Condemn the Repression of Campesino Activists

The Colombia Action Network has signed onto this letter circulating in
support for the Cimitarra River Valley Peasant Association. The CAN was
hosted by the CRVPA in 2004 & 2005 on delegations to Colombia. The letter
and the report from the International Peace Observatory explain the
repression faced by the CRVPA.
- Meredith Aby for the CAN
colombiasolidarity.org

Dear President Uribe:

We are writing to you today to express our deep concern for the present
situation of the civilian population and farmers' organizations in the
Antioquian Northeast, the Cimitarra River Valley and the Sur de Bolívar
regions of Colombia's Middle Magdalena. We have been informed by IPO (the
International Peace Observatory), a human rights organization accompanying
the Cimitarra River Valley Farmer's Association (ACVC) and the Humanitarian
Action Corporation for Coexistence and Peace in the Antioquian Northeast
(CAHUCOPANA), that there have been ten murders and five forced
disappearances of farmers in the region since August 2005, as well as
numerous arbitrary detentions
and dozens of direct threats that cause the forced displacement of entire
communities. The peasant farmers attribute intellectual and material
authorship of these crimes to the National Army. Added to these facts are
the permanent food and medicine blockades set up by the Army in the entire
region. This information seems to signal a new phase of military pressure
against the farmers of the Middle Magdalena, who, according to the
Principle of Distinction, must be excluded from military
actions by all conflicting parties.

We respectfully ask you to investigate these violations, to respect the
civilian population's human rights, and to guarantee the right to free
association so that the organizations may continue to carry out their legal
and legitimate social work and promotion and defense of human rights in the
Middle Magdalena. We look forward to your quick response.

Sincerely,

The Colombia Action Network

--------------
INTERNATIONAL PEACE OBSERVATORY:

PUBLIC COMMUNIQUÉ: Serious Humanitarian Crisis in Colombia's Middle
Magdalena Region

The International Peace Observatory expresses its extreme concern over
constant Human Rights Violations and breaches of International Humanitarian
Law committed by the parties in conflict with the rural communities
accompanied by our organization in the Middle Magdalena region of Colombia .

Throughout the two years that IPO has accompanied the peasant farmer
(campesino) communities that live in these zones of armed conflict, the
violations against the civilian population have not diminished. On the
contrary, especially during the last few months, they have intensified,
reaffirming our conviction that, in effect, the campesinos are the armed
conflict's primary victims.

There have been 10 assassinations since August, 2005: Sigifredo Castaño
Patiño, killed August 8, 2005 in the village of Caño Tigre, Remedios
municipality, Antioquia department; Róbinson Sánchez, killed February 15,
2006 in the village of Campo Bijao, Remedios municipality and found one week
later; Carlos Trujillo, killed July 25, 2006 in the village of Altos de
Manila, Remedios, Antioquia; Pablo Emilio Agudelo Sánchez , killed September
4, 2006 in the village of Dosquebradas, Remedios, Antioquia; José Manuel
Girón, killed September 5 in the village of Caño Dorada, Cantagallo
municipality, Bolívar department; Alejandro Uribe , killed September 19 in
the village of Mina Gallo, Morales municipality, Bolívar; Guillermo León
Benitez, killed November 25, 2006 in the village of Cruz Bajitales,
Remedios, Antioquia; Heriberto Correa , killed January 6, 2007 in Cruz
Bajitales, Remedios, Antioquia; William Hernán Sánchez Montelier, killed
February 6, 2007 in the village of El Tamar, Remedios, Antioquia; and Edgar
Lozano Castelblanco, killed March 13, 2007 in the village of El Campo, Yondó
municipality, Antioquia.

Five forced disappearances have taken place: Alberto Mesa, disappeared
February 13. 2006, in the village of Lejanías, San Pablo municipality,
Bolívar; Mercedes Rojas Naranjo , disappeared May 26, 2006 in La Corona, El
Bagre municipality, Antioquia; Gustavo Castañeda, disappeared June 15, 2006
in the village of Puerto Nuevo Ité, Remedios, Antioquia; Javier Francisco
Castro, disappeared June 23 in the village of Puerto Matilde, Yondóo,
Antioquia; and Ovidio Betancur, disappeared November 21 in the village of
Alto Cañabraval, San Pablo, Bolívar.

There have been a great number of arbitrary arrests of campesinos in the
region by the Colombian Army. We call special attention to the detention of
two leaders of the Campesino Association of the Cimitarra River Valley
(ACVC): Eulises Porras, arrested on March 11, 2007 in the village of
Villanueva , San Pablo and Oscar Duque, arrested October 5, 2006 in the
village of La Concepción , Yondó, Antioquia. Both leaders were illegally
arrested by soldiers of the army's Fifth Brigade.

Dozens of direct threats have been made against campesinos by the Colombian
Army and by paramilitary groups. These include threats that forced several
families from northeast Antioquia to take refuge in a temporary shelter set
up in the village of Altos Manila , in the municipality of Remedios ,
Antioquia, during the months of August and September, 2006.

Throughout the Middle Magdalena, persons in civilian clothing, assumed to be
paramilitaries, are searching, lists in hand, for threatened campesinos,
allegedly in order to kill them. Among the names on these lists are many
members of the campesino associations and social organizations that work in
the region.

Several incidents of the Colombian Army robbing from the civilian population
have occurred. These included the case of the looting of the school in
Dosquebradas, Remedios municipality, Antioquia, on February 14, 2006 , which
was publicly denounced by the village residents. Several building materials,
food items and animals were stolen from Mr. Pedro Canole on September 29, in
the village of Santo Domingo , Yondó, Antioquía. On October 8, 2006 , in the
village of Caño Dorada , Cantagallo municipality, Bolívar, soldiers stole a
shotgun from a man and demanded three hens in exchange for its return.
According to the local campesinos, the people responsible for all these
thefts are members of the Calibío Battalion, of the Colombian Army's 14 th
Brigade.

Complaints persist of economic, food and medical blockades perpetrated by
the Army throughout the region. Reduced quantities of food are allowed to be
transported, and only under the control of the armed forces. The harsh
restrictions are applied most notably to the entry of medicine necessary for
the treatment of tropical diseases such as malaria, hepatitis and
leishmaniasis.

In the village of San Francisco, Yondó, Antioquia, troops from the Calibío
Battalion, of the Colombian Army's 14 th Brigade, have been present in the
village center since 2006, and have dug trenches near the houses, thus
violating International Humanitarian Law as stated in Protocol II of the
1949 Geneva Convention. For example, the troops have a trench that comes
within two meters of a campesino dwelling, breaking even the army's own
internal regulations.

Despite the commitment to remove the trench expressed to the community by
Sergeant Rubén Ruiz on January 31, 2007 , the trench remains in the same
place at this time.

Taking into account all these violations and infractions, and reiterating
our deep concern for the critical humanitarian situation in the region:

We ask that all the corresponding Colombian state institutions investigate
the events reported by the accompanied campesinos and organizations, in
order to effectively guarantee the civilian population's human rights and
right to life in the Middle Magdalena region.

As the majority of the victims are grassroots members of the ACVC (which has
filed an injunction with Inter-American Commission on Human Rights against
the Colombian state) and of the Humanitarian Action Corporation for
Coexistence and Peace of Antioquian Northeast (CAHUCOPANA), we ask that the
Colombian government guarantee these organizations' safety and freedom of
association, so that they may continue to carry out their legal and
legitimate work of social development and the defense and promotion of human
rights in the Middle Magdalena region.

International Peace Observatory