CPTnet
April22, 2002
COLOMBIA UPDATE: March 16-31, 2002

Sunday, March 17
William Payne and Bob Holmes encountered six members
of the AUC
paramilitary group on the Colorada River in the Opon
area. One
of the AUC members (who was formerly a guerrilla) told
Payne that the
paramilitaries have stopped IDing campesinos because
of CPT's presence on
the river. He also mentioned that he receives 10,000
pesos (about $5) a
day to work with the AUC. Payne prayed with him "to
find a way
out of the violence."

Payne and Holmes set up their tents on the point (la
Repunta), where the
AUC often has a checkpoint. A few hours later, AUC
members came to the
point and stayed until two AUC boats carrying stolen
gasoline passed. The
AUC members left and escorted the boats downriver.
Holmes and Payne then
traveled up the Colorada River to the railroad bridge
to look for the gas
pipeline. They observed a hose by the river and
assumed it to be the
source of the stolen gas.

Wednesday, March 20
Lisa Martens and Payne began a five-day presence in
the Valle Cimitarra, a
guerilla-controlled region located Northeast of
Barrancabermeja. Local
civilians reported a large presence of paramilitaries
in
the area.

For the first time in two months, Scott Kerr and Sara
Reschly encountered a Colombian Navy boat heading
upriver towards
the Opon.

Thursday, March 21
The news reported that a USO (workers' union) leader
was killed on
Wednesday night. Four CPTers went to the wake to show
support and offer
condolences to the family.

Martens and Payne encountered a group of 13
paramilitaries near San Tropel
in the Valle Cimitarra. Local civilians in San Tropel
said that the
paramilitaries had left a day or two before, having
spent two nights
there. The CPTers made a point of talking to ALL the
civilians in the
area in order that no individual would be suspected as
an informant. They learned later that the AUC had a
meeting with people in the community that night.

Later that afternoon, Martens and Payne encountered a
group of thirteen AUC
paramilitaries (plus more on surrounding hills) a few
kilometers past San
Tropel in area of a farm called "El Retiro,"
reportedly owned by a group of
cattle ranchers. Commander Zero said he was in charge
of forty people and
that there was a total of 600 paramilitaries in the
area.

Commander Zero spoke English fluently, had gone to
high school in New York but
returned to Colombia after guerillas killed his
father. He joined the Colombian army, attended the
School of the Americas three times, trained AUC
paramilitaries as a lieutenant in the army, did a
'favour' for
another officer and was imprisoned, then joined the
AUC because "they are
more effective."

Some fishermen out in the Opon reported that a handful
of FARC guerrillas
attacked a small group of AUC paramilitaries who were
hanging around a farm
in the Rasqui