CPTnet
June 19, 2004
COLOMBIA: "They're going to kill my Daddy"
by Scott Albrecht and Sandra Rincón
"They're going to kill my Daddy!"
Two CPTers heard an eight year-old girl running toward them scream, "They're
going to kill my Daddy!" as nine paramilitary members with
machine guns entered her family's yard on Tuesday, June 15, 2004. The CPTers
arrived to see members of the illegal right-wing armed group United Self
Defense Forces, Central Bolivar Bloc (AUC-BCB)
insulting and threatening to kill the girl's father in front of his family,
children, and friends. A guerrilla fighter from the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia--People's Army (FARC-EP), whom
the paramilitaries had captured a few hours earlier, accused the girl's
father of collaborating with that left-wing armed group.
Within minutes of CPT arriving at the property, the paramilitaries left the
terrorized family and continued their march downriver. CPTers stayed with
the family, praying to God for protection and peace.
Everyone present said that if CPT had not been present, the paramilitaries
would have killed the man.
At the end of their march downriver, the paramilitaries confronted FARC
guerrillas who were present in the zone. The loud shootout brought great
fear to the community of Los Ñeques in the Opón River. People believe
that more confrontations or death threats will occur in the region.
The day after the paramilitary incursion, CPT saw three guerrillas passing
through the zone. CPT (and other residents minutes before) exhorted the
commander to stay away from civilian houses and not involve them in the
conflict. This armed man, just like the leader of the paramilitaries,
assured the team that they were not doing so.
Despite these words, the continuing presence of the guerrilla forces in the
area threatens the civilian population by attracting paramilitary incursions
and increasing the risk that civilians could be caught in a battle.
Guerrillas from the Bloque Magdalena Medio of
the FARC-EP in the area have pressured civilians with death threats to bring
groceries from the city for them.
Just after these events, the community met and wrote an open letter to
different civil society agencies and state institutions, recounting
the event and requesting their presence in the region, because they want to
tell all of Colombia and the world that they are a group of peasants that
want to live in peace and away from the armed conflict.
The father of the 8-year-old girl decided to leave the community, as an
internal refugee. He said, "What type of a life is this? One day the
paramilitary comes and accuses us, and the next day the guerrillas come and
do the same. No one deserves such humiliating treatment as this." The
community closed the twenty-four hours that had passed since the
paramilitaries arrived and almost killed one of its members with a prayer,
in which they asked God the Father for his care and strength to continue
living in the middle of so much fear.
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no
evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff - they comfort me." Psalm
23:4
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