Santafe de Bogota, July 22, 1997

Sixth Denunciation of atrocities in the Uraba region of northwest 
Colombia since March/97


1.  San Jose de Apartado (a small, rural township of some 600 people 
twelve kilometres east of the town of Apartado)

Since Sept/96, San Jose has been the scene of a number of 
paramilitary massacres and subsequent campesino exoduses. On 
March 23/97, in a ceremony with representatives from the 
Colombian Catholic Church and national and international 
humanitarian and human rights organizations in attendance, 
residents declared San Jose a "community of peace", ratifying their 
decision to remain neutral in the armed conflict which is assailing the 
region. The killings and disappearances in and around San Jose, 
however, have continued unabated. Among the cases which have 
come to our attention since our last denunciation (May 29/97) are 
the following : 

June 21 :  Paramilitaries murder ALVARO ENRIQUE SANTOS 
BAQUERO, a 33 year old campesino who had fled the hamlet of 
Caracol¡ (San Jose de Apartado) several days earlier and moved to 
the La Paz neighborhood of Apartado. BAQUERO was murdered at the 
paramilitary checkpoint which was set up in early March/97, less 
than two kilometres from Apartado and four minutes from the 
Colombian army's base in the Policarpa neighborhood. Although 
informed of the murder, no one from either the Prosecutor's office 
(fiscal¡a) or the police station in Apartado approaches the body to 
take it to the morgue and begin legal proceedings. 


During the month of June, paramilitary death threats force 30 
residents still living in the Alto Bonito and Resbalosa hamlets outside 
of San Jose to flee the region.


June 27 :  Paramilitaries stop the local bus which travels from 
Apartado to San Jose and, after ordering its occupants off, scatter 
their foodstuffs on the ground and steal produce and other goods in 
their possession. They send the bus on its way, taking one of the 
campesinos, REINALDO TUBERQUIA, with them. His whereabouts 
remain unknown.


July 3 :  Paramilitaries arrive in the hamlets of  Miramar and La 
Victoria and force all of the families living there to leave their homes 
and flee the region.


July 4 :  An army helicopter lands in San Jose at 3 p.m. to relieve the 
soldiers stationed there. Among the soldiers onboard, residents 
recognize several paramilitaries who routinely man the paramilitary 
roadblock and threaten peasants as they travel to and from San Jose. 
One of them is the same individual who was seen tying the hands of 
FRANCISCO TABARQUINO, a member of the San Jose "Community of 
Peace" organizing committee, who was taken off a bus at the same 
paramilitary checkpoint and murdered on May 17.



2.  Riogrande (municipality of Turbo, fifteen kilomteres north of 
Apartado)

June 7 :   Paramilitaries in the Los Mandarinos hamlet of Riogrande 
murder two teenaged girls -14 year old ALFA DELIA HIGUITA 
TUBERQUIA, three months pregnant at the time and 17 year old LUZ 
ELENA VALLE ORTIZ. Several minutes earlier, the murderers stop a 
60 year old day laborer and tell him they will kill him if he does not 
leave the region. When the two teenagers pass by the paramilitaries 
minutes later on their way to the Arenas Altas hamlet where they 
live, they are taken off the donkeys they are riding, tied up and 
dragged into the underbrush beside the road and shot and killed. The 
next day, soldiers take the two bodies to the morgue in Turbo and 
report their deaths as "guerrillas killed in combat".


June 17 :    A group of uniformed men -apparently from the army 
base in Riogrande which is five minutes from the Los Mandarinos 
hamlet- force their way into the house of 29 year old, GILMA ROSA 
DUARTE, located in the same hamlet and, as her five young children 
look on, wrap a chain around her neck and strangle her to death. The 
men proceed to set fire to the house and destroy the crops they 
encounter before leaving. When Mrs. Duarte's husband returns home 
two days later, he finds his house and small plot in ruins and flees 
the region. Later that day, the same group of uniformed men murder 
two of Mrs. Duarte's neighbors -80 year old JUAN CA¥AS and his 70 
year old wife CLARA. Both have their throats cut and are hacked to 
death with machetes.  


