CPTnet
15 June 2006

COLOMBIA UPDATE: May 2006

In May, CPT and other social organizations in Barrancabermeja worried about
the actions of the demobilized paramilitaries. They heard that armed men
continued acting as paramilitaries in different zones of the Magdalena
Medio. Hundreds of these ex-paramilitaries work as security guards, carrying
guns as part of their work but continuing to exert social control by
charging "taxes" for security.

The Opon River flooded, damaging the crops. Water entered areas where an
oil pipeline had ruptured, and hence contaminated the river. Guerrillas and
the army continued their presence in the Opon River communities. This
situation generated fear in the community, because armed combat displaced
them five years ago.

The team continued to film the nonviolence section in the Mohana, the
Popular Women's Organization's TV program.

1 May

The team participated in an Ecumenical Action for International Labor Day.
Each organization commemorated their martyrs. CPT remembered Tom Fox and
murdered residents of the Opon.

3 May

The team met with the Major Jaime Sanchez of Plan Seven of the Army. Among
other things, they talked about chickens stolen and damage caused by the
soldiers on the Opon River in April (See April 2006 Update
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cptcolombia/message/105?l=1).

4 May

The International Complementary Committee (MIC) formed by Christian Aid,
Project Counselling Services, Diakonía, Civis, PBI and CPT met with
Colonel Torres, commander of the Magdalena Medio Region Police. The
organizations expressed their concerns about the critical human rights
situation in the region. The colonel said, "Actually the community is close
to the police. The violence levels have decreased creating more security and
calm in the city. Also, there are now organized gangs who commit common
crimes, not paramilitaries."

In a meeting with the Human Rights Workers Space (ETTDH), the Peoples
Ombudsman said that 14,000 people have been displaced during 2006, but Mayor
Gravino denied the existence of a humanitarian crisis and the impact of
paramilitary demobilization on increased violence in the region.

The MIC is an initiative of international organizations with presence in the
Magdalena Medio, which wants to create, support and develop spaces of
interlocution and lobby between the Human Rights Workers Space (ETTDH), the
embassies and the national government.

10-11 May

Robin Buyers represented CPT at meetings of the Americas Policy Group (APG),
Canadian Council for International Cooperation, in Ottawa. She assisted in
the preparation of a brief on Canadian Policy in Colombia. Expert panels
commented on the new Canadian political landscape under the Harper
government and on how Canada should reevaluate its role in Colombia. The
APG includes representatives of Amnesty International, the Canadian Labor
Congress, United Church of Canada, Kairos and many other organizations.

16 May

Reading a litany, CPTers participated in the Commemoration Event of the
Victims of the May 16, 1998 Massacre, organized by the victims' families. On
this date a paramilitary death squad killed seven people and "disappeared"
twenty-five more. Eight years later the perpetrators of the massacre still
have not faced justice, despite a decision by the Inter-American Court for
Human Rights of investigate the Colombian state for its complicity in the
crime.

18 May

CPTers Suzanna Collerd and Julián Gutiérrez formed part of a human
rights commission of verification to Pueblito Mejía, a very small town in
the south of the Bolivar Department (province.) During their visit with an
assembly of the townspeople, the CPTers heard that some demobilized
paramilitaries continue to commit crimes with active paramilitaries.

In San Pablo, south of Bolívar, the community caught two demobilized
paramilitaries who wanted to kill a business person from their town.

20 May

CPTers Adaia Bernal and Pierre Shantz participated in an accompaniment
commission to Monte Carmelo for the liberation of two experts who work for
the Peace University in Barrancabermeja. The National Liberation Army (ELN),
a guerilla group, kidnapped them while they were working with the Plan
Colombia project of Forest Ranger Families. Members of the commission found
out that the guerrilla liberated the men in exchange for money, not as an
act of good will.

28 May

Alvaro Uribe won the presidential elections in Colombia with 62% of the
votes. Uribe has been rumored to have links with the drug trade and the
paramilitary group currently in peace negotiations. Carlos Gaviria,
candidate of a new leftist political party, the Democratic Alternative Pole,
obtained 23% of the votes; 55% of the adult population abstained from
voting.