Paramilitaries assassinate 22 campesinos in the municipality of Curumani

by Association for the Promotion of Social Alternatives Minga
Bogota, 9 December 2005

The Association for the Promotion of Social Alternatives Minga informs national and international public opinion that paramilitaries currently in the process of negotiating with the national government, detained, tortured and executed 22 campesinos in the villages of La Mas Verde and Nuevo Horizonte, Curumani municipality, Cesar.

The facts are as follows:

1. On 4 and 5 December 2005, a group of approximately 200 armed men in uniform, presenting themselves as members of the North Block of the Paramilitaries under the command of Jorge 40 (alias), entered the villages of La Mas Verde and Nuevo Horizonte, Santa Isabel district, Curumani municipality, Cesar. They carried out all manner of violations and humiliating acts against the civilian population in these locations and detained an undeterminate number of people, 22 of whom, in a state of total defencelessness, were killed with firearms and knives.

2. Before executing these people, the paramilitaries subjected them to acts of torture and humiliation. They also stole livestock and other property belonging to the inhabitants of this rural area of Curumani.

3. Identified among the assassinated campesinos are: Carlos Julio Hernandez Triana, 64 years, whose remains were buried in a communal grave in the village of La Mas Verde because they were badly decomposed; the farm workers Elidez Ramirez Pineda and Hector Julio Manzano, whose corpses, along with two unnamed bodies, were taken by the national army to the main town of Curumani. The other 17 bodies have been left exposed to the elements and carrion animals for five days in the villages of La Mas Verde and Nuevo Horizonte, without any judicial or police authority making any effort to recuperate and identify them.

4. The paramilitaries, who entered and left these zones without meeting any opposition at all from the public security forces, kept a blockade on the inhabitants of the affected regions until 7 December 2005, preventing people from entering or leaving; and they then withdrew to their bases located in the municipalities of Curumani and Pailitas, Cesar.

5. The inhabitants of the rural zones of Santa Isabel, Curumani, are suffering from high levels of anxiety and fear as a result of what has happened, and are having difficulty obtaining enough food and medicine.

In the light of what has happened, we demand:

- That the national government: a) guarantee the life, personal integrity and property of the inhabitants of Santa Isabel, Curumani municipality; b) provide psychological and material assistance to the victims of the paramilitary incursion; c) neutralise and combat the paramilitary group responsible for this massacre; and d) inform public opinion if the group responsible for these acts has ceased negotiations with the administration of president Uribe Velez and broken the ceasefire.

- That the public prosecutor urgently send a judicial commission to the place of the massacre to recover the bodies of the victims, identify them and return them to their relatives, and bring those responsible for these acts to justice.

- That Dr Sergio Caramagna, responsible for the Organisation of American States Mission of Accompaniment to the Peace Process with the paramilitaries, investigate the denounced violation of the ceasefire by the criminal group led by Jorge 40 (alias) and make a public statement about their crime.


Messages to:

Presidente de la República
Dr. Álvaro Uribe Vélez
Email : auribe@presidencia.gov.co
Address: Casa de Nariño
Carrera 8 N° 7-26 Tlf 5629300 Fax 5662071

Vicepresidencia de la República
Dr. Francisco Santos
Email: fsantos@presidencia.gov.co
Fax: 011 57 1 565 7682

Fiscal General
Mario Iguarán Arana
Email: contacto@fiscalia.gov.co
denuncie@fiscalia.gov.co
Fax: 011 571 570 2000

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