Massacres, First Half of 1999
Colombian Public Defender of The PeopleAugust 1999
Translated by Nicholas Kozloff
This Month's News | CSN Home
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Massacres, First Half of 1999Colombian Public Defender of The PeopleAugust 1999 Translated by Nicholas Kozloff This Month's News | CSN Home |
| 1998 | 1999 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Half | |||
| Massacres | 110 | 185 | +68% |
| Massacre Victims | 588 | 847 | +44% |
The armed Colombian conflict has been steadily worsening, and as of late featured massacres, forced displacement and violations of international norms governing human rights.
The various actors within this unfolding conflict flagrantly violate human rights and international norms of conduct, and, in effect, this has become their wartime strategy.
According to recent documentation concerning massacres carried out in the first semester of 1999, Antioquia continues to be the region with the highest number of cases and victims. This has been the case since the early 1980's, when Antioquia was the most violent zone within the country. What is worthy of attention is the resurgence of Valle del Cauca in terms of violent acts: at this time, Valle takes second place after Antioquia. In recent years, these statistics for Valle were significantly lower. The center of the conflict, however, has now clearly moved towards the southwest. Putumayo and Caqueta continue to be major sites of bloodshed, as are southern Bolivar department, south Cesar, and northwest Santander.
We may observe that, in comparison to the first semester of last year, the number of massacres has increased by 68% (110 in 1998 and 185 in 1999), and the number of victims has increased 44% (588 in 1998 and 847 in 1999).
It is important to point out that a significant portion of these massacres has been carried out in urban areas. As a matter of fact, 49 massacres have been carried out in departmental capital cities and surrounding metropolitan areas. Even when there is a strong state presence, this is no guarantee of safety for Colombian nationals. Clearly, the objective of the different actors in this conflict is to attack the social base of the opposing sides, and increasingly more so within the urban context.
As a tactic of warfare, massacres generate forced displacement which in turn exerts a tremendous social cost on society. One may observe that within the departments already mentioned, the greatest number of displacements occurred during the course of the year. It is worthwhile mentioning, for example, the displacement which occurred in the Department of Meta, in particular within certain municipalities such as San Vicente del Caguan, within Caqueta department.
It is also worth mentioning that some displaced citizens from the zone of La Gabarra, had been the victims of a paramilitary incursion into the city of Cucuta, where said victims had fled and sought refuge for their lives.
If these deplorable conditions continue, and the government fails to develop a clear policy which might serve to protect the rights of the civilian population, then it is likely that the massacres and displacements will also continue, claiming victims within the civil population at large.
The following figures do not include persons who have died in combat.
In order to clarify and order the figures, some headings and numbers have been included which may facilitate analytical work.
These are massacres designed to eliminate certain people considered undesirable by the wider society. These are people existing on the margins of society, or completely outside of the system. The practice of getting rid of said grouping may be termed "social cleansing."
Said victims are largely composed of the indigent, beggars, those dependent on garbage, bazuco addicts, street children, sex workers, drug addicts, young juveniles living in poorer outlying areas, unemployed or informal workers.
One may also include within this group the Popular Militias, juvenile gangs, etc., all involved in an overall struggle for survival.
This type of massacre aims to accumulate wealth, as the massacre may serve to appropriate goods or acquire a monopoly on the market, and in so doing enhance the value of stock owned by the perpetrators. Within this type of massacre, we may include those acts carried out by drug smugglers, landlords, etc.
Within this grouping we may include those collective killings carried out for diverse motives, which are less publicized but nevertheless have much to do with the larger pattern of massacres. Such is the case of massacres within familial groups, tribes, or even religious organizations.
Within this category we find those massacres carried out by agents of the state against political or social enemies of the regime. In particular are those massacres carried out by the armed forces or police, who eliminate guerrillas outside of combat, or sympathizers of guerrilla forces.