3.  Dabeiba  ( a town of approximately 8,000 inhabitants, 150 
kilometres south of Apartado)

May 12-18 :   Paramilitaries enter and occupy the town for the third 
time this year. They stay first at the El Paso del Sol hotel, beside the 
town's central park and close to police headquarters. They are seen 
chatting with police officers regularly. From the hotel, the group 
moves into a house located at Number 8-80, Murillo Toro Avenue, a 
block from the police station. The paramilitaries wear military style 
uniforms and move from place to place in a gray, Nissan jeep, which 
they stole from its owner, Mr. ENRIQUE BORJA, after torturing and 
murdering him and on a motorcycle, stolen from its owner, ALIRIO 
AVENDANO, who they also murdered. Both vehicles are frequently 
seen parked in front of the town's army base and in the private 
parking lot of Mr. Ra£l Valderrama. The paramilitaries announce no 
one will be killed in town but, instead, taken outside the town first 
and then killed. They follow up that announcement by installing 
chekpoints on the roads leading to the townships of Urama and 
Camparrusia and at the entrance to the IDEM college and the San 
Antonio farm. None of the paramilitary checkpoints are more than 
five minutes from Dabeiba.


May 15 :  Paramilitaries murder an ice-cream vendor, ARISTIDES 
TORRES, in the place known as Puente Blanco.


May 15 :   Paramilitaries drag a construction worker, HERNANDO 
RENGIFO, off a bus on its way to the Alfonso Lopez neighborhood. His 
body is found four days later alongside the road which leads to 
Medell¡n, in the place known as "Guayabito".


May 17 :   Paramilitaries murder ALIRIO AVENDANO and another 
person riding a motorcycle with him on the road leading to the 
Urama township. The motorcycle is taken by the paramilitaries to be 
used in and around Dabeiba.


May 22 :   Paramilitaries murder MIGUEL AGUDELO on the road to 
Medell¡n, in the place known as Guayabito. He had been dragged out 
of his house the night before.


May 24 :   Paramilitaries drag two campesinos out of the "Cactus" 
tavern ; one of them is found dead the next morning in the place 
known as "El Tunel". The other is shot and taken wounded to the 
hospital. On June 1, in front of a relatives and doctors, paramilitaries 
enter the hospital at night, take the wounded man out and shoot and 
kill him in the place known as "El Pital".


May 25 :   At one o'clock in the afternoon, paramilitaries drag  JORGE 
LEON GARCIA DAVID out of his house and force him into a waiting 
jeep. Three policemen look on impassively four or five metres away 
as the victim tries to resist by throwing stones and, in turn, is shot 
repeatedly by his attackers. Family members take him to the 
hospital gravely wounded and he dies shortly after. 


May 25 :   In the place known as "Alto Bonito", paramilitaries take 
PEDRO NEL BORJA off a bus travelling from the town of Mutat  to 
Dabeiba, murder him and leave his body by the side of the road.   


May 27 :   At two in the afternoon on the road between Uramita and 
Dabeiba, paramilitaries murder a truck driver named HERNANDO 
LEON CORREA.


May 29 :   Just before 7 :30 a.m., paramilitaries drag LUIS EDUARDO 
OSORIO FLOREZ out of his house in Dabeiba, take him to the place 
known as "El Tunel" and murder him. At 9 a.m., they do the same to 
GUSTAVO TABORDA VASQUEZ, taking him out of his house to the 
place known as "La Pena del Diablo", where he is shot and killed in 
front of a number of witnesses at a paramilitary roadblock.


June 1 :   Paramilitaries drag a teenager, LUIS EDUARDO CARVAJAL, 
out of the town's central market where he worked to support his 
mother as a helper in a meat store. At 10 a.m., his body is dumped at 
the morgue. 


June 2 :   After convoking a meeting in the Alfonso L¢pez 
neighborhood and in front of a number of witneesses, a man 
nicknamed "Condorito" is shot and killed by paramilitaries. 
BERNARDO AGUIRRE is dragged out of his house, taken to the place 
known as "El Tunel" and murdered the same day by paramilitaries.


