ONCE AGAIN THE MILITARY ASSASSINATE A LEADER OF THE PEACE COMMUNITY OF SAN JOSE
english translation | 23.11.2005 04:05 | Anti-militarism | Repression | Social Struggles
We don't know how to show our deepest pain and sadness which we feel in these moments. In a new attack, the Colombian military assassinate ARLEN SALAS DAVID, leader of our community and coordinator of the humanitarian zone, Arenas Altas. We would like to share the facts of what took place so that they can be judged in time and can be remembered in history:
On the 17th November, ARLEN SALAS and other six members of the community were sowing corn in Arenas Altas. On seeing them, the military fired various shots towards them and then threw a grenade which fell close to ARLEN. He was badly hurt. The military continued shooting while ARLEN's colleagues tried to help him but due to continuous shooting, they had to take refuge behind trees. When the shootings died down, they approached ARLEN to help him, but found him already dead.
Those who were with ARLEN walked to San Josesito at 1pm to inform the community of what had happened. Quickly a group made up of community members makes its way with international accompaniers towards Arenas Altas. At the same time a group made up of members of the community from La Union also make their way towards Arenas Altas. At around 5pm the two groups meet with the military in Arenas Altas, in the farm of Rodrigo Rodríguez. The military makes these members of the community enter a house and begin accusing them of being guerrillas, that they have only hurt guerrilla fighters, they started shooting in the air telling them that they are going to kill them, that the community is a guerrilla community and that they will exterminat this community. The majority of the military there had two arms: one with which they walk with constantly, and another arm seen to be used by paramilitaries.
Suddenly a military group begin to shoot towards the little village of Arenas Altas, and the families are forced to leave their homes and hide. Various houses are shot, and bullet shots have gone into the houses. The military also shoots towards the school where the school teacher and various children were present. The troop said that they were being shot at from the school but the teacher confronted them telling them that that was totally false, that he was with the kids, spread out on the floor while they were being shot at.
In these shootings in the village of Arenas Altas, HERNAN GOEZ, a member of the community was hurt. At around 6:30pm, a delegation from the San Jose Apartado Peace community arrives with the community human rights defender, where ARLEN's body was found and they carried the body to San Josecito. They also carried the remnants of the grenade.
The facts are clear, we had already denounced the military for various assassinations in the various villages which today are unoccupied, such as the massacre of LUIS EDUARDO, ALFONSO BOLIVAR and their families. We already know the response and the explanation given by the government and the general attorney, they will say that we are guerrillas, they will make a sham, all in total impunity, the victims will be seen as the perpetrators. Nevertheless, we know that a lot of people has seen the truth of what has occurred, and we know that one day, all these assassinations, all these crimes against humanity will be brought to justice. We know that for the government all our children are guerrillas, and for this reason, the military shoots at them and kills them; for the government we are only helpers of the guerrilla and for this they wand to keep on destroying us. Even though they will lie as always, international organisations and the Human Rights Defender himself have seen the horrors which the community faces. Only 8 days ago, Arlen was talking about the situation in Arenas Altas with the Italian commission which visited us, and he told them about all the threats and thefts made by the military in the humanitarian zone of Arenas Altas. He told them of our need for support and help, of our fear of being exterminated. In the face of our principles of community work group and solidarity, once again another leader is killed. This barbarity does not make us give up, in the contrary our leaders show us the way towards following alternative forms of working. Even in times of darkness such as these, we will believe in future full of hope.
We ask for national and international support for the end of this extermination, so that people from the humanitarian zone of Arenas Altas are not displaced, which is the aim openly announced by the military. The pain is so great that we are not able to speak loudly enough, but we will carry on shouting for dignity, as was taught to us by ARLEN's serious and dedicated work as our leader. His two little sons will continue in his footsteps, building a different future where our life will be respected. ARLEN OUR TEARS ACCOMPANY THIS HORROR BUT YOU ARE STILL WITH US, GIVING US LIFE, THANK YOU FOR YOUR LEADERSHIP, YOUR DEDICATION, ONE DAY HISTORY WILL JUDGE THESE ASSASINS.
