Colombia
20.09.01
Urgent Interventions
Colombia: massacre perpetrated by a paramilitary group in Frías
Case COL 200901
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Colombia.
Brief description of the situation:
The International Secretariat has been informed of the massacre perpetrated by a paramilitary group in Frías, Municipality of Falán, in the north of the district of Tolima, in which 15 people were murdered. They were identified as: Olivo Delgado, Arley González, Albeiro Barracaldo, Yesid Aros, Vicente Rodriguez, Hernán Miranda and Hoover Beir Miranda, twin brothers, John Navarrete, Rafael Jiménez, Mario Lino Aguirre, a worker known as “El Costeño”, Alduver Triana, Marcolino Aguirre, and two children, Cecilia Cortés aged 15 and Pedro Urrego aged 17. Furthermore, OMCT learned from the same sources that in the same region Mr Reinaldo Parra Parra and his wife Yeimi Chitiva Pareja had been kidnapped, and prior to this a group of the afore-mentioned couple’s friends and acquaintances had been murdered: Isabel Guzman, Luciano Parra Parra (brother of Reinaldo Parra, kidnapped), Luzmila Rincón Castaño, Orlando Ortiz Rodriguez, Hernando Parra Parra, Otoniel Murillos Gonzalez, and Angel Maria Parra Parra.
According to information received from the Fundacion Comite de Solidaridad con los Presos Politicos, FCSPP, the paramilitary group called “Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia” AUC, Bloque Tolima, violently forced their way into the inhabited area (corregimiento) of Frías in the municipality of Falán at about 2200 o’clock on 15th September 2001. The reports added that the men had arrived on two motorbikes, a cart and a truck, whose driver they had detained for this purpose, and on arriving in the township, one of the men fired indiscriminately against a group of youngsters who managed to escape unharmed. Then the vehicles went to the centre of the Plaza where some twenty men got out and went up to the entrance of the church from where they fired indiscriminately at the cafeteria “Murillo” killing some people and injuring others.
The reports added that afterwards, one of the armed men went to a billiard bar called “El Olivo”, screaming at the people to lie down on the floor. As the people were staring dumbfounded, they started shooting at them, indiscriminately, and killed seven. On leaving the billiard bar, they threw a grenade into the Murillo cafeteria, destroying it completely. Then they went to the lavatories to finish off the people hidden there. As the paramilitary group left the township, they shouted out threats.
The people killed during these events were: Olivo Delgado, aged 28, Arley Gonzalez, aged 28, Albeiro Barracaldo, aged 26, Yesid Aros, aged 29, Vicente Rodriguez, aged 70, Hernan Miranda and Hoover Neir Miranda, twin brothers aged 24, John Navarrete, aged 22, Rafael Jiminez, Mario Lino Aguirre, aged 65, a worker known as “El costeño”, aged 38, and two children, Cecilia Cortés, aged 15, and Pedro Urrego, aged 17. On leaving, the paramilitaries forcibly adbucted Alduver Triana, aged 36, and Marcolino Aguirre, whose dead bodies were later found beside the road leading to Mariquita. The corpses showed clear signs of torture. Injured in the course of this paramilitary action were Fabiola, the wife of Alduver Triana, and Flor Gaviria, wounded in the leg when the paramilitaries attacked the supermarket she owns and robbed her money.
Further our sources indicate that before these events, on 10th July 2001, at the “el Acuario” resort owned by Hernando Tabares (ex-mayor of Fresno, Tolima), two people - Reinaldo Parra and his wife Yeimi Chitiva Pareja - aged 25 and 18 respectively, who managed the resort, were forcibly abducted. At the time of disappearance of the couple, the house was violently broken into, ransacked and items were stolen, including photographs of members of the family who were later killed on 16th July 2001, between Mariquita and Fresno, near a place called “La Parroquia”.
The persons who were killed on July 16th were: Isabel Guzman, Luciano Parra Parra (brother of Reinaldo Parra, missing), Luzmila Rincon Castano, Orlando Ortiz Rodriguez, Hernando Parra Parra, Otoniel Murillos Gonzalez, and Angel Maria Parra Parra. It is important to point out that the rural population is terrified, since the said group had told them on 16th July 2001 that they would return in two months to start killing them. Subsequently, on 10th and 11th September 2001, nearly 150 armed men who identified themselves as members of the AUC, Bloque Tolima, took over the township of Casabianca, and the paramilitary group is still reportedly present in the urban area of Mariquita, Guayabal, Venadillo and Lerida. According to reports, during the paramilitary attack in the areas surrounding these locations (veredas), known as the Alto del Sol, one of the men in command of the AUC, Bloque Tolima, told them “Call the Army and it won’t do you any good, since I am a captain in the VI Brigade.”
