amnesty international
UA: 42/12 Index: AMR 23/008/2012 Issue Date: 8 February 2012
In Apartadó schossen zwei Männer auf einem Motorrad auf Jesús Emilio Tuberquia, den Vertreter der Friedensgemeinde von San José de Apartadó. Der Angriff fand ca .100 m von einem Polizeiposten entfernt statt.
Jesús Emilio Tuberquia konnte fliehen …
A man from the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, Jesús Emilio Tuberquia, was shot at by two paramilitaries in the northern town of Apartadó on 4 February.
Two paramilitaries on a motorbike approached Jesús Emilio Tuberquia, the legal representative of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, and shot at him. They missed and Jesús Emilio Tuberquia managed to escape. The attack, in the town of Apartadó, Antioquia Department, took place only about 100m from a permanent police control post. There have been repeated reports in recent months that paramilitaries are strengthening their control over the area in which the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó is situated, an area where the security forces and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) also maintain a strong presence. The community also continues to face repeated death threats.
On 2 February soldiers destroyed a field of crops belonging to the Peace Community in the area of Mulatos, Apartadó Municipality. On 28 January members of the Colombian Army had gone into the hamlet of Mulatos and threatened the Peace Community, saying they would „exterminate“ them. That day, paramilitaries had entered the nearby community of El Porvenir, another hamlet in Apartadó Municipality, and fired in the air as a young man was passing. They detained him for some time. Between 24 and 27 January paramilitaries had been present in the hamlets of El Porvenir and La Esperanza threatening the peasant farmers and members of the Peace Community telling them that they would take away their cattle, kill them and „exterminate“ the Peace Community.
Please write immediately in Spanish or your own language:
Express concern for the safety of Jesús Emilio Tuberquia and other members of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó;
Urge the authorities to order full and impartial investigations into the attack on Jesús Emilio Tuberquia and the threats against members of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, publish the results and bring those responsible to justice;
Remind the authorities of the right of civilians – including the San José de Apartadó Peace Community -not to be drawn into the armed conflict;
Urge them to take immediate action to dismantle paramilitary groups and break their links with the security forces, in line with stated government commitments and recommendations made by the UN and other intergovernmental organizations
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 21 MARCH 2012 TO:
President
Señor Juan Manuel Santos
Presidente de la República,
Palacio de Nariño, Carrera 8 No.7-26, Bogotá, Colombia
Fax: +57 1 596 0631
Salutation: Dear President Santos/
Excmo. Sr. Presidente Santos
Defence Minister
Señor Juan Carlos Pinzón
Ministerio de Defensa
Carrera 54, no.26-29
Bogotá, Colombia
Fax: +57 1 266 1003
Salutation: Dear Minister Pinzón/
Sr. Ministro Pinzón
And copies to:
Peace Community
Comunidad de Paz de
San José de Apartadó
AA 243 de Apartadó
Antioquia, Colombia
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please insert local diplomatic addresses below:
Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address Salutation Salutation
Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
URGENT ACTION
attempted killing by PARAMILITARIES
ADditional Information
The Peace Community of San José de Apartadó consists of individuals living in a number of hamlets and villages in the municipality of Apartadó, in Antioquia Department, north-western Colombia, who defend their right not to be drawn into Colombia’s armed conflict and refuse to take sides with any of the parties to the conflict. The Peace Community refuses to bear arms or to provide information or logistical support to either side. In return, they demand that the parties to the conflict do not enter their communities and that they respect their decision not to participate in or to collaborate with the warring parties.
Since the Peace Community’s formation on 23 March 1997, more than 170 of its members or other civilians living in the area have been killed or subjected to enforced disappearance, while others have been threatened or sexually assaulted. Those in the Peace Community are in constant danger. The majority of these killings have been carried out by paramilitaries who continue to operate with the support and acquiescence of members of the armed forces in the area. Guerrilla forces have also killed members of the Peace Community. Over the last decade many civilians who are not members of the Peace Community, but who are close to them or living in the area, have also been killed. Many of the killings coincide with periods of intense threats against the Peace Community and appear to be part of attempts to intimidate its members.
Civilians who defend their right not to be drawn into Colombia’s armed conflict are met with suspicion and hostility from the army, the paramilitaries and guerrilla groups.
Colombia’s paramilitary groups supposedly demobilized in a government-sponsored process that began in 2003, but it is clear from the killing and the threats against human rights defenders and other vulnerable sectors of civilian society in different parts of the country, that they are still operating.
Name: Jesús Emilio Tuberquia
Gender m/f: m
