March 12, 1997
Letter by Father Javier Giraldo
on
Violence and Refugees in Choco and Uraba
URGENT ACTION ABOUT VIOLENCE IN CHOCO AND URABA
FATHER JAVIER GIRALDO'S DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM
March 12, 1997
(In a letter addressed to Colombian officials)
With all due consideration:
With profound consternation permit me to again call your attention to the
current situation that the region of Uraba is suffering.
Since the past 23 of February the residents of more than 15 villages of the
Bajo Atrato, the majority of them belonging to the municipality of Riosucio,
of the department of Choco, began to be forced through violent means to
abandon their dwellings and their livelihoods by groups that identified
themselves in some cases as ÒparamilitariesÓ and in other cases as Òself
defense groups.Ó Some of those villages, such as Salaqui, Tamboral,
Perquerre and others were bombed in order to force the displacement of the
population. In the village of Vijao, on Feb. 27, they assassinated a young
man Marino Lopez with extreme cruelty, dismembering his body in the
presence of various members of the community. The paramilitaries
recommended to some of the groups that were fleeing their communities in
terror that they direct themselves to Turbo (Antioquia); that there the
police would pick them up in the port and that the mayorÕs office would
show them where they could stay.
In this moment the stadium of Turbo is overflowing with several hundred
displaced families and another large group of displaced families is found in
Quibdo.
General Rito Alejo Del Rio, Commander of the XVII Brigade of the Army,
talked last week with the displaced people that were taking shelter in the
stadium of Turbo and when he was asked to guarantee their safe return to
their zones of origin, he responded that he could not guarantee that, since
that zone was undergoing military operations and was being submitted to a
general Òsweeping.Ó Therefore, there is no doubt about the close
relationship between the National Army and the paramilitary groups that
terrorize the region and have identified themselves as responsible for the
criminal displacement of massive numbers of peasants and for extrajudicial
executions and forced disappearances.
This same coordination of action (between the Public Forces and the
paramilitary forces)is demonstrated in a similar fashion by what has been
happening in the unincorporated town of San Jose, in the municipality of
Apartado. A paramilitary blockade has interrupted traffic for the last
several weeks, between the urban area of Apartado and the town of San
Jose. There, all those who are traveling are subject to searches and on
occasion the goods they are carrying are stolen under the pretext of
Òsupplying the guerrillas.Ó On Feb. 28 such a paramilitary group entered the
hamlet of San Jose at 6:00 am and obliged all the residents to leave their
houses and line up in the main street. Then the paramilitaries checked the
residentsÕ identification papers and took with them three members of the
community: Don Ruben Antonio Villa, his son Antonio Villa and Don Miguel
Haya. Later they forced Don Guillermo Serna to get off a public
transportation vehicle and they took him also. These people were later
assassinated and buried at the edge of the highway. One day before they had
assassinated the driver R. Henao.
In spite of the pleadings of the widows and family members, the Public
ProsecutorÕs Office of Apartado, in the beginning, declined to exhume the
bodies and investigate the crimes. The courage of the Mayor of Apartado,
Gloria Isabel Cuartas, who in the face of such a refusal went with the
widows to personally search for the place where the victims had been
buried, and pressured the Public ProsecutorÕs office to conduct the
exhumations. When the Public ProsecutorÕs staff ( accompanied by a large
contingent of military and police escorts) arrived at the site of the burial,
there were paramilitaries there who exchanged friendly greetings with the
officials of the Public Forces using the most familiar kind of language.
Such obvious signs of an immoral alliance caused profound repugnance on
the part of the Mayor and the family members of the victims, which causes
them to leave the scene immediately. The close ties between the
institutions of the State and criminal groups who have submitted the region
to a blood bath were demonstrated openly in this scene.
As on previous occasions, I reiterate to you these charges are not directed
to ask for an ÒinvestigationÓ, since a long and painful experience of seeking
justice has demonstrated to us that the only results harvested are: greater
risks for the victims, family members and witnesses and greater impunity
for those responsible for the violence.
What I do ask for is that the national Government take urgent
administrative measures to remove from their positions the commanders of
the Public Forces who in such an evident form have acted in coordination
with the paramilitary structures of the region. I ask that that they be
replaced by officials that 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.
With profound grief and pain,
Father Javier Giraldo M, S.J.
Executive Secretary
Justicia y Paz
Religious Conference of Colombia
Intercongregational Commission for Justice and Peace
Santafe de Bogota
cc:
*High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations
*Representative and Committees of the United Nations
*Interamerican Commission for Human Rights- OEA
*International and national Human Rights organizations
*Diplomatic representatives registered with the Colombian government