The International Secretariat of OMCT condemns these new acts of extreme violence, the persecution of civilians by armed aggressors, the apparent impunity of the perpetrators of these infringements of human rights and the lack of effective measures of protection by municipal, governmental and national authorities to prevent such acts.
Action requested:
Please write to the authorities in Colombia urging them to :
i. immediately take all adequate measures to guarantee the safety and physical and psychological integrity of all the inhabitants of the surrounding areas (veredas) and villages of Falan and other townships north of Tolima;
ii. order immediate measures to guarantee the attention, assistance and and protection of the displaced population, and initiate a programme and establish mechanisms of permanent vigilance in places of refuge of these communities;
iii. comply immediately with recommendations issued by international and regional human rights organisations, including the Bureau of the High Commission for Human Rights, the Human Rights Commission of the UNO and the Interamerican Commission for Human Rights, as well as non-governmental human rights organisations;
iv. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.
Addresses
· S.E. Andrés Pastrana Arango, Presidente de la República, Carrera 8 n°. 7-26, Palacio de Nariño, Santa Fe de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 286 74 34; (+57 1) 286 68 42; (+57 1) 284 21 86
· Consejería Presidencial de Derechos Humanos, Calle 7 n°. 6-54 Piso 3, Santa Fe de Bogotá, D. C. Fax: (+57 1) 337 13 51
· Doctor Gustavo Bell Lemus, Ministro de la Defensa, Ministerio de Defensa Nacional, Avenida El Dorado con carrera 52 CAN, Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 222 18 74
· Doctor Armando Estrada Villa, Ministro del Interior, Ministerio del Interior, Cra. 8 n°. 8-09 SantaFe de Bogotá, Palacio de Nariño. Santa Fe de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 286 80 25
· Doctor Edgardo 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
· Doctor Luis Camilo Osorio, Fiscal General de la Nación, Diagonal 22 B n°. 52-01, Santa Fe de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 570 20 22.
· Doctor Eduardo Cifuentes, Defensor del Pueblo, Defensoría del Pueblo, Calle 55 n°. 10-32 Santa Fe de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 346 12 25
· General Fernando Tapias Stahelin, Comandante de las Fuerzas Militares, Avenida el Dorado, Cra. 52, Santa Fe de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 222 29 35
Please also write to the embassies Colombian in your respective country
Geneva, 20th September 2001
Please inform us of any action undertaken in connection with this case, quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Colombia.
Brief description of the situation:
The International Secretariat has been informed of the massacre perpetrated by a paramilitary group in Frías, Municipality of Falán, in the north of the district of Tolima, in which 15 people were murdered. They were identified as: Olivo Delgado, Arley González, Albeiro Barracaldo, Yesid Aros, Vicente Rodriguez, Hernán Miranda and Hoover Beir Miranda, twin brothers, John Navarrete, Rafael Jiménez, Mario Lino Aguirre, a worker known as “El Costeño”, Alduver Triana, Marcolino Aguirre, and two children, Cecilia Cortés aged 15 and Pedro Urrego aged 17. Furthermore, OMCT learned from the same sources that in the same region Mr Reinaldo Parra Parra and his wife Yeimi Chitiva Pareja had been kidnapped, and prior to this a group of the afore-mentioned couple’s friends and acquaintances had been murdered: Isabel Guzman, Luciano Parra Parra (brother of Reinaldo Parra, kidnapped), Luzmila Rincón Castaño, Orlando Ortiz Rodriguez, Hernando Parra Parra, Otoniel Murillos Gonzalez, and Angel Maria Parra Parra.
According to information received from the Fundacion Comite de Solidaridad con los Presos Politicos, FCSPP, the paramilitary group called “Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia” AUC, Bloque Tolima, violently forced their way into the inhabited area (corregimiento) of Frías in the municipality of Falán at about 2200 o’clock on 15th September 2001. The reports added that the men had arrived on two motorbikes, a cart and a truck, whose driver they had detained for this purpose, and on arriving in the township, one of the men fired indiscriminately against a group of youngsters who managed to escape unharmed. Then the vehicles went to the centre of the Plaza where some twenty men got out and went up to the entrance of the church from where they fired indiscriminately at the cafeteria “Murillo” killing some people and injuring others.
The reports added that afterwards, one of the armed men went to a billiard bar called “El Olivo”, screaming at the people to lie down on the floor. As the people were staring dumbfounded, they started shooting at them, indiscriminately, and killed seven. On leaving the billiard bar, they threw a grenade into the Murillo cafeteria, destroying it completely. Then they went to the lavatories to finish off the people hidden there. As the paramilitary group left the township, they shouted out threats.
