Colombia ombudsman denounces murder and forced displacement on San Andres
Colombia ombudsman denounces murder and forced displacement on San Andres
posted by Charlie de Rivaz
Oct 31, 2013
Colombia’s chief ombudsman has condemned the violent situation on the Caribbean island of San Andres after seven people were murdered in August and others were forcibly displaced.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Jorge Armando Otalora called on the “national government, the armed forces, and the government of San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina to adopt effective measures to protect the life and personal integrity of the population in the face of the increase in the number of violent deaths…as a consequence of the actions of illegal armed groups.”
The Caribbean islands of San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina make up the San Andres archipegalo, which has a population of 75,000 people, many of whom are creole-speaking protestant Afro-Colombians known as ‘raizales.’ The archipegalo lies 480 miles from the Colombian coast and 143 miles from Nicaragua.
Ombudsman Otalora says he has listened to formal complaints from citizens of the archipegalo who claim to have received death threats and have been forced to move to the continent.
His press release reported that in October there have been seven murders on the island of San Andres. The most recent came last weekend when Juan Garcia Jaramillo, who ran a gas station and was formerly a manager at RCN Radio, was shot down while on his motorbike.
More:
http://colombiareports.co/colombia-ombudsman-denounces-murder-forced-displacement-san-andres-archipegalo/
