To Colombia Support Network (CSN) members and other interested persons:
On March 19, 2024 two persons in the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado, a 30-year-old mother of 3 children and a teenage young man, were murdered in a residence in a part of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado. The persons responsible for this terrible crime have not yet been identified, though they are believed to be members of a paramilitary organization, the Clan del Golfo, which has been harassing residents of the Peace Community for years. The public authorities have not promptly investigated the murders, nor provided measures to protect the Peace Community and its residents.
In fact, Peace Community leaders have learned that on April 16 leaders of local Community Action Boards met with paramilitary members, and the topic discussed at their meeting was a plan to exterminate the Peace Community. On April 25 Peace Community members discovered that a corral at the Peace Community farm Las Delicias had been opened, allowing the escape of animals kept there to supply food to the residents of the Peace Community.
We call upon the following officials to investigate the murderous actions of the paramilitaries and take the persons responsible into custody for prosecution, and also to cooperate with the Peace Community leaders to provide protective measures for the Community.
Minister of Defense Ivan Velasquez Gomez; Address: Ministry of Defense of Colombia, Carrera 54, No. 26-2, Bogota, D.C., Colombia
Commander of the Seventeenth Brigade of the Colombian Army in care of the Commander of the Colombian Military Forces; Address: General Helder Giraldo Bonilla, Comandante de las Fuerzas Militares de Colombia, Carrera 59A, Numero 44b-29, Bogota, D.C., Colombia (or) atencionciudadanaejc@ejercito.mil.co
Mayor of Apartado Jose David Rangel Sanguino, Alcaldia Mayor, Apartado, Colombia, (or) contactenos@apartado.gov.co
Please provide CSN with copies of your correspondence and any responses you receive from the persons to whom you write. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Jack Laun, Co-Founder and Program Director, Colombia Support Network, colombiasupport@gmail.com
Suggested letters:
Dear Minister of Defense Velasquez,
We write to you to ask that you investigate the murder of 2 residents of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado, a community that you visited several months ago with the Peace Commissioner. The murdered persons, a 30-year-old mother of 3 children and a teenage boy were apparently killed by members of a paramilitary organization, which we believe is linked to or part of the Clan del Golfo. And we request that you advise us of the measures to protect the Peace Community which you are taking.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this request.
Sincerely,
Dear General Giraldo,
We write to you in response to the murder of two residents of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado on March 19, 2024. The residents, a thirty year-old mother of 3 children, and a teenage boy were attacked and killed in a residence in the Peace Community, apparently by members of a paramilitary organization, which we believe is linked to or a part of the Clan del Golfo. And we request that you advise us of the measures to protect the Peace Community which you are taking.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this request.
Sincerely,
Dear Mayor Rangel,
We write to you in response to the murder of two residents of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado on March 19, 2024. The residents, a 30 year-old mother of 3 children and a teenage boy, were attacked and killed in a residence in the Peace Community, apparently by members of a paramilitary organization, which we believe is linked to or a part of the Clan del Golfo. We request that you provide us with information concerning an investigation by your office of the attack on the Peace Community and inform us what measures you have taken for protection of the Peace Community and investigation into the murders and their perpetrators.
I would appreciate your prompt response to these inquiries.
Sincerely,