Colombia
25.07.02
Urgent Interventions
Colombia: forced disappearances in El Castillo and Cimitarra
Please note that some of the information in this appeal has been corrected from its original Spanish version.
Case COL 250702
Forced disappearances
The International Secretariat of the OMCT requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Colombia.
Brief description of the situation :
The International Secretariat of the OMCT has been informed about various cases of forced disappearances in the Colombian towns of El Castillo (Departament of Meta), and in Cimitarra (Departament of Santander).
According to the information received from the Colombian Association of the Families of the Detained Disappeared (Asociación de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos de Colombia) –ASFADDES-, the following cases of disappearances have been reported:
- On January 9th 2002, Mr. Jesús Antonio Bustos González and Mr. José Antonio Bustos Corredor (father and son), were detain by four men wearing civilian clothes, and allegedly paramilitary members, in the outskirts of the municipality of El Castillo. These men, and two more others, obliged the two relatives to get inside a blue pickup that had security windows. From this they on their whereabouts were unknown.
The victims’ wife and mother, Mrs. Oliva Corredor, travelled to El Castillo on January 11th to ascertain the whereabouts of her family members, but she could not get any information. Mrs. Corredor returned to Bogotá and sent a letter of enquiry to the Colombian President; this was in turn sent to the organism in charge of social affairs (Red de Solidaridad Social), and there she was informed that one complaint was enough (she had reported another case in 1996) and that she should not made another complaint for these new situations.
The family Bustos Corredor, the reports add, had been previously victims of the abuses of the local illegal armed groups. On March 11th 1996, Mr. José Antonio Bustos Corredor, was kidnapped by members of the United Self Defence Groups of Colombia -AUC-, in the family’s residence in Piñalito, municipality of Mesetas, Meta. His mother, Mrs. Oliva Corredor de Bustos, his father, Mr. Jesús Antonio Bustos González and his sister, Miss. Sandra Bustos Corredor, were all present at the moment of abduction.
According to the information, later, on March 26th 1996, the same men went to the Bustos Corredor family’s house and demanded to know the whereabouts of Mr. José Antonio Bustos Corredor. Apparently, he had escaped from where they had retained him. In this opportunity they kidnapped and tortured Mr. Bustos Corredor’s sister, Sandra Bustos Corredor, a 16 year-old, in order to obtain the information about her brother. When they saw she did not have it, they retained Mr. Jesús Antonio Bustos González, father of the victim.
Days later, the report states, Mrs. Oliva Corredor received a letter ordering her to abandon the region with her daughter. She was told to “disappear with her bastard daughter, otherwise she would pay for it”. She was given 12 hours to leave Piñalito. Mrs. Oliva Corredor and her daughter arrived in Bogotá on June 20th 1996. She went to the Minister of Interior, where she denounced the disappearance of her husband and son, and later was sent to the Procurator’s office.
The reports affirm that some time after Mrs. Oliva Corredor learnt her son was in the municipality of El Castillo, in the department of Meta. Her daughter, Sandra Bustos, travelled to El Castillo to meet her brother. On March 4th 1997, during one of the many trips Sandra Bustos made to meet her brother, she recognized her father wondering in the intersection between the roads that lead to the towns of San Martín and Medellín del Ariari. Mr. Jesús Antonio Bustos González seemed to have memory problems, and could not recognize his daughter. According to the information, after having had medical treatment, Mr. Bustos González informed that during his abduction he was taken to a place, which location he cannot remember, and was tortured. He was taken to several different places for a period of approximately three months.
Reportedly, when the abductors considered he did not have any more information they could use, he was thrown into a precipice, where he hit his head. He was taken by peasants who took care of him until he was cured; he then left and started wondering not knowing where he was going, then his daughter found him. Once Mr. Bustos González’s health condition improved, in November 1997, his family told him about his son being in El Castillo. He consequently travelled there to meet him and decided to stay to work to help in the family’s precarious economic condition.
