Board of Municipal Government speaks out against bombing, flyers

BOARD OF MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT OF APARTADO
Apartadó, March 6, 1997

In response to what is contained in the flyers which are circulating in the municipality of Apartado, by the supposed "Victims and relatives of those assassinated by the car bomb", and in which Gloria Isabel Cuartas Montoya, mayor of Apartado, is said to be responsible for the infamous events which occurred on February 27 of this year, the board members of the Municipal government express before public opinion their most energetic rejection of these false and tendentious claims which only serve to misrepresent the reality of what happened and to fail to recognize the causes of the social conflict which is being experienced in Uraba and which is not foreign to the rest of the country.

With the flyers they only seek to misinform public opinion, fertilizing the path to create more serious problems of violence such as those which our community has been confronting, at the expense of the pointing out and judging of one person alone who has distinguished herself by her unbreakable social sensitivity and sense of responsibility, and thus putting her life in danger and creating more tension in our community.

In the same sense we call out to the entire civilian population to maintain neutrality in the face of the conflict, and to the groups which participate in the conflict to renounce terrorism, respect the life of the civilian population, and open paths which make possible a dialogue leading to peaceful coexistence.

(signed)

MIGUEL ANGEL FLOREZ AGUDELO, Secretary of Government
GLORIA ELIZABETH GRISALES MUNOZ , Secretary of Public Works
JOHN JAIRO RESTREPO SALAZAR, Director UMATA
GLORIA HELENA TORRES MONSALVE , Secretary of Transportation
CIRILO MENA PALACIO, Secretary of Education
HILDA ISABEL SANCHEZ DE GAVIRIA, Secretary of Treasury
JOSE HUMBERTO TEJADA ROMAN, General Secretary
HENRY GARCIA GONZALEZ, Secretary of Health
LUIS EDUARDO ROLDAN ARROYAVE, Director of Internal Control

DEPARTMENT OF ANTIOQUIA
MUNICIPALITY OF APARTADO MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

The Honorable Municipal Council of Apartado, Antioquia, in its plenary session of March 6, 1997, emphatically rejects the pamphlets issued against the Mayor of Apartado, one of which is entitled "Communiqué to public opinion" and the other "People of Uraba -- A Cry for Help". These are supposedly on behalf of those who had property damaged in the terrorist attack of February 27 and by relatives of the victims.

With respect to this matter this honorable body wishes to express the following:

• First. We cannot conceive why a means of communication with such a high level of prestige {apparently it refers to publications in the national press}, audience and credibility on the national level is used to spread this type of "time bomb" for which no one answers and which has not even one single signature to attest to its veracity. Since when does the press here publish anonymous statements ?

• Second. It is clear to us that this type of mechanism of soiling one's reputation, particularly anonymous, only seeks to sow chaos and uncertainty in a population saturated with violence and fear, with the aggravating circumstance that they use the pain of the relatives of the victims and of those who suffered damage to property to begin a misnamed political campaign not only against the Mayor of Apartado, but also against the municipal institutions in such difficult moments, in which it has been possible to show that all the institutions work closely with the community. Who do they think believes that Gloria Cuartas is the cause of the violence in Apartado ?

• Third, We categorically deny the charges that the Mayor takes international trips financed by funds from the municipal treasury. We are a responsible body and we are constantly aware of what happens in the administration in this respect, in the same sense as the Municipal treasurer's office, where all information in this respect can be obtained.

• Fourth. This body urgently calls upon the institutions to unify; and to the relatives of the victims, as for those who suffered damage to their property, a majority of which are merchants, to maintain the calm which they have always shown.

LUIS FERNANDO LOPEZ ALCARAZ, President of the City Council
UBALDO ALFREDO BOTERO ZULUAGA, Vice-President of the City Council
JAIRO ALBERTO BANQUET PAEZ Secretary General of the City Council