by Apartadó Mayor Gloria Cuartas
With great sorrow I announce to the world the cruel and irrational massacre carried out by the subversive group "Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia E.P. (FARC-EP) against the civilian population.
On February 27 of this year the guerrilla group detonated a car bomb in the center of the city of Apartado in Antioquia, Colombia, killing 12 persons, among them children, women and men. The bombing also injured 60 persons and caused damage of more than 3 million dollars (3 billion pesos).
This is crime of lese humanity which must be condemned by everyone and by every institution. Nothing can be said in its favor; there is no excuse for the politics of death. It is thus necessary to recognize that groups of insurgents also are violating Human Rights.
Not only was there an explosion; now we are experiencing retaliation by the paramilitary forces which sow death and terror in the population.
We are defenseless in the face of those who carry out violence. Our only resource is for you, the international organizations, to accompany the civilian society which is caught in the middle of the conflict. International support is necessary as a form of protection until conditions develop which permit political negotiation in our country or region.
We are not simple spectators in this war. We are the civilian population which suffers and supplies the dead. We are human beings who cannot remain frozen by fear. Our call to protect life is urgent. We believe in our institutions, but we know that without international accompaniment which opens space for dialogue for life, we will be destined sadly to await the progressive degradation of this conflict.
The number of violent deaths by firearm in the period 1995 - 1997 is now 652.
GLORIA ISABEL CUARTAS MONTOYA
Mayor of Apartadó