- On November 3rd 1999, Mr. Luis Alberto Carrillo Flóres disappeared after he left his residence in the city of Bucaramanga (Santander). He was 44 years old, came from Barrancabermeja, department of Santander, and was married. Apparently, he had an appointment with Mr. Jorge Eliécer González, whom he saw, and then spoke to her partner, Mrs. Nubia Pinilla. He told her he was “coming shortly afterwards”. The sources state that he left in a silver coloured Mazda vehicle, together with Mr. Jorge Eliécer González, and another unidentified person. They were going to Medellín, department of Antioquia. Allegedly, the disappearance took place in Puerto Parra, in the municipality of Cimitarra, department of Santander.
According to the information received, the three men took the motorway known as Panamericana, that leads to Campo Capote. Once there they took the road to Puerto Parra. In Puerto Parra they were intercepted by a group of men, who wore balaclavas and military clothes. The group forced them out of the vehicle into a shallop, in the river known as Carare. They navigated until they arrived in a hamlet that apparently belonged to the United Self Defence Groups of Colombia (AUC). There they were individually interrogated, subsequently they were killed. Only Mr. Jorge Eliécer González was left alive. The reports suggest that the presumed responsible of these acts is a paramilitary commander who uses the alias of Botalón. Apparently he is in charge of the military operations in the area and in the department of Santander.
Mr. Carrillo Flóres’ family presented a complaint to the regional prosecutor’s office in Bucaramanga (complaint No. 598); the prosecutor’s office in Cisneros, department of Antioquia; the offices of the regional Public Defender in Bucaramanga; and to Dr. Jesús Alcides Guerra Restrepo, a public prosecutor.
Requested action:
Please write to the Colombian authorities urging them to:
i. Take the necessary measures to find the whereabouts of the aforementioned persons;
ii. Carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation on the circumstances described above, in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial, and apply the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions, as stated by the law;
iii. Bring into force the recommendations given by the international and regional human rights organisations, including the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Inter American Commission of Human Rights;
iv. guarantee the respect for the human rights and fundamental liberties throughout the country, in conformity with the national legislation and the international human rights standards.
Addresses:
· S.E. Andrés Pastrana Arango, Presidente de la República, Cra. 8 n°.7-26, Palacio de Nariño, Santafé de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 566 20 71 e-mail : apastra@presidencia.gov.co
· Consejería Presidencial de Derechos Humanos, Calle 7 n°. 6-54 Piso 3, Santafé de Bogotá, D. C. Fax: (+57 1) 337 13 51
· Doctor Gustavo Bell Lemus, Ministro de la Defensa, Avenida El Dorado con Cra. 52 CAN, Santafé de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 222 18 74 ; e-mail : siden@mindefensa.gov.co ; infprotocol@mindefensa.gov.co ; mdn@cable.net.co
· Doctor Armando Estrada Villa, Ministro del Interior, Cra. 8 n°. 8-09 Santa Fe de Bogotá, Santafé de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 286 80 25 ; e-mail: mininterior@myrealbox.com ; minisint@col1.telecom.com.co
· Doctor Edgardo José Maya Villazón, Procurador General de la Nación, Carrera 5 n°. 15-80,Santa Fe de Bogotá.Fax: (+57 1) 342 97 23;(+57 1) 281 75 31 ; e-mail : reygon@procuraduria.gov.co ; anticorrupcion@presidencia.gov.co
· Doctor Luis Camilo Osorio, Fiscal General de la Nación, Diagonal 22 B n°. 52-01, Santafé de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 570 20 00 ; contacto@fiscalia.gov.co ; denuncie@fiscalia.gov.co
· Doctor Eduardo Cifuentes, Defensor del Pueblo, Calle 55 n°. 10-32 Santa Fe de Bogotá. Fax: (+ 57 1) 640 04 91 e-mail : secretaria_privada@hotmail.com
· General Fernando Tapias Stahelin, Comandante de las Fuerzas Militares, Avenida el Dorado con Cra. 52, Santafé de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 222 29 35 ; e-mail : siden@mindefensa.gov.co pilaque@cgm.mil.co
Please write to the diplomatic representations of Colombia in your respective countries.