June 6 :   In the place known as "Puente Blanco", paramilitaries 
murder GABRIEL ANTONIO MUNOZ GUISAO, a driver who worked for 
the Stigma company.


June 7 :   Paramilitaries murder a campesino, HERNANDO GALLO, in 
the place known as "Pena del Diablo". The victim was on his way to 
the Cruces hamlet.


June 9 :   Paramilitaries shoot and kill JOSE ISIDRO LONDONO inside a 
house in the El Paso neighborhood.


June 11 :   Paramilitaries murder a campesino named DANIEL ( we 
have been unable to ascertain his last name) from the Antado 
hamlet.


June 14 :   Paramilitaries drag EDILBERTO USUGA MANCO out of his 
house, take him to the place known as "Puente Blanco" and shoot and 
kill him.


June 15 :   Paramilitaries stop a car at one of their roadblocks set up 
at the entrance to the IDEM college (on the road to the Camparrusia 
township) and force its owner, HERNAN CORREA into another vehicle 
full of uniformed men. At approximately 4 p.m., they murder him, 
leaving his body near the entrance of the "Remolino" farm.


June 15 :   The same vehicle that took Hern n Correa away from the 
paramilitary roadblock is seen later the same day driving through 
town and towards the road to Medell¡n. Witnesses see three people 
in it, their hands tied together. Not long afterwards, the army 
announces there has been an "armed confrontation" with the 
guerrilla and, a little while later, the bodies of the three passengers 
of the paramilitary vehicle are found with their faces grossly 
disfigured. The army subsequently presents them as "guerrillas 
killed in combat". 


June 16 :   Paramilitaries murder EUCARIO ARENAS in the place 
known as "Los Tanques".


June 17 :   After convoking a meeting at 8 a.m. in the Cruces hamlet 
and in front of numerous witnesses, paramilitaries shoot and kill a 
truck driver known as "La Liebre" and his assistant, JESUS BERRIO.


June 20 :   At 6 :30 p.m., ANTONIO MARIA TORRES SANCHEZ is shot 
and killed by paramilitaries in front of his house as his young 
children look on. The same day, paramilitaries murder one of the 
town's lottery ticket vendors, JOSE TOBIAS BARRANTES.


June 23 :   EFRAIN DE JESUS DURANGO ESPINAL, is shot and killed by 
paramilitaries in his house, located on the outskirts of town next to 
the road to Medell¡n. At 5 p.m., paramilitaries murder a girl named 
YURY in the Obrero neighborhood ; the same day, they stop a bus on 
its way to the township of Uramita and drag a young woman whose 
last name is PULGARIN off it. She lives in the Balsita hamlet, Urama 
township. Her body is subsequently found along the road to Medell¡n.


July 4 :   CARLOS PINZON is dragged out of one of the town's 
restaurants by paramilitaries. His body is found the next day along 
the road to Medell¡n, in the place known as "Guayabito".


July 6 :   A man known as FREDY is beaten and dragged out of the 
town's market by a group of paramilitaries. Later the same day his 
body is dumped at the morgue.


July 6 :   The body of RODRIGO, a truck driver who worked 
transporting foodstuffs from the Cruces hamlet to Dabeiba is found 
beside the Urama bridge. Two other bodies are found in the same 
place, both disfigured beyond recognition by torture and 
unidentifiable.


July 7 :   At one of their roadblocks set up on the road to the town of 
Frontino, paramilitaries stop the vehicle driven by HERMES USUGA, a 
truck driver who works transporting foodstuffs between Dabeiba and 
Medell¡n, and take him away. His whereabouts remain unknown.


July 8 :   Paramilitaries drag HERNANDO USUGA (father of Hermes 
Usuga) out of his house at 1 a.m. and murder him on the outskirts of 
town along the road to Turbo.