PEACE COMMUNITY OF SAN JOSE DE APARTADO 18th November 2005
Those who were with ARLEN walked to San Josesito at 1pm to inform the community of what had happened. Quickly a group made up of community members makes its way with international accompaniers towards Arenas Altas. At the same time a group made up of members of the community from La Union also make their way towards Arenas Altas. At around 5pm the two groups meet with the military in Arenas Altas, in the farm of Rodrigo Rodríguez. The military makes these members of the community enter a house and begin accusing them of being guerrillas, that they have only hurt guerrilla fighters, they started shooting in the air telling them that they are going to kill them, that the community is a guerrilla community and that they will exterminat this community. The majority of the military there had two arms: one with which they walk with constantly, and another arm seen to be used by paramilitaries.
Suddenly a military group begin to shoot towards the little village of Arenas Altas, and the families are forced to leave their homes and hide. Various houses are shot, and bullet shots have gone into the houses. The military also shoots towards the school where the school teacher and various children were present. The troop said that they were being shot at from the school but the teacher confronted them telling them that that was totally false, that he was with the kids, spread out on the floor while they were being shot at.
In these shootings in the village of Arenas Altas, HERNAN GOEZ, a member of the community was hurt. At around 6:30pm, a delegation from the San Jose Apartado Peace community arrives with the community human rights defender, where ARLEN's body was found and they carried the body to San Josecito. They also carried the remnants of the grenade.
The facts are clear, we had already denounced the military for various assassinations in the various villages which today are unoccupied, such as the massacre of LUIS EDUARDO, ALFONSO BOLIVAR and their families. We already know the response and the explanation given by the government and the general attorney, they will say that we are guerrillas, they will make a sham, all in total impunity, the victims will be seen as the perpetrators. Nevertheless, we know that a lot of people has seen the truth of what has occurred, and we know that one day, all these assassinations, all these crimes against humanity will be brought to justice. We know that for the government all our children are guerrillas, and for this reason, the military shoots at them and kills them; for the government we are only helpers of the guerrilla and for this they wand to keep on destroying us. Even though they will lie as always, international organisations and the Human Rights Defender himself have seen the horrors which the community faces. Only 8 days ago, Arlen was talking about the situation in Arenas Altas with the Italian commission which visited us, and he told them about all the threats and thefts made by the military in the humanitarian zone of Arenas Altas. He told them of our need for support and help, of our fear of being exterminated. In the face of our principles of community work group and solidarity, once again another leader is killed. This barbarity does not make us give up, in the contrary our leaders show us the way towards following alternative forms of working. Even in times of darkness such as these, we will believe in future full of hope.
We ask for national and international support for the end of this extermination, so that people from the humanitarian zone of Arenas Altas are not displaced, which is the aim openly announced by the military. The pain is so great that we are not able to speak loudly enough, but we will carry on shouting for dignity, as was taught to us by ARLEN's serious and dedicated work as our leader. His two little sons will continue in his footsteps, building a different future where our life will be respected. ARLEN OUR TEARS ACCOMPANY THIS HORROR BUT YOU ARE STILL WITH US, GIVING US LIFE, THANK YOU FOR YOUR LEADERSHIP, YOUR DEDICATION, ONE DAY HISTORY WILL JUDGE THESE ASSASINS.
PEACE COMMUNITY OF SAN JOSE DE APARTADO 18th November 2005
english translation
Additions
indymedia link
30.11.2005 02:53
original alert and address to protest in colombia: 
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/11/328085.html
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/11/328085.html
atlantis alert
Homepage:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/11/328085.html
Comments
Hide the following 3 comments
British complicity in these murders
23.11.2005 12:17
This may seem like an american issue but the UK is the number two supplier of the Colombian military and so we helped pay for these murders. Blair has been the murderous Colombian Presidents best friend. BP are big in Colombia, it's maybe time to think about using some sort of direct action against them. Here is some recommended reading -
A president who wants a licence to kill
"Under Uribe's "democratic security" there have been waves of mass detentions of trade union activists and leaders of civil organisations, men and women pointed out by hooded paid informers as "guerrilla sympathisers". Others - peasant leaders, teachers and health workers - have simply been killed or driven into internal exile. While Uribe claims that his fight is with the Farc, the majority of the victims have been civilians."
Blair Hands Blank Check to Uribe
Despite significant protests from British trade union leaders, MPs and campaigners, and especially the Guardian's detailed revelations of British military involvement, as well as energetic opposition from Colombian NGOs, as the dust settles on last week's London Meeting on International Support for Colombia one point is clear: British Prime Minister Tony Blair has orchestrated an international breakthrough on behalf of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's ultra-right government. With the UK already the number two supplier of miltiary aid to Colombia, Blair has opened the door for the worst human rights offender in the Western Hemisphere to receive a new round of international loans. The gathering of senior representatives from the EU, USA, UN, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Switzerland, IMF, World Bank, Andean Development Bank, and Inter-American Development Bank was brought together on Blair's personal initiative and fully-backed by Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar of Spain. With this duo once again working in tandem as the pro-U.S. axis within Europe, the details of the initiative were worked out by the British Embassy in Bogotá in close consultation with Uribe's team.