Geneva, July 25th 2002.
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken on the case, quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
Case COL 250702
Forced disappearances
The International Secretariat of the OMCT requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Colombia.
Brief description of the situation :
The International Secretariat of the OMCT has been informed about various cases of forced disappearances in the Colombian towns of El Castillo (Departament of Meta), and in Cimitarra (Departament of Santander).
According to the information received from the Colombian Association of the Families of the Detained Disappeared (Asociación de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos de Colombia) –ASFADDES-, the following cases of disappearances have been reported:
- On January 9th 2002, Mr. Jesús Antonio Bustos González and Mr. José Antonio Bustos Corredor (father and son), were detain by four men wearing civilian clothes, and allegedly paramilitary members, in the outskirts of the municipality of El Castillo. These men, and two more others, obliged the two relatives to get inside a blue pickup that had security windows. From this they on their whereabouts were unknown.
The victims’ wife and mother, Mrs. Oliva Corredor, travelled to El Castillo on January 11th to ascertain the whereabouts of her family members, but she could not get any information. Mrs. Corredor returned to Bogotá and sent a letter of enquiry to the Colombian President; this was in turn sent to the organism in charge of social affairs (Red de Solidaridad Social), and there she was informed that one complaint was enough (she had reported another case in 1996) and that she should not made another complaint for these new situations.
The family Bustos Corredor, the reports add, had been previously victims of the abuses of the local illegal armed groups. On March 11th 1996, Mr. José Antonio Bustos Corredor, was kidnapped by members of the United Self Defence Groups of Colombia -AUC-, in the family’s residence in Piñalito, municipality of Mesetas, Meta. His mother, Mrs. Oliva Corredor de Bustos, his father, Mr. Jesús Antonio Bustos González and his sister, Miss. Sandra Bustos Corredor, were all present at the moment of abduction.
According to the information, later, on March 26th 1996, the same men went to the Bustos Corredor family’s house and demanded to know the whereabouts of Mr. José Antonio Bustos Corredor. Apparently, he had escaped from where they had retained him. In this opportunity they kidnapped and tortured Mr. Bustos Corredor’s sister, Sandra Bustos Corredor, a 16 year-old, in order to obtain the information about her brother. When they saw she did not have it, they retained Mr. Jesús Antonio Bustos González, father of the victim.
Days later, the report states, Mrs. Oliva Corredor received a letter ordering her to abandon the region with her daughter. She was told to “disappear with her bastard daughter, otherwise she would pay for it”. She was given 12 hours to leave Piñalito. Mrs. Oliva Corredor and her daughter arrived in Bogotá on June 20th 1996. She went to the Minister of Interior, where she denounced the disappearance of her husband and son, and later was sent to the Procurator’s office.
The reports affirm that some time after Mrs. Oliva Corredor learnt her son was in the municipality of El Castillo, in the department of Meta. Her daughter, Sandra Bustos, travelled to El Castillo to meet her brother. On March 4th 1997, during one of the many trips Sandra Bustos made to meet her brother, she recognized her father wondering in the intersection between the roads that lead to the towns of San Martín and Medellín del Ariari. Mr. Jesús Antonio Bustos González seemed to have memory problems, and could not recognize his daughter. According to the information, after having had medical treatment, Mr. Bustos González informed that during his abduction he was taken to a place, which location he cannot remember, and was tortured. He was taken to several different places for a period of approximately three months.
Reportedly, when the abductors considered he did not have any more information they could use, he was thrown into a precipice, where he hit his head. He was taken by peasants who took care of him until he was cured; he then left and started wondering not knowing where he was going, then his daughter found him. Once Mr. Bustos González’s health condition improved, in November 1997, his family told him about his son being in El Castillo. He consequently travelled there to meet him and decided to stay to work to help in the family’s precarious economic condition.