Refers to those massacres carried out by civilians who take advantage of the support, negligence, or acquiescence of the state. Such groups do not seek to topple political power, but to the contrary, guarantee and defend its ongoing existence, through the liquidation of those who would challenge the status quo.
Refers to those massacres carried out by armed groups who have proclaimed their opposition to the state, and seek to overthrow the government and Constitution through armed means.
Refers to those murders carried out by groups acting at the local level. Said groups develop their activities in urban slums. The organizational structure of these groups is hierarchical and territorial.
Refers to those massacres carried out by those who would, through use of death squads acting outside of the law, try to control or maintain a particular business and enhance profits.
Refers to those massacres carried out by actors of diverse backgrounds who act individually or collectively.
A massacre is defined as an action in which 4 or more defenseless persons are intentionally assassinated, in the same place and at the same time, through armed or other violent means. Combat situations are excluded.
Defined as those homicides carried out in different criminal actions, which are connected principally due to the fact that there may be common intellectual or criminal authors.
Within the Colombian Constitution, we find a discussion of the sanctity and right to life, enshrined in the following clauses:
"The people of Colombia,
"In exercise of their political sovereign rights, represented by their representatives at the National Constituent Assembly, under the protection of God, and with the aim of strengthening the nation and assuring to its inhabitants the right to life, co existence, work, justice, equality, knowledge, liberty, and peace, under the auspices of judicial, democratic, and participatory democracy, which guarantees a just political, economic, and social order, dedicated to bringing about the integration of the Latin American community, hereby decrees, sanctions, and swears the following"
Art.1-Colombia is a state based on the rule of law, organized under Republican principles, decentralized, with territorial autonomy for its regional entities, democratic, participatory, and pluralistic, founded under the principles of human dignity, in honor and solidarity with all of its inhabitants and within the Common Good.
Art 2---The authorities of the Republic are invested with the right to protect all those citizens resident in Colombia, as well as protect their livelihoods, their honor, their goods, their beliefs, and other rights and liberties, and to comply with the state's social duty as well as those functionaries working on behalf of the state.
Art 5---The state recognizes, without any discrimination whatsoever, the inalienable primacy of individual rights and the sanctity of the family as the fundamental base of society.
Art 11---The right to life is inviolable. There will be no death penalty.
Art 12---No one will be submitted to forced disappearance, to torture, or to cruel, degrading, or inhumane treatment or penalties.
Art 22---Peace is a right and must be enforced as a mandatory duty.
Art 44---Fundamental rights of the child include: life (Ö)"
Law 171 of 1994 (December 16), approves the additional protocol to the Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949, in regard to the protection of the victims of armed conflicts which are not international by nature (Protocol II), signed in Geneva on July 8 1977.
From this protocol we may pick out articles 4 and 13, frequently violated in the case of massacres.
Art 4---fundamental guarantees.
"All those persons who do not participate directly in hostilities, or who have ceased to participate in said hostilities, who may or may not be denied of their liberty, have the right to have their livelihoods protected, as well as their honor, their convictions and the religious practices. They will be treated with humanity in all cases, without any discrimination. It is absolutely forbidden that survivors be eliminated.
2. Without any interference with the prior clauses, the following actions will be prohibited at all times and places committed against the persons referred to in paragraph 1:
. Attempts made against the life, health, and physical or mental integrity of individuals, in particular homicide and other cruel treatments such as torture and mutilations or any form of corporal punishment:
Art 13---Protection of the Civilian Population
1. The civil population and civilians will enjoy protection against the danger of military operations. To make this protection effective, the following norms shall be observed at all times:
2. The civilian population shall not be the object of attack as such, nor individual civilians. Those acts and threats of violence whose aim is to terrorize the civilian population are forbidden.
3. Civilians shall enjoy the right which this title confers, unless they participate directly in hostilities, and as long as this participation continues.
The Public Defender of The People asks once again that the Colombian government and the national, departmental, and municipal authorities guarantee the right to life of the Colombian population.