Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002
URGENT! Paramilitaries move in on Afrocolombian Communities

stopwar
>
>URGENT ACTION! PARAMILITARIES ARE MOVING IN ON AFROCOLOMBIAN COMMUNITIES
OF THE COLOMBIAN PACIFIC COAST
>
>February 16, 2002
>
>Black Communities in the Naya and Yurumangui rivers are under threat of
imminent paramilitary massacre.
>
>On February 12, 2002 grassroots Afrocolombian organizations publically
denounced the the incursion of paramilitaries based in the port city of
Buenaventura into the Yurumangui and Naya rivers to "use blood and fire
to take out the guerilla and its collaborators."
>
>On February 14, 2002 Amnesty International confirmed these reports in an
international Urgent Action communiqué. According to the AI Urgent
Action, paramilitary presence has been amassing in the area since
February 8, 2002 concentrating forces along the Anhicayá river, north of
Yurumanguí, one of the rivers targeted for the paramilitary seige. There
they have set up illegal checkpoints in the communities of Zabaletas,
Llano Bajo and San Marcos.
>
>On February 16, 2002 local inhabitants reported the following:
> a.. The incursion into the Yurumanguí and Naya rivers already involves
than 1000 paramilitaries of the AUC (United Self Defense Forces of
Colombia, the national paramilitary umbrella group). The stated goal is
to group tegether 1500 men who are being hired throughout the port city
of Buenaventura.
> b.. Likewise, the 'paras' are will use a boat that they used in
previously called Samurai or Samuray. Local inhabitants state that they
recognize the boat despite the fact that it has been repainted.
> c.. The entrance into the Yurumangui and Naya is being prepapred for
Monday, February 18, 2002.
> d.. The stated AUC mission is to "remove the guerilla and cleanse it
of collaborators and sympathizers."
>It is expected that this attack will take place by land, crossing the
lowlands and the rivers and by water, through the system of passages in
the coastal mangroves.
>
>The Easter Week Massacre of 2001
>
>The Naya and Yurumanguí Rivers were the site of the infamous Easter Week
Massacre of 2001 in which over 100 Indigenous, Afrocolombian and peasant
inhabitants were killed. This massacre took place despite previous
warning by the inhabitants to the Colombian government months before
hand. After carrying out this massacre, the paramilitaries belonging to
the AUC announced their incursion into the neighbouring Yurumanguí River,
a threat denounced by the Yurumanguí inhabitants to the local and
national authorities. As in the case of the Naya massacre, nothing was
done. Two weeks later the AUC entered the fishing village of El Firme on
the Yurumanguí massacring 7 peasants and permanently displacing the
entire community. The Canadian delegation visited both Naya and
Yurumanguí rivers and heard the testimony of the survivors of both these
atrocities.
>
>
>The Wealth of the Pacific Coast Rainforest: The real reason behind the
violence.
>
>In Colombia, accusing civilian populations of being guerilla
collaborators is an all-too-common tactic used by military and
paramilitary to carry out massacres and massive displacements. The real
motive beinhd the violence is the desire to gain control over territories
which have an abundance of natural and mineral wealth.
>
>The territories of the Colombian Pacific, which have been inhabited by
African descendents for some 400 years, are coveted for their inmense
resource wealth and "development" potential, which includes petroleum,
gold, uranium, precious timber, biodiversity and enormous potential for
hydroelectric dam development. Likewise, the Black communities are also
recognized their rights to collective entitlement of these very lands
along with the right to autonomously develop them according to their
traditional values of their culture, rights which became consecrated
under the Black Communities Law (or Law 70) of 1993. Thus, the historic
and cultural project of the Black communities finds itself in direct
confrontation with the strategic interests of national and international
investment. This confrontation has meant the infliction of terrible
violence upon the peaceful communities of the Pacific coast rainforest.
The Black communities strive to peacefully build a socie! ty which can
exist in harmony with the forest and guarantee their sustenance: They
have always maintained that this does NOT make them guerilla
collaborators.
>
>Finally, it should be noted that Colombia is a country known for
maintaining vital links between the official military and illegal
paramilitary death squads. A great deal of evidence to this regard has
been compiled by credible sources such Amnesty International, Human
Rights Watch and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).
>
>
>THE LOCAL CIVILIAN POPULATION COMMUNITIES URGENTLY NEEDS BASIC MATERIAL
AND SECURITY GUARANTEES IN ORDER TO EVACUATE THE REGION.
>
>WE URGE YOU TO SEND LETTERS DEMANDING THAT THE COLOMBIAN SECURITY FORCES
DO EVERYTHING IN THEIR POWER TO PREVENT THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENT
CIVILIAN POPULATION OF THE YURUMANGUÍ AND NAYA RIVERS.
>
>In your letters, expressing your concern:
>
>1) About the safety of the local inhabitants;
>2) About the increasing army-backed paramilitary presence in the region
and urging the authorities to take action to protect the civilian
population;
>3) Remind the authorities that if they fail protect the civilian
population, it will seem that the paramilitaries are
>operating with the complicity of the security forces;
>
>DIRECT YOUR LETTERS TO:
>
>[In Canada] Fanny Kertzman Yankelevitch
>Embajadora de Colombia
>360 Albert Street, Suite 1002
>Ottawa, Ontario K1R 7X7
>Fax: (613) 230-4416
>Email: embajador@embajadacolombia.ca
>
>
>[In USA] Luis Alberto Moreno
>Embajador de Colombia
>2118 Leroy Place, NW,
>Washington, DC 20008
>Phone: (202) 387 8338
>Fax: (202) 232 8643
>as@colombiaemb.org
>
>[In the UK] Mr VICTOR RICARDO,
>Embajador a RU,
>Embassy of the Republic of Colombia
>Flat 3A, 3 Hans Crescent, London SW1X 0LN, UK
>Tel: (020) 7589 9177. Fax: (020) 7581 1829.
>E-mail: mail@colombianembassy.co.uk
>
>
>EN COLOMBIA:
>ANDRÉS PASTRANA ARANGO
>Presidente de la República,
>Carrera 8 n. 7-26 Palacio de Nariño,
>Santa Fe de Bogotá
>Teléfono. +57.1.5629300 ext. 3550 (571 ) 284 33 00
>Fax (571 ) 286 74 34 - 286, 68 42 -284 21 86
>Mailto: pastrana@presidencia.gov.co or rdh@presidencia.gov.co
>
>Sr. Eduardo Cifuentes Munoz
>NAtional Human Rights Ombudsman
>Calle 55, No. 10-32/46 office 301
>Telegram: National Advocate, Bogota, Colombia
>Fax: 011 57 1 640 0491
>
>General Fernando Tapias Stahelin
>Commander of the Armed Forces
>Avenida el Dorado con Cra. 52
>Santafe de Bogota. Fax: (+57 1) 222 29 35
>Mailto:siden@mindefensa.gov.co
>Mailto:pilaque@cgm.mil.co
>
>
>WITH COPIES TO:
>
>Proceso de Comunidades Negras (PCN)
>pcnkolombia@hotmail.com
>
>Canada Colombia Solidarity Campaign (CCSC)
>mingacolombia@yahoo.ca
>
>************************************************
>Canada-Colombia Solidarity Campaign
>122 St.Patrick Street, Suite 20-113
>Toronto Ontario Canada M5T 2X8
>Tel: Toronto(416) 533-8305
>Ottawa (613) 747-9930
>Fax: (416) 533-6871
>Email:mingacolombia@yahoo.ca
>Web: http://tao.ca/~ccsc
>************************************************
>
>

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