July 9 :   Paramilitaries arrive at a farm located in the Chimido 
hamlet and owned by EFRAIN GUISAO, order him to get the thirty 
head of cattle he owns together and then kill him. When one of his 
sons, JOHN FREDY GUISAO, terrified by what has happened, tries to 
run away, he is also shot and killed. The cattle are subsequently 
taken to the San Antonio farm.


July 11 :   Paramilitaries force their way into the house of ELENA 
SEPULVEDA at dawn and murder her.


July  12 :   Paramilitaries murder LUIS EDUARDO OSORIO in the 
Tacido hamlet. Later the same say, paramilitaries stop a vehicle on 
its way to the Urama township and take its driver ANIBAL SUAREZ 
away. His whereabouts remain unknown.


July 13 :   Paramilitaries murder MARIO GONZALEZ who is on his way 
to Uramita. The same day, they also murder JOHN JAIRO GUERRA 
OQUENDO.



4.  Middle Atrato (towns of Vig¡a del Fuerte (Antioquia) and Bojay  
(Choco)

In our last denunciation (May 29/97), we reported the 
paramilitarization of the Middle Atrato river region with the 
acquiescence of the Colombian army and police units based there. We 
also denounced the murders of EUCLIDES CUESTA in the town of 
Tad¡a ; the 'disappearances' of SAMUEL CORREA and ELIGIO 
GONZALEZ ; the enforced displacement of twenty inhabitants from 
the town of Vig¡a del Fuerte and the paramilitary checkpoints which 
have been set up in Bojay  and Bellavista.

Since then, the following crimes have come to our attention :


May 23 :   In Vig¡a del Fuerte, paramilitaries drag SAMUEL RENGIFO 
MOSQUERA out of a restaurant at night and take him away. People in 
town fear he was murdered and his body thrown into the river.


May 23 :   In Murr¡ - La Loma (jurisdiction of Vig¡a) paramilitaries 
'disappear' a teacher named FRANCISCO ROMANA.


May 26 :   Paramilitaries detain and 'disappear' a young man from 
Tad¡a. He is seen at a checkpoint they set up at Bocas de Bojay  in 
one of their boats with his hands tied together.  


May 26 :   Paramilitaries convoke a meeting in the town of Bellavista 
during which the police chief expresses his concerns that, because 
the paramilitaries are 'illegal groups', their actions might lead to 
investigations by human rights groups. More worrysome to the police 
official than the paramilitary murders and disappearances is the 
"possibility of human rights investigations".


May 26 :   Paramilitaries convoke a meeting of the Bojay  Indian 
Tribal Authority and tell them they must abandon both their offices 
and the town for two months.


May 27 :   The municipal ombudsman in Vig¡a del Fuerte is 
threatened by the paramilitary commander in the area, known as 
"LOBO", and forced to flee the region.


May 29 :   The director of the municipal legal offices in Bellavista is 
threatened by paramilitaries and forced to flee the region. 


June 1 :   A driver working for the hospital in Vig¡a del Fuerte, 27 
year old DAVID OSORNO VALENCIA is shot repeatedly and killed by 
paramilitaries as he is on his way back to the town after purchasing 
bananas in Bojay .


June 2 :   Between 30 and 40 paramilitaries occupy the small town of 
Puerto Conto. 


June 8 :   A group of soldiers arrives at the 'Corazon de Jesus' locality 
(municipality of Bojay ) and takes CARMELO BEYTAR away with 
them. Beytar had been displaced from the town of Salaqu¡, Riosucio 
and worked as a woodcutter's helper. The soldiers take him off 
upriver and murder him. His body is buried on a farm owned by Mr. 
Felix Guardia, land that in practice has become almost a 'paramilitary 
cemetery'. The woodcuter who worked with Carmelo Beytar, named 
PEDRO, is also seen with the  paramilitaries with his hands tied 
together. His whereabouts remain unknown.


June 14 :   For allegedly "giving false information" to the 
paramilitaries, FABIO PALOMEQUE is murdered in La Loma, Bojay .


June 15 :   Paramilitaries 'disappear' WILMER MENA MENA in Vig¡a 
del Fuerte. When his family ask after him, paramilitaries deny any 
knowledge of the incident. His whereabouts remain unknown. 


