Corporación Social Para la Asesoría y
Capacitación Comunitaria COS-PACC (Social
Corporation for Community Advice and
Capacity Building), Fundación
Comité de Solidaridad con los Presos
Políticos FCSPP (Political Prisoners
Solidarity Committee) and the Red Europea
de Hermandad y Solidaridad con Colombia
REDHER (European Friendship and Solidarity
Network) denounce:
BACKGROUND
The campesino small farmers
living in the Casanare foothills have since
the ‘democratic security’ policy of 2002
been the victims of a policy of
stigmatization and subject to all types of
abuse and cruel and inhuman treatment such
as: forced disappearances; assassinations;
torture; death threats; arbitrary and
illegal detention to harm their reputation
and good name; as well as forced
displacements. These actions have affected
the entire local population.
LATEST EVENTS
According to reports from
inhabitants of the town of Aguazul in
Casanare; at 10 am on 16 January four hooded
men dressed in civilian clothes arrived at
the farm of Armando
Montañez in the small village called
Monterralo. They were apparently
paramilitaries, and tried to assassinate him.
Armando
Montañez was arriving home after having left
in the early hours to tend his cattle. On
nearing the house, he and two neighbours
spotted the four hooded, suspicious men, the
assailants opened fire on them repeatedly.
Armando
Montañez and his two companions fled as soon
as the shooting started. As of this time
their whereabouts is not known and their
forced disappearance is feared.
DEMANDS
-
That all actions are taken to return
Armando Montañez
and his two companions alive, that they
might stay on and continuing working their
land.
-
That the national Attorney General (Fiscalia
General de la nación) launches a criminal
investigation to clarify the facts, locate
the individuals responsible and judge them
according to due legal process.
-
We ask the national and departmental
governments to URGENTLY take the necessary
measures to protect and safeguard the life
and personal integrity of Armando Montañez
and his family members, and neighbours who
witnessed this crime.
- that the state
security bodies fulfil their duty to protect
the life, honour and belongings of the
campesinos in the region and that they
pursue and punísh the paramilitaries that
continue to operate in Casanare department.
RECOMMENDED ACTION
Send
above to / Envie mensaje a:
Álvaro
Uribe Vélez
Presidente de la Republica
(via the Colombian Embassy in your country.
In the UK
Colombian Embassy in mail@colombianembassy.co.uk
Francisco
Santos.
Vicepresidente de Colombia
E-mail:
fsantos@presidencia.gov.co
E- mail:
cap@procuraduria.gov.co
Volmar Antonio Pérez Ortiz
Defensor del Pueblo
E-mail:
bogota@defensoria.org.co
Fax: 57 1 6400491, (0*1) 3147300 - Ext:
2112 / 2337
Oficina
del Alto Comisionado de Naciones Unidas para
los derechos humanos.
E-mail:
oacnudh@hcrh.org.co
Fax: 57 1 6293637
CARLOS
FRANCO
PROGRAMA PRESIDENCIAL DE DERECHOS HUMANOS Y
DE DERECHO INTERNACIONAL HUMANITARIO.
Calle 7 N° 5 - 54 Bogotá D.C.
Fax. 337 46 67
EDGARDO
JOSE MAYA VILLAZÒN
Procurador General
de la Nación
Cra. 5 No.15 - 80F Bogotá D.C.
NACIONES
UNIDAS PARA LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS
Representante de la oficina del alto
comisionado para los derechos humanos en
Colombia.
Juan
Pablo Cortazolli.
Calle 114 Nº 9-45,
Torre B, of. 1101, Teleport
OFICINA
DEL ALTO COMISIONADO DE LAS NACIONES UNIDAS
PARA LOS REFUGIADOS
- ACNUR
Honorable
señor Francisco Galindo Vélez
Representante
Calle 114
Nº 9-01, Torre A, of. 601 Bogotá, D. C.
COMITÉ
INTERNACIONAL DE LA CRUZ ROJA - CICR
Honorable señor Juan Pedro Schaerer
Jefe
Calle 76 Nº 10-02 Bogotá, D. C.
Teléfono
PBX: 3138630
Amnistía
Internacional
E-mail:
amnestyis@amnesty.org
[Colombia Solidarity
Campaign adds, Casanare is the department
where BP’s oil fields are located, and is
heavily patrolled by armed forces. For COS-PACC’s
report ‘Casanare and BP: A history that has
to change’ see centre pages of Frontline
Latin America No 6 at
https://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/content/view/54/55/
]
