Your Response
To the Violence and Displacements
in Choco and Uraba

Here are some possible response letters you may wish to use as suggestions for letters to write to U.S. and Colombian officials protesting the high level of human rights violations occurring today in Colombia. Please send copies to CSN of your letters and any responses you might receive. Thank you!

 URABA URGENT ACTION LETTER THAT YOU MAY SEND TO  COLOMBIAN 
OFFICIALS (FEEL FREE TO ALSO NOTIFY YOUR CONGRESSPERSON OF YOUR 
CONCERNS ABOUT THE URABA REGION)

date  (eg  20 de mayo 1997)

Estimado __________________________:
(Fill in with names and addresses listed below)

A traves de la Red de Solidaridad con Colombia con sede en Madison, 
Wisconsin, EEUU he sabido de la violencia que la region de Uraba esta 
padeciendo actualmente.  Me preocupa mucho leer informacion que indica que 
el Ejercito de Colombia esta coordinando con fuerzas paramilitares ilegales 
para llevar a cabo acciones que resultan en asesinatos de ciudadanos  y el 
desplazamiento forzado de campesinos de sus tierras. 

Pido que el gobierno de Colombia tome medidas urgentes para remover de 
sus puestos los comandantes del Ejercito de Colombia, como el General Rito 
Alejo del Rio, Comandante de la XVII Brigada del Ejercito, quienes han 
fallado en sus responsibilidades de tomar accion para parar la violencia 
cometida por grupos paramilitares que operan en su region.  Pido que tales 
oficiales se reemplazen por oficiales que siguen las reglas de la 
Constitucion Colombiana y los principios de Derecho Internacional que 
protejen la dignidad humana.  Para las familias desplazadas del Bajo Atrato, 
que numeran mas de 500, pido que se les devuelva sus tierras y sus medios 
de subsistencia de los cuales se les ha privado ilegitimamente.

(Your Signature and address)



ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF URGENT ACTION LETTER

Date (May 20, 1997)

Dear __________________________:

Through the Colombia Support Network of Madison, Wisconsin I have learned 
about the violence that is plaguing the Uraba region of Colombia.   I am very 
disturbed to read reports that the official Colombian security forces are 
cooperating with illegal paramilitary forces in actions that result in 
civilian deaths and in the forces displacement of peasants from their lands.

I ask for the national Government take urgent administrative measures to 
remove from their positions the commanders of the Public Forces, such as 
General Rito Alejo Del Rio, Commander of the XVII Brigade of the Army, who 
has failed to take action to stop the violence committed by illegal 
paramilitary groups operating in his region.  I ask that such officials be 
replaced by those who abide by the rule of the constitution and the 
principles of International Justice that protect human dignity.   For the 
more than 500 families displaced from the Bajo Atrato, I ask that their  
properties and means of supporting themselves, of which they were 
unjustly deprived, be returned to them immediately.

(Your signature and address)


===================================================

URGENT ACTION ADDRESSES

Alfonso Valdivieso                                      
Fiscalia General de la Nacion                           
Calle 31 #6-23                                          
Bogota, Colombia                                        
phone:  011-57-1-281-7177  or 277-3197                                                          
fax:  011-57-1-288-2828                         

Dr. Horacio Serpa Uribe                                 
Ministro del Interior                                   
Carrera 8 #8-09                                         
 Bogota, Colombia
Fax:  011-57-1-281-5884

Defensoria del Pueblo
Jaime Castro Caicedo
Calle 55 #10-46
Bogota, Colombia
phone:  011-57-1-346-3136
fax:  011-57-1-346-1225

Ernesto Samper
Presidente de la Republica
Calle 7 #6-48
Bogota, Colombia
Tel:  011-57-1-284-3300
Fax:  011-57-1-286-7434

Mr. Juan Carlos Esguerra
Colombian Ambassador to the United States

Washington, DC

================================================================


 LONGER URGENT ACTION LETTER FOR U.S. OFFICIALS 

Madam Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State
Mr. William Cohen, Secretary of Defense
Mr. Myles Frechette, U. S.  Ambassador to Colombia
(Your Senators and Congressional Representative)
 
Dear ____________________ :


We are writing out of concern for the human rights situation in Colombia. 
According to reports obtained from the Colombia Support Network, with 
headquarters  in Madison, Wisconsin, the situation in the region of Uraba 
deteriorates daily due to the violence of different armed groups, including 
paramilitary death squads and guerrillas.

Since February 23rd, small villages in the Choco Department were 
bombarded and their inhabitants, primarily humble peasants of Colombian-
African ancestry, were evicted violently from their homes by groups that 
identified themselves as ÒparamilitaryÓ   or Òself-defenseÓ groups. On 
February 27th, in the town of Vijao, the youth Marino Lopez was 
dismembered in the most brutal way, in front of the inhabitants of Vijao. 
The inhabitants were directed to go to the town of Turbo. Such paramilitary 
groups  set up a checkpoint in the hamlet of San Jose de Apartado, searching 
for  food purchased by the inhabitants and sometimes confiscating it. On 
February 28,  a  paramilitary group took  Mr.  Ruben Villa, his son Antonio 
Villa, Miguel Haya and Guillermo Serna, and assassinated them.

General Rito Alejo del Rio, Commander of the XVII Brigade in Uraba, came to 
dialogue with the displaced families and told them  that he could not  
assure their return to their homes since he was ÒcleaningÓ the region.  The 
testimony of the displaced people indicates that General del Rio ÒcleanedÓ 
the region using paramilitary groups, demonstrating  what many 
international human rights organizations have been saying: that sectors of 
the Colombian military work hand in hand with paramilitary death squads 
(which are in turn reported to be connected to and financed by drug lords 
such as Fidel Casta–o).  

We emphatically request:

1) That all military aid to Colombia be suspended  until  the Colombian 
government investigates and prosecutes drug lords, paramilitary groups and 
army officers who are found to be linked to massacres, disappearances , 
extrajudicial executions, torture and other human rights abuses.

2)  That there be an investigation to determine if  the helicopters used to 
bombard the  villages  mentioned in the above letter are part of the 
equipment given to the Colombian government  by the U.S. government to 
fight the war on drugs.

3)  That  the visa to the United States for General Del Rio and his family be 
suspended.

4) That General Del Rio be taken to the Inter-American court for crimes 
against mankind.We call for an investigation to determine why drug lord and 
paramilitary leader Carlos Casta–o has not been apprehended by the Brigade 
of which General Del Rio is commander.

Guerrillas in the Uraba region commit despicable violations of International 
Humanitarian Law. These violations should be criticized in the strongest 
terms and those responsible should be punished.   At the same time  the 
Colombian government has responsibility for  protecting  civilian lives and 
an obligation to work against paramilitary death squads that take the law 
into their own hands.

Sincerely,

--------

State Department
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520 
fax 202 647-7120


Department of Defense
1000 Defense
The Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301

U.S. Embassy
Bogota, Colombia
fax 011 571 315 2209