13 June 2001
UA 147/01 Fear for Safety
COLOMBIA: Indigenous communities of Pueblo Viejo, La Robada,
Tres Cruces, Cambia and Los Chancos y El Salado in the Nuestra
Senora Candelaria de la Montana reservation, Caldas department
Paramilitaries have threatened indigenous families living in a
reservation (resguardo) in the central Department of Caldas, forcing
them to flee their homes. Amnesty International is concerned for their
safety and for that of other indigenous communities in the area.
On 7 June, a group of paramilitaries belonging to the Autodefensas
Unidas de Colombia (AUC), Self-Defense Groups of Colombia,
reportedly ordered 13 families living in the community of El Salado in
the Nuestra Senora Candelaria de la Montana reservation to leave
their homes by the next day. The families fled to the municipal capital
of Riosucio.
Paramilitary gunmen have also ordered other indigenous
communities in the area, including Pueblo Viejo, La Robada, Tres
Cruces, Cambia and Los Chancos y El Salado, to leave. Since 5
June, they have set up illegal checkpoints and have controlled the
movement of the civilian population. They have threatened to kill
those who do not show their identity documents.
Indigenous communities have informed the Colombian authorities of
the paramilitary presence. However, although troops with the
Ayacucho and Quimbaya batallions of the VII Brigade of the
Colombian Army have reportedly beem stationed in the municipalities
of Riosucio and Supia for the last month, the authorities have
reportedly failed to take effective action to protect the indigenous
population, and paramilitary forces have apparently been able to
operate unhindered in the area.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The security forces and their paramilitary allies have frequently
committed serious human rights violations against peasant, black and
indigenous communities living in conflict areas. Such violations are
committed with virtual impunity. In the last five years several thousand
civilians have been killed by paramilitary groups. Guerrilla forces
have also carried out numerous killings and other violations of
international humanitarian law against peasant, black and indigenous
communities.
The Colombian government suspended the constitutional legal base
for the formation of paramilitary organizations and issued directives to
the armed forces to combat and disband such groups in 1989, yet
they continue to work with the support of the security forces - by
action or omission - in many areas of the country.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send /faxes/airmail letters:
- expressing serious concern for the safety of the indigenous
communities named above, whom paramilitaries have ordered to
leave;
- urging the authorities to take immediate and effective
measures to guarantee their safety;
- expressing concern that the government and security forces
have taken no effective action against paramilitary groups in the
Department of Caldas, despite repeated commitments and UN
recommendations to combat and dismantle such groups;
- calling for a full and impartial investigation into links between
the security forces and paramilitary groups operating in the
Department of Caldas, with the results made public and those found
responsible for supporting and participating in such groups brought to
justice;
- urging the authorities to take immediate and decisive action
to dismantle paramilitary groups, in line with repeated government
commitments and UN recommendations.
APPEALS TO:
Colombian fax numbers can be difficult to reach. Please be patient
and try during Colombian office hours (Eastern Daylight Savings
Time).
President of the Republic:
Senor Presidente Andres Pastrana Arango
Presidente de la Republica
Palacio de Narino
Carrera 8 No.7-26
Santafe de Bogota, COLOMBIA
Fax: 011 57 1 336 2109 / 337 1351
Salutation: Dear President / Excmo. Sr. Presidente
Minister of Interior:
Sr. Armando Estrada Villa
Ministro del Interior
Ministerio del Interior
Palacio Echeverry
Carrera 8a, No. 8-09, piso 2o
Santa Fe, Colombia
Faxes: 011 571 341 9583 / 011 571 334 3960 / 011 571 286 8025 /
011 571 342 3201 / 011 571 281 5884
Salutation: Dear Minister / Sr. Ministro
Governor of the Department of Caldas:
Sr. Luis Alfonso Arias Aristizabal
Gobernacion de Caldas
Carrera 21, Calle 22 y 23
Manizales, Caldas, Colombia
Fax: 011 57 68 842204
COPIES TO:
National Indigenous Organization:
ONIC
AA 32395
Santa Fe, Colombia
Ambassador Luis Alberto Moreno
Embassy of Colombia
2118 Leroy Pl. NW
Washington DC 20008
Please send appeals immediately. Check with the Colorado office
between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm, Mountain Time, weekdays only, if
sending appeals after July 19, 2001.