WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #580, MARCH 11, 2001
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012
(212) 674-9499 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*6. COLOMBIA: PEACE COMMUNITY ATTACKED
On the evening of Mar. 5, a group of some 15 hooded individuals--
presumably rightwing paramilitaries--attacked the "Community of
Peace" of San Jose de Apartado, a community of 1,200 people in
Apartado municipality, Antioquia department, in the turbulent
Colombian banana-growing region of Uraba. The group pulled
residents from their homes and threatened them, then burned seven
houses (nine according to El Tiempo). Several people were treated
for burns. [El Colombiano (Medellin) 3/6/01; El Tiempo (Bogota)
3/7/01]
Gen. Pablo Alberto Rodriguez Laverde, commander of the army's
XVII Brigade, explained in a press release that the army was
informed of the presence of an armed group in the Peace
Community, and responded by sending a commission made up of the
Uraba police, the director of the Attorney General's Technical
Group of Investigators (CTI), a military criminal court judge and
local Apartado prosecutors. However, some of the residents and
people accompanying the community barred the commission from
entering. [EC 3/7/01]
Four years ago San Jose de Apartado became the first Colombian
village to declare itself a "Community of Peace." [Residents of
the "peace communities" reject the presence of any armed group,
including armed forces and police, in their communities.] [ET
3/7/01] Peace Brigades International volunteers provide
nonviolent protective accompaniment to residents of the San Jose
de Apartado peace community. [Equipo PBI-Colombia Informacion
Catorce Dias #170, 12/25/00-1/7/01]
Mario Agudelo Vasquez, mayor of Apartado municipality, responded
to the Mar. 5 attack by proposing to the members of the San Jose
de Apartado Peace Community that they accept the presence of
state security forces to protect them from incursions by illegal
armed groups. "We understand that it's necessary to surround the
community with all the constitutional guarantees to guarantee the
right to life and the only way to do it is by relying on the army
and police. They want to help, but they feel they are not allowed
to," said Agudelo. [EC 3/7/01; ET 3/7/01]
Agudelo was elected as mayor of Apartado last fall; he is a
former member of the leftist Popular Liberation Army (EPL) who
laid down his arms, together with most of the EPL's combatants,
on Mar. 1, 1991. Six of Apartado's council members are also
former EPL rebels. The group, now called Hope, Peace and Liberty
(EPL), marked the tenth anniversary of its demobilization on Mar.
1 of this year with activities that included a march in Apartado
and a forum in Medellin. Another former EPL rebel, Anibal
Palacio, was elected last fall as mayor of Turbo municipality,
located just north and west of Apartado in Antioquia department,
in Uraba. [EC 3/1/01; El Espectador (Bogota) 3/1/01; ET 3/2/01]
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Weekly News Update on the Americas * Nicaragua Solidarity Network of NY
339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012 * 212-674-9499 fax: 212-674-9139
http://home.earthlink.net/~dbwilson/wnuhome.html * [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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