- On November 3rd 1999, Mr. Luis Alberto Carrillo Flóres disappeared after he left his residence in the city of Bucaramanga (Santander). He was 44 years old, came from Barrancabermeja, department of Santander, and was married. Apparently, he had an appointment with Mr. Jorge Eliécer González, whom he saw, and then spoke to her partner, Mrs. Nubia Pinilla. He told her he was “coming shortly afterwards”. The sources state that he left in a silver coloured Mazda vehicle, together with Mr. Jorge Eliécer González, and another unidentified person. They were going to Medellín, department of Antioquia. Allegedly, the disappearance took place in Puerto Parra, in the municipality of Cimitarra, department of Santander.
According to the information received, the three men took the motorway known as Panamericana, that leads to Campo Capote. Once there they took the road to Puerto Parra. In Puerto Parra they were intercepted by a group of men, who wore balaclavas and military clothes. The group forced them out of the vehicle into a shallop, in the river known as Carare. They navigated until they arrived in a hamlet that apparently belonged to the United Self Defence Groups of Colombia (AUC). There they were individually interrogated, subsequently they were killed. Only Mr. Jorge Eliécer González was left alive. The reports suggest that the presumed responsible of these acts is a paramilitary commander who uses the alias of Botalón. Apparently he is in charge of the military operations in the area and in the department of Santander.
Mr. Carrillo Flóres’ family presented a complaint to the regional prosecutor’s office in Bucaramanga (complaint No. 598); the prosecutor’s office in Cisneros, department of Antioquia; the offices of the regional Public Defender in Bucaramanga; and to Dr. Jesús Alcides Guerra Restrepo, a public prosecutor.
Requested action:
Please write to the Colombian authorities urging them to:
i. Take the necessary measures to find the whereabouts of the aforementioned persons;
ii. Carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation on the circumstances described above, in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial, and apply the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions, as stated by the law;
iii. Bring into force the recommendations given by the international and regional human rights organisations, including the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Inter American Commission of Human Rights;
iv. guarantee the respect for the human rights and fundamental liberties throughout the country, in conformity with the national legislation and the international human rights standards.
Addresses:
· S.E. Andrés Pastrana Arango, Presidente de la República, Cra. 8 n°.7-26, Palacio de Nariño, Santafé de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 566 20 71 e-mail : apastra@presidencia.gov.co
· Consejería Presidencial de Derechos Humanos, Calle 7 n°. 6-54 Piso 3, Santafé de Bogotá, D. C. Fax: (+57 1) 337 13 51
· Doctor Gustavo Bell Lemus, Ministro de la Defensa, Avenida El Dorado con Cra. 52 CAN, Santafé de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 222 18 74 ; e-mail : siden@mindefensa.gov.co ; infprotocol@mindefensa.gov.co ; mdn@cable.net.co
· Doctor Armando Estrada Villa, Ministro del Interior, Cra. 8 n°. 8-09 Santa Fe de Bogotá, Santafé de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 286 80 25 ; e-mail: mininterior@myrealbox.com ; minisint@col1.telecom.com.co
· Doctor Edgardo José Maya Villazón, Procurador General de la Nación, Carrera 5 n°. 15-80,Santa Fe de Bogotá.Fax: (+57 1) 342 97 23;(+57 1) 281 75 31 ; e-mail : reygon@procuraduria.gov.co ; anticorrupcion@presidencia.gov.co
· Doctor Luis Camilo Osorio, Fiscal General de la Nación, Diagonal 22 B n°. 52-01, Santafé de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 570 20 00 ; contacto@fiscalia.gov.co ; denuncie@fiscalia.gov.co
· Doctor Eduardo Cifuentes, Defensor del Pueblo, Calle 55 n°. 10-32 Santa Fe de Bogotá. Fax: (+ 57 1) 640 04 91 e-mail : secretaria_privada@hotmail.com
· General Fernando Tapias Stahelin, Comandante de las Fuerzas Militares, Avenida el Dorado con Cra. 52, Santafé de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 222 29 35 ; e-mail : siden@mindefensa.gov.co pilaque@cgm.mil.co
Please write to the diplomatic representations of Colombia in your respective countries.
Geneva, July 25th 2002.
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken on the case, quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.