Colombian human rights lawyers investigating La Macarena mass grave in Brussels to call for stop to

[Judi Lynn]

Colombian human rights lawyers investigating La Macarena mass grave in Brussels to call for stop to Colombia FTA
22/03/2010


22 March 2010, Brussels – Despite the recent discovery of 2000 unidentified bodies in La Macarena in Colombia, the EU-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is about to enter its final ratification phase. Two human rights lawyers investigating the case will be in Brussels this week to warn Members of the European Parliament against ratifying such a deal.

“We are gravely concerned with the European Commission’s insistence of forging ahead with this trade agreement. Serious and systematic violations of human and trade union rights are going on right now in Colombia, with the discovery in La Macarena only adding to a long list of violations. Signing the agreement will simply legitimise them,” said Conny Reuter, Secretary General of SOLIDAR.

In December 2009 Mr Cuellar and Ms Hoyos, two human rights lawyers from Colombia, alerted the international community to the discovery of 2000 unidentified bodies buried in a graveyard next to an army base in the small village of La Macarena. Photos and eyewitness reports from British and Spanish groups who went there would appear to indicate that the vast majority of dead bodies are from 2002-2009, with a significant number from the last two years.

The Colombian army claims that all of the bodies were of guerrillas killed in combat. However, locals deny this given that there have never been so many guerrillas within the village’s vicinity. In addition, the UN recently revealed that the Colombian Army has been involved in what they describe as “widespread and systematic” extrajudicial executions of civilians whom they later claim are guerrillas killed in combat in order to qualify for bonuses.

More:
http://www.solidar.org/Page_Generale.asp?DocID=13955&thebloc=24303

[Wilms]

1. k&r n/t