Nariño massacres

[naaman fletcher]

The Nariño massacres (Spanish: Masacres en Nariño) were two massacres of indigenous Awá people in the Colombian Nariño Department. It was perpetrated by members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC guerrilla) in February 2009. In total 27 Awás were massacred, including women and young children.<1>

First massacre

The first massacre occurred on February 4, 2009 when a FARC guerrilla group entered the village Tortugal. FARC accused the Awás of collaborating with the Armed Forces of Colombia,<2> this lead to the torturing<3> and killing of 17 indigenous, of which eight were killed with knives, according to a witness who managed to escape.<2> The incident was denounced by Human Rights Watch and the Governor of the Nariño Department, Antonio Navarro Wolff.<4>

Second massacre

On February 11, 2009 the second occurred, with the murder of ten indigenous in the Sandé shelter, between Ricaurte and Guachavez,<5><6> apparently because they failed to provide FARC with information about the Colombian forces operating in the area.<5> In press releases, FARC stated that they support the indigenous, but not those who conspire against them.<1> The National Army of Colombia only found one of the bodies. Although the Awá live in a protected area this did not prevent armed groups from entering their territory.<7>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nari%C3%B1o_massacres

[naaman fletcher]

1. In a previous post by Judi Lynn,

She attributed violence by armed groups in Narino to the right wing. Perhaps they are left wing, like thee violence that happened in this post.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Soldiers and Paramilitaries Carry Out Massacre in Narino Department

Posted by Justice for Colombia | Date 24 March 2008

Soldiers and Paramilitaries Carry Out Massacre in Narino Department

A paramilitary death squad collaborating with troops of the 14th and 19th Brigades of the Colombian Army have massacred three men and disappeared another in the municipality of Ricaute in the department of Narino in southwest Colombia.

The joint operation occurred on March 22nd after paramilitaries and soldiers went into the village of Candillal and took three civilians away. Alonso Rosero, Jony Sotelo and Paulino Fajarda were all forced to accompany the armed men towards the nearby village of Las Vegas. During the 1-hour trip other armed men, in civilian clothes but with army equipment, joined the group. This second unit brought with them local teacher Manuel Antonio Rosero from the 'Cumbas' school, also in Ricaute, who they had detained some time earlier.

At approximately 5.45pm the group reached a bridge known as 'Coascabi'. Locals reported screams and gunfire coming from where the men were and upon further investigation three of the detained civilians were found murdered. Despite efforts to locate the body of Mr Rosero, he has not been found but is, according to local human rights activists, assumed dead.

Human rights groups in the region say that both the 14th and the 19th Brigades of the Colombian Army are currently collaborating closely with a paramilitary death squad in Narino department. In late December JFC reported that soldiers of the 19th Brigade had threatened local residents that a paramilitary unit would soon be arriving in the area. Their threat now appears to have become a reality.

More:
http://www.justiceforcolombia.org/?link=newsPage&story=228

~~~~~
Colombia: Stop Abuses by Paramilitaries’ Successor Groups
Government must Protect Civilians, Prosecute Groups’ Members and Accomplices
February 3, 2010

(Bogotá) - Colombia needs to respond effectively to the violent groups committing human rights abuses that have emerged around the country in the aftermath of the flawed demobilization of paramilitary groups, Human Rights Watch says in a report released today.

The 122-page report, "Paramilitaries' Heirs: The New Face of Violence in Colombia," documents widespread and serious abuses by successor groups to the paramilitary coalition known as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, AUC). The successor groups regularly commit massacres, killings, forced displacement, rape, and extortion, and create a threatening atmosphere in the communities they control. Often, they target human rights defenders, trade unionists, victims of the paramilitaries who are seeking justice, and community members who do not follow their orders. The report is accompanied by a multimedia presentation that includes photos and audio of some of the Colombians targeted by the successor groups.

"Whatever you call these groups - whether paramilitaries, gangs, or some other name - their impact on human rights in Colombia today should not be minimized," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "Like the paramilitaries, these successor groups are committing horrific atrocities, and they need to be stopped."

Based on nearly two years of field research, the report describes the successor groups' brutal impact on human rights in Colombia, highlighting four regions where the groups have a substantial presence: the city of Medellín, the Urabá region of Chocó state, and the states of Meta and Nariño.

~snip~
In Nariño, for example, one man complained that "the Black Eagles interrogate us, with the police 20 meters away... ou can't trust the army or police because they're practically with the guys." In Urabá, a former official said the police in one town appeared to work with the successor groups: "It's all very evident... The police control the entry and exit and ... they share intelligence." In Meta, an official said he received "constant complaints that the army threatens people, talking about how ‘the Cuchillos' are coming... In some cases, the army leaves and the Cuchillos come in."

More:
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/02/02/colombia-stop-abuses-paramilitaries-successor-groups

~~~~~
Gangs tied to paramilitaries cited in Colombia violence By Arthur Brice, CNN
February 3, 2010 3:13 p.m. EST

(CNN) -- Criminal gangs that emerged from Colombia's former paramilitary organizations are carrying out massacres, rapes and extortion, a human rights group said Wednesday.

Nowhere is that violence more pronounced than in Medellin, which recorded more than 200 slayings in January alone. The city's homicide rate also more than doubled in 2009 from the previous year.

Bogota, the nation's capital, also is seeing a surge in violence, with more than 100 killings reported last month.

"Whatever you call these groups -- whether paramilitaries, gangs or some other name -- their impact on human rights in Colombia today should not be minimized," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.

"Like the paramilitaries, these successor groups are committing horrific atrocities, and they need to be stopped."

A report released Wednesday by Human Rights Watch details widespread abuses by "successor groups" to the paramilitary coalition of 37 armed groups called the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, better known by its Spanish acronym AUC.

