrested for walking onto Fort
Benning during a protest against SOA on Nov. 16 of last year, barring
them
from the base for five years. SOA Watch lawyer Peter Thompson
believes
that the extension of the initial exclusion period from one year to
five
years is not legal and is urging those who receive the letter to appeal
it
immediately. [SOA Watch, undated, from web site at
http://www.soaw.org/]
=========================================================
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