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Peasant Farmer Association Targeted by Army in Colombia
Justice For Colombia / Monday 16 March 2009
 

The past month has seen an increasing number of attacks by the Colombian security forces on members of the Peasant Farmer’s Association of Arauca (ACA) who say that as well as several arbitrary detentions and a raid on the ACA headquarters, soldiers are harassing and stealing from peasant farming communities in the region. Arauca, which is located on the Colombian border with Venezuela, is one of the most violent regions of the country and is the scene of almost daily assassinations including, on November 28th, that of ACA leader Carlos Rodolfo Cabrera who was gunned down in the town of Arauquita.

According to a March 16th statement from the ACA, troops of the Colombian Army have moved into the communities of Santa Isabel and Mata de Coco and are taking over the homes of peasant farmers and harassing local residents whom they accuse of supporting the guerilla insurgency. Soldiers have also allegedly collected the mobile phones of all residents in the area and destroyed them so that they "cannot call the guerrillas". The phones are the only way that many people in the region have of communicating with the outside world.

Witnesses say that the troops involved sometimes wear uniforms without markings and on other occasions appear in civilian clothes – leading to speculation that a paramilitary death squad, possibly made up of moonlighting soldiers, may also be present in the area.

The ACA has also reported on several arbitrary detentions including that of nine young people in the village of Filipinas (Tame municipality) who were forced into a helicopter on March 8th and taken away to the regional capital. On February 17th at approximately 2pm soldiers also took away ACA activist Benjamin Bermudez from the nearby village of Holanda. In neither case did any arrest warrant or judicial order exist.

The ACA also say that on February 9th six armed men raided their headquarters and threatened the three union activists who were there. The men searched the building and told the trade unionists present that they were police officers before leaving around an hour later. The raid follows the November bombing of the CUT trade union federation’s office in Arauca (see Union Offices Bombed in Colombia).

For further information on the situation in Arauca see: Colombia’s Most Dangerous Region: One Assassination Every Two Days in Arauca