The Colombian government has said it decommissioned more than 30,000 AUC members from 2003 to 2006, but Human Rights Watch said many of those demobilizations were fraudulent. Large numbers of heavily armed paramilitaries never left the organizations, or new recruits took the place of those who stepped down, the rights group said.

As a result, Human Rights Watch said, widespread violence has exploded in four regions where the groups have a substantial presence: Medellin, the Uraba region of Chocó state and the states of Meta and Nariño.

The Colombian Center for Human Rights and the Displaced also blames the renewed violence on the resurgence of organizations linked to former paramilitary groups. "Emerging gangs have planted the seed of terror," the group said.

Others offer a more succinct observation.

"Hell's a popping," said Myles Frechette, U.S. ambassador to Colombia from 1994 to 1997.

More:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/03/colombia.violence/index.html

~~~~~
~snip~
With commodity prices booming, the multinationals are penetrating further and their interest brings the same pattern of assaults on the civilian population to ‘secure’ the zones. Indigenous, and African communities in the south west provinces of Nariño, Cauca and Tolima all came under attack last year once Anglo-Gold Ashanti registered gold mining rights. Tolima especially has suffered a wave of massacres and detentions, a combined army and police assault code-named ‘Operation Pijao’. campesino

The communities have not taken this lying down, their social movements have united in a new coalition, the National Inter-Ethnic Agro-Mining Gathering, declaring “We must not let the multinationals enter and loot our territory. Nor must we let the Government criminalize us for defending these natural resources that can be the solution to many of our problems”.

Where does all the violence against the poor of the countryside end? It dispossesses them, drives them to the city barrios. There are 4 million internally displaced people, nearly 10 per cent of the entire population. The desplazados end up in slums like Cuidad Bolivar, part of the belt of misery that stretches across the south of the capital Bogotá.

Except, the violence does not end. Here too the paramilitaries have moved in. Uribe has reshaped paramilitarism, turning it into a project for urban social control, feeding off the informal economy. The re-formed paramilitaries run Cuidad Bolivar’s local buses, tax its shops and small businesses. Families without domestic water have to collect it weekly from army controlled stand pipes, or hire a tap from the paramilitaries, paying them 3,000 pesos (about 75p) an hour. The paras impose a curfew from 8pm. The pressure on young men to join the para gangs is total, you’re in or you’re dead.

More:
http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/articles/53-analysis/219-paramilitary-curse-still-afflicts-grass-roots-movement

~~~~~
Colombian Paramilitaries’ Successors Called a Threat
By SIMON ROMERO
Published: February 3, 2010

CARACAS, Venezuela — Criminal armies that emerged from the ashes of the Colombian government’s attempt to disband paramilitary groups are spreading their reach across the country’s economy while engaging in a broad range of rights abuses, including massacres, rapes and forced displacement, a human rights group said Wednesday.

A report by the group, Human Rights Watch, detailed the activities of the paramilitary successor groups, which feed off Colombia’s cocaine trade. The drug trade remains lucrative despite Washington’s channeling of more than $5 billion of security and antinarcotics aid to Colombia, making it a top recipient of United States aid outside the Middle East.

“One major reason why combating these groups is not a priority is that it’s hard for the current government to acknowledge that a significant part of its security policy is failing,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director for Human Rights Watch, speaking in Bogotá, Colombia.

Seeking to influence the Obama administration’s policies toward Colombia, the group recommended delaying ratification of a long-awaited trade deal until Colombia’s government vigorously and effectively confronts the criminal groups, which succeeded paramilitaries formed by landowners decades ago to combat guerrillas.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/world/americas/04colombia.html

~~~~~
Amnesty International

Human Rights in Republic of Colombia

~snip~
Paramilitary groups
Paramilitary groups remained active, despite claims by the government that all paramilitaries had demobilized in a government-sponsored process that began in 2003. Paramilitaries continued to kill civilians and to commit other human rights violations, sometimes with the support or acquiescence of the security forces. Some 461 killings were attributed to paramilitaries in the 12-month period ending in June 2008, compared to 233 in the previous 12-month period.

• •On 14 June, members of the paramilitary Peasant Self-Defence Forces of Nariño entered San José de la Turbia in Olaya Herrera Municipality, Nariño Department. They warned the community that the navy was nearby and that they were working together. They called out the name of Tailor Ortiz. When he raised his hand, the paramilitaries said, “We’re going to kill this one right away”. They tied him up and shot him in the head. They then said: “Each time we come, we’ll come for someone else”.

Some 1,778 bodies of victims of enforced disappearance by paramilitaries were exhumed by the authorities from 1,441 graves between 2006 and 2008. By the end of 2008 the remains of only around 300 victims had been identified and returned to their families. The exhumations were dogged by serious deficiencies, making it more difficult to identify both the victims and the perpetrators.

The security forces continued to use supposedly demobilized paramilitaries in military and intelligence operations despite a ban, introduced in 2007, on such deployments.

More:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/colombia/report-2009

[naaman fletcher]

3. I see you are posting human rights watch links, too.

That is another group you have dismissed when they criticize Chavez. Glad to see they have their credibility back.

[Judi Lynn]

4. You changed the subject, Nariño massacres were "really committed by FARCs",

despite what the OTHER references indicate.

Stick with the subject of your own thread, why not?

[naaman fletcher]

5. At least one was,

And I said maybe the others were. Ok, so they are committed by both.

[naaman fletcher]

6. these reports are all meaningless

In the other thread you said "AI is not always right. Neither is Chavez. But he at least deserves the right to say something in a report that condemns his government--as do the prosecutors, judges, police officers and others involved."


By that standard, these reports are all meaningless since Uribe did not have the opportunity to respond.