CPTnet
December 27, 2003
COLOMBIA: Assassinations and an explosion on the river

Recently, members of CPT-Colombia have witnessed the results of several
acts of violence in the rural fishing and farming communities on the Opón
River, south of the oil refining town of Barrancabermeja.

On Saturday, December 13, team members discovered a body floating in the
river near Los Yeques. This was the second body that had floated through
the community that week. Because of the advanced state of decomposition,
community and team members could not identify the body, though all feared
it was that of a man who had gone missing for over a week.

After CPTers in the city alerted the authorities about the discovery, local
organizations rapidly organized an investigatory commission composed of
national and international human rights groups and the Defensoria, a
government human rights ombudsman's office. This group, along with CPT,
went to accompany the community and document the collection of the body.
Although the Navy arrived with two small boats and a forensic specialist
from the National Police, they refused to transport the body back to the
city and asked community members to do so in the community canoe. Because
murders of this kind almost always carry deadly political ramifications,
many community members were afraid to get involved. Ultimately, the
Defensoria brought the body back to the city while CPTers stayed the night
with the community.
A few days later on Tuesday, December 16th, community members reported to
another commission (that also included CPT) that a laborer on a large farm
in the community had been assassinated the night before. Additionally, that
same night they reported that they had heard gunfire, immediately followed
by an explosion in upper Los Yeques. A tugboat with four workers blew up
when they were presumably attacked by the guerrilla.

  After government officials performed a cursory check of the area, and
found no new evidence, CPTers went to where the vessel had exploded and saw
blood stains. They also found evidence that bodies had been dragged to
the river's edge and presumably dumped into the water. Team members were
present in Los Yeques early Thursday morning, December 18, when two of the
bodies floated to the surface of the river and were later recovered by
government officials.

The Colombian Armed Forces, FARC guerrillas and paramilitary groups are all
currently in the area and the potential for violence remains high. Both
CPTers and community members have been hearing sporadic gunfire during the
past week. The possibility remains that the communities will once again
flee their homes, to become internal refugees from the war that continues
to ravage their country. However, at the moment the community is standing
together in the firm decision to stay in their homes unless the situation
worsens. Members of CPT's Colombia project wait and pray with these
communities not knowing what the war and the river will bring tomorrow.

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