The people killed during these events were: Olivo Delgado, aged 28, Arley Gonzalez, aged 28, Albeiro Barracaldo, aged 26, Yesid Aros, aged 29, Vicente Rodriguez, aged 70, Hernan Miranda and Hoover Neir Miranda, twin brothers aged 24, John Navarrete, aged 22, Rafael Jiminez, Mario Lino Aguirre, aged 65, a worker known as “El costeño”, aged 38, and two children, Cecilia Cortés, aged 15, and Pedro Urrego, aged 17. On leaving, the paramilitaries forcibly adbucted Alduver Triana, aged 36, and Marcolino Aguirre, whose dead bodies were later found beside the road leading to Mariquita. The corpses showed clear signs of torture. Injured in the course of this paramilitary action were Fabiola, the wife of Alduver Triana, and Flor Gaviria, wounded in the leg when the paramilitaries attacked the supermarket she owns and robbed her money.
Further our sources indicate that before these events, on 10th July 2001, at the “el Acuario” resort owned by Hernando Tabares (ex-mayor of Fresno, Tolima), two people - Reinaldo Parra and his wife Yeimi Chitiva Pareja - aged 25 and 18 respectively, who managed the resort, were forcibly abducted. At the time of disappearance of the couple, the house was violently broken into, ransacked and items were stolen, including photographs of members of the family who were later killed on 16th July 2001, between Mariquita and Fresno, near a place called “La Parroquia”.
The persons who were killed on July 16th were: Isabel Guzman, Luciano Parra Parra (brother of Reinaldo Parra, missing), Luzmila Rincon Castano, Orlando Ortiz Rodriguez, Hernando Parra Parra, Otoniel Murillos Gonzalez, and Angel Maria Parra Parra. It is important to point out that the rural population is terrified, since the said group had told them on 16th July 2001 that they would return in two months to start killing them. Subsequently, on 10th and 11th September 2001, nearly 150 armed men who identified themselves as members of the AUC, Bloque Tolima, took over the township of Casabianca, and the paramilitary group is still reportedly present in the urban area of Mariquita, Guayabal, Venadillo and Lerida. According to reports, during the paramilitary attack in the areas surrounding these locations (veredas), known as the Alto del Sol, one of the men in command of the AUC, Bloque Tolima, told them “Call the Army and it won’t do you any good, since I am a captain in the VI Brigade.”
The International Secretariat of OMCT condemns these new acts of extreme violence, the persecution of civilians by armed aggressors, the apparent impunity of the perpetrators of these infringements of human rights and the lack of effective measures of protection by municipal, governmental and national authorities to prevent such acts.
Action requested:
Please write to the authorities in Colombia urging them to :
i. immediately take all adequate measures to guarantee the safety and physical and psychological integrity of all the inhabitants of the surrounding areas (veredas) and villages of Falan and other townships north of Tolima;
ii. order immediate measures to guarantee the attention, assistance and and protection of the displaced population, and initiate a programme and establish mechanisms of permanent vigilance in places of refuge of these communities;
iii. comply immediately with recommendations issued by international and regional human rights organisations, including the Bureau of the High Commission for Human Rights, the Human Rights Commission of the UNO and the Interamerican Commission for Human Rights, as well as non-governmental human rights organisations;
iv. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.
Addresses
· S.E. Andrés Pastrana Arango, Presidente de la República, Carrera 8 n°. 7-26, Palacio de Nariño, Santa Fe de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 286 74 34; (+57 1) 286 68 42; (+57 1) 284 21 86
· Consejería Presidencial de Derechos Humanos, Calle 7 n°. 6-54 Piso 3, Santa Fe de Bogotá, D. C. Fax: (+57 1) 337 13 51
· Doctor Gustavo Bell Lemus, Ministro de la Defensa, Ministerio de Defensa Nacional, Avenida El Dorado con carrera 52 CAN, Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 222 18 74
· Doctor Armando Estrada Villa, Ministro del Interior, Ministerio del Interior, Cra. 8 n°. 8-09 SantaFe de Bogotá, Palacio de Nariño. Santa Fe de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 286 80 25
· Doctor Edgardo 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
· Doctor Luis Camilo Osorio, Fiscal General de la Nación, Diagonal 22 B n°. 52-01, Santa Fe de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 570 20 22.
· Doctor Eduardo Cifuentes, Defensor del Pueblo, Defensoría del Pueblo, Calle 55 n°. 10-32 Santa Fe de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 346 12 25
· General Fernando Tapias Stahelin, Comandante de las Fuerzas Militares, Avenida el Dorado, Cra. 52, Santa Fe de Bogotá. Fax: (+57 1) 222 29 35
Please also write to the embassies Colombian in your respective country
Geneva, 20th September 2001
Please inform us of any action undertaken in connection with this case, quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.