Human Rights Watch Colombia--Letter to Ambassador Regarding Paramilitary Violence October 23, 1996 Carlos Arturo Marulanda Ramirez Colombian Ambassador to the European Union, Belgium and Luxemburg Dear Ambassador Marulanda: I am writing to call your attention to the very serious events recently taking place on the Bellacruz ranch, located in Sur del Cesar, which we understand belongs to you and members of your family. As you know, last February 280 families were evicted from the Bellacruz ranch by a violent paramilitary incursion. A group of approximately 40 heavily armed paramilitaries beat several people, burned their houses and demanded that the peasants of the Bellacruz ranch abandon their property within five days. Despite the presence of a military base and a National Police station only a few kilometers away from the ranch, no authorities responded as the paramilitaries terrorized the peasants. In March, representatives of the Bellacruz ranch went to Bogota to seek protection for the peasants, adjudication of the land through the Colombian Institute for Agrarian Reform (Incora) and the return of the peasants to their lands. So far, three agreements have been signed, the first on March 21, the second on April 12 and the third on June 7, in which the national government promises to control the paramilitary presence in the area and to create conditions in which the displaced peasants can return to their lands. Nevertheless, terror caused by the paramilitaries continues. Between May and October 1996, eight members of the displaced community of the Bellacruz ranch have been assassinated. The last victims of the paramilitary violence were brothers, Eliseo and Eder Navraez Corrales, peasant leaders who were extrajudicially executed in front of their family on September 28 in the municipality of Pelaya, in the Sur del Cesar. The violence has also prevented topographers, whose land surveys are required before Incora can adjudicate the land, from entering the area. Visits by the Interinstitutional Commission have likewise been impeded and members of human rights groups supporting the peasants have received death threats. At present, most of the peasants displaced from the Bellacruz ranch continue waiting in the Casa Campesina, where they live virtually imprisoned by the high level of violence and threats surrounding them. In light of your present position as the representative of Colombia before the European Union, Belgium and Luxemburg, and the fact that, as we understand it, you are one of the co-owners of the Bellacruz ranch, we beg you to carry out the necessary steps to insure full compliance with the three previously signed agreements and to encourage an exhaustive investigation into the assassinations, threats and harassment that the peasants of the Bellacruz ranch continue to suffer. Furthermore, we ask for your immediate intervention to insure that the outstanding arrest warrants are executed against various paramilitary leaders allegedly responsible for the continuing human rights violations committed in the area. We believe that you possess a special responsibility to respond urgently to see that the paramilitary violence terrorizing the displaced peasants of the Bellacruz ranch is both controlled and extinguished. Sincerely, Jose Miguel Vivanco Executive Director Website Address: http://www.hrw.org Gopher Address: gopher://gopher.humanrights.org:5000/11/int/hrw Listserv address: To subscribe to the list, send an e-mail message to majordomo@igc.apc.org with "subscribe hrw-news" in the body of the message (leave the subject line blank). Human Rights Watch 485 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10017-6104 TEL: 212/972-8400 FAX: 212/972-0905 E-mail: hrwnyc@hrw.org 1522 K Street, N.W. Washington D.C. 20005 TEL: 202/371-6592 FAX: 202/371-0124 E-mail: hrwdc@hrw.org -------------------- http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/colombia/