June 15 :   Paramilitaries are seen at 2 p.m. transporting a young 
man from Napip¡ in a boat on the river to the town of Bellavista. On 
arrival, the youth tries to escape by diving into the river. After 
searching all the houses in the area, the paramilitaries find him 
hiding alongside the riverbank. They gather the townspeople 
together and, in front of everyone, proceed to kill the youth, stabbing 
him in the neck and cutting off one of his arms. They leave the town 
down river with the body aboard their boat.


July 1 :   Paramilitaries stop a man from Playa de Murr¡ named 
JOSE.in front of the police station in Vig¡a del Fuerte and take him to 
the Bojay  River where it is believed  he was murdered. Prior to the 
incident, the victim had been threatened by the paramilitaries and 
ordered to leave the region.


July 1 :   Paramilitaries arrive at the cemetery in La Playa de Murr¡ 
and ask for shovels to bury an unidentified man from Napipi who 
had been murdered in Bellavista. Later the same day they arrive at 
the cemetery in La Loma de Murr¡ with another unidentified man, 
torture him in front of a local resident they force to witness the 
spectacle and then kill him. In the same place, a campesino named 
DOMINGO is falsely accused of lending his motorcycle to the guerrilla 
and beaten by paramilitaries.


July 5 :   Paramilitaries deliver the body of one of their victims, JOSE 
DOLORES N.N, to one of his sons who is a policeman in Vig¡a del 
Fuerte. The body shows signs of torture and is in a state of 
decomposition. 




5.  Pavarand¢ township (municipality of Mutata, Antioquia)

On March 28/97, 4,500 people arrived in Pavarando, after fleeing 
eastwards from the neighboring Choco province to escape army 
aerial bombings, murders and enforced disappearances committed 
by combined paramilitary/Colombian army forces in their ruthless 
advance through the Middle Atrato River region.

Since then, the hamlets around Pavarando have been targetted by 
the paramilitaries as they continute to threaten and harass the 
recently arrived displaced.


May 27 :   At 6 p.m. approximately 40 armed men wearing military 
uniforms arrive in the Llano Rico hamlet. After gathering residents 
together and checking each person's identification document, they 
select three individuals -FIDEL SUESCUN, JOSE PITALUA and a young 
man name nicknamed "Perico"- take them aside and murder them.  
They then order one of the hamlet's residents to take the bodies to 
Mutata in his jeep. The paramilitaries remain in the hamlet patrolling 
until the next morning.


May 28 :   The next day in Llano Rico, paramilitaries drag a 
campesino named EDILBERTO JIMENEZ out of his house and take him 
to a kiosk in the small town's park where they cut his hair in a 
military style crew cut. Then they parade him around the town and, 
outside his parents' house, shoot and kill him. As they leave town, 
the paramilitaries announce they are headed to Pavarando to "kill 
guerrillas". All of the inhabitants of Llano Rico subsequently flee the 
hamlet.


May 29 :   After leaving Llano Rico, the paramilitaries go to the 
hamlets of La Secreta and Malvinas in Pavarando and kill 10 people 
(most of whose names we have been unable to register). Among 
them are a minister from the Pentecostal Church who is decapitated 
and a woman who owned and ran a restaurant.

Residents of the area see Colombian army soldiers patrolling with 
paramilitaries in the hamlets where these killings take place. They 
are particularly afraid of an army Captain named Londono, who is 
frequently seen with the paramilitaries and has been designated by 
the army to "look after" the displaced persons in  Pavarando.

There are no words to adequately describe this criminal state 
strategy. Even though all of our denunciations to date have fallen on 
deaf ears, we cannot but continue to exhort the authorities :   IN 
GOD'S NAME, IN HUMANITY'S NAME, STOP THIS GENOCIDE.


With profound consternation and sorrow,


Javier Giraldo M., S.J.
Executive Secretary
Intercongregational Commission of Justice and Peace
Santafe de Bogota, Colombia