PUBLIC	AI Index: AMR 23/29/99

UA 64/99	Fear for safety/Extrajudicial execution	
6 April 1999

COLOMBIA	
Anibal Jimenez ] Dead
Gabriel Graciano] Dead
Daniel Pino] Dead

Oscar Martinez	] Wounded
Antonio Jose Borja ]	Wounded
Nalfa Sanchez (F)] Wounded

Amnesty International is concerned for the safety of residents of the "Peace Community" 
of San Jose de Apartado, after a paramilitary attack on 4 April 1999 left three people 
dead and at least three others seriously injured.

Ten heavily armed men came into San Jose, in the municipality of Apartado, Antioquia 
department, at about 11 pm, and split into two groups. One group rounded up four men, 
saying San Jose was "una comunidad de guerrilleros" , "a guerrilla community", and 
demanded the names of the community's leaders. They took these four to the central 
square, together with Daniel Pino, whom they had brought from the nearby village of La 
Balsa, and Antonio Jose Borja, who was captured on the road between La Balsa and 
Apartado. There the assailants opened fire, killing 16-year-old Gabriel Graciano and 
seriously injuring Oscar Martinez and Antonio Jose Borja. They cut Daniel Pino's stomach 
open with a machete, and he died some time later. Two others escaped from the square 
in the confusion.

The second group of paramilitaries went to the home of community leader Anibal 
Jimenez and shot him dead in front of his family. Anibal Jimenez was a founder member 
of the community and coordinated its education programs. For half an hour after these 
killings, the paramilitary group threw grenades and fired at random. Community 
member Nalfa Sanchez was wounded by a grenade.

The community of San Jose de Apartado is made up of around 1,000 people, forcibly 
displaced from their homes in the Uraba region in north-western Colombia in 1996 and 
1997 by massacres committed by army-backed paramilitary groups and guerrilla 
organizations. In March 1997 they declared themselves a Comunidad de Paz, Peace 
Community, in an attempt to persuade warring factions to respect their neutrality and 
right to life. Since then, some 60 residents have "disappeared" or been killed, the 
majority by army-backed paramilitary groups, others by members of the Colombian 
army or the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC),Revolutionary Armed 
Forces of Colombia, the principal guerrilla organization. The community's plans for the 
first group of residents to return to their original communities on 7 April 1999 have 
now been suspended.Inhabitants have repeatedly demanded that the government 
secure conditions fortheir safe return to the lands they have abandoned, and guarantee 
their safetyin the community of San Jose, yet the authorities have persistently failed to 
actto end the campaign of attacks against them. The government has also failed toact 
when senior regional armed forces commanders and political leaders havepublicly 
accused the community of being guerrilla sympathizers because theyrefuse to allow any 
armed group, including the Colombian army, to maintain apresence there.

BACKGROUND INFORMATIONMembers of the Colombian army and security forces and 
their paramilitary alliescontinue to commit serious human rights violations with 
impunity. Over the pastfive years several thousand civilians have been killed by 
paramilitary groupsthroughout the country. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced 
from theirhomes. Although in 1989 the government removed the legal basis for the 
Colombianarmed forces to set up these paramilitary groups, they have grown and 
consolidated into nationwide organizations responsible for widespread andsystematic 
human rights violations. They continue to operate, in many cases, withthe support or 
acquiescence of the Colombian armed forces. The Colombian government have taken no 
effective steps to control them or hold them accountablefor their criminal actions.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send urgent messages in Spanish or your own language:- 
calling for a full and impartial investigation into the paramilitary attack onthe 
community of San Jose de Apartado on 4 April, in which three people died andat least 
four were seriously injured;- expressing serious concern for the safety of all those still 
resident in thecommunity of San Jose de Apartado;- urging the authorities to take 
immediate and decisive action to dismantleparamilitary groups, in line with repeated 
government commitments; - reminding Colombia's government of its commitment to the 
Universal Declarationof Human Rights, in particular Article 3: "Everyone has the right to 
life,liberty and security of person".

APPEALS TO:

President of Colombia:
Senor Presidente Andres Pastrana
Presidente de la Republica
Palacio de Narino, Carrera 8 No. 7-26
Santafe de Bogota, Colombia
Telegrams:	President Pastrana, Bogota, Colombia
Telexes: 44281 PALP COFaxes: + 571 284 2186/289 3377/ 286 7434 
E-mail pastrana@presidencia.gov.co
Salutation: Excelentisimo Sr. Presidente/ Dear President Pastrana

Minister of Defence:
Dr Rodrigo Lloreda
Ministro de Defensa Nacional
Ministerior de Defensa Nacional
Avenida Eldorado CAN - Carrera 52
Santafe de Bogota, Colombia
Telegrams:	Ministro de Defensa, Bogota, Colombia
Telexes: 42411 INPRE CO / 44561 CFAC CO 
Faxes: + 57 1 222 1874
Salutation: Sr. Ministro / Dear Minister 

Attorney General
Dr. Alfonso Gomez Mendez
Fiscal General de la Nacion
Fiscalia General de la Nacion
AA 29855
Santafe de Bogota, Colombia
Telegrams:	Fiscal General, Fiscalia General, Bogota,Colombia
Faxes: + 571 570 2000 (when ansaphone picks up dial 2022 for fax)
Salutation: Estimado Dr. / Dear Dr.

Governor of the Department of Antioquia 
Dr Alberto Builes Ortega, Governador del Departamento de Antioquia 
Gobernacion de Antioquia
Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia
Telegrams:	Gobernador de Antioquia, Medellin,Colombia
Fax:	+ 574 381 1342
Salutation: Sr. Gobernador / Dear Governor 

Regional Military Commander:
General Martin Orlando Carreno Sandoval Comandante XVII Brigada del Ejercito
Carepa, Uraba
Antioquia, Colombia
Tel/Fax: 5748 823 6601
Salutation: Sr. Comandante/ Dear Commander Carreno 

COPIES TO:

Intercongregational Commission for Justice and Peace Comision Intercongregacional de 
Justica y Paz, AA 31861, Santafe de Bogota, Colombia

His Excellency Jose Maria de Guzman Mora Ambassador for Colombia
360 Albert Street, Suite 1002
Ottawa, Ontario K1R 7X7
Fax: (613) 230-4416
Email: embcolot@travel-net.com
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY..

Essential accents for this email version: acute accent on -i of Anibal
first e of Jimenezi of Martineze of Josea of Sanchezo of Apartadoe of Andrese of Santafea 
of Bogotao of Gomeze of Mendezi of Martini of Maria

tilde on -n of Carreno

====="Your actions, combined with the chain of solidarity of activists all over the world, 
have led to my release... I encourage you to continue working on behalf of the 
prisoners..." (Letter of February 1999 from Ngarlejy Yorongar, Chad UA 166/98)