Other Blood On Their Hands
While apologists for Bush's and Blair's murderous adventure in Iraq see a "silver lining" in pseudo-events in the Middle East, real events in Colombia illuminate the universal nature of their "mission"...The Colombia military and police have the worst human rights record in the Western hemisphere. That the government of "Oxford-educated" Uribe is any better than his predecessors and that drugs alone are the cause of more than 20,000 murders every year is a fiction promoted in Washington and London. No one doubts that FARC, the peasant-based guerrilla group, has trafficked in cocaine, but the overwhelming majority of the drugs trade and the violence in Colombia are the responsibility of the state, its military and paramilitaries, funded and trained, directly and indirectly, by the American and British governments. Moreover, the issue of cocaine is a distraction: the fuel of the conflict, not the cause. The victims are the likes of Luis Eduardo Guerra and his family, and trade union activists, teachers, land-reformers, indigenous and peasant leaders who work to promote social and economic justice and human rights. In his study of British foreign policy, Unpeople, the historian Mark Curtis wrote: "The war in Colombia is essentially over the control of resources in a deeply unequal society: the elite, especially the large landowners, control most of the wealth while the majority of the population lives in poverty. The basic role of the state is to marginalise the popular forces and ensure that Colombia's resources - notably oil - remain in the correct hands. [US and British] strategy is to support this... The 'war on drugs' is a cover."
Danny
Suggested letter
23.11.2005 14:12
or the head of mission for UN Human Rights in Columbia, Michael Frühling,
or you can use this website to write to your own MP -
or War on Want have a postcard to Bill Rammel, MP -
Here is my suggested letter to a Labour MP.
Dear ~,
I am writing to condem the continuing attacks on the Colombian peace movement by the Columbian military. I am saddened to hear of the recent death of the peace activist Arlen Salas David, murdered by in San Jose de Apartado in northwest Colombia on November 17, 2005. I note that this attack is not an isolated incident and that another military attack on the same peace community on February 21, 2005 claimed the lives of eight men, women and children.
The peace movement is being massacred by military forces heavily supported and supplied by the Britsh government.
I respectfully urge you to raise this matter with Prime Minister Blair. Please insist on a delgation from the UK Embassy in Bogota to San Jose de Apartado to investigate these human rights abuses, to ensure no British military weaponry was used and for the embassy to publicly condemn these killings. I also urge you to withhold UK military assistance and foriegn aid until military attacks on peace communites cease. I wish to remind you of that it is illegal to supply weapons to a foriegn military for use against its own civilians and that Labour was elected under a promise of an 'ethical foriegn policy'.
sincerely,
~
Colombian Army Murders Peace Community Leader
February massacre and obituary
Blair Hands Blank Check to Uribe
Call Colombia's human rights bluff
Danny
BP crimes in Colombia investigated by London lawyer
23.11.2005 15:27
Can oil and principles mix?
Martyn Day -August 23, 2005
An oil pipeline has all but destroyed the livelihoods of 60 Colombian farmers
AS A lawyer specialising in claims on behalf of foreign claimants, mainly from the developing world, against British entities, I am used to the odd hairy moment.
But none was a patch on a recent trip to Colombia to represent 60 campesinos (farmers) who claim that their lives have been devastated by the construction of an oil pipeline over their lands. It was built by a consortium led by BP, the British multinational.
The reason for concern was not just that we were holding our meetings in Medellín, notorious for violence and its drug barons. More importantly, the first lawyer representing the farmers had been murdered, allegedly by paramilitaries; the second had received so many death threats that she had had to seek asylum in Britain; and I am the third.
The potential claimants are farmers whose families have mostly worked their farms for decades. In 1995 BP got permission for, and then laid, a pipeline taking drilled oil from central eastern Colombia across through the Antioquia region to the coast, where it was to be refined.
The first lawyer, William Garcia Cartagena, represented farmers in the Segovia area of Antioquia. He was murdered because he supported the opposition of the campasinos to the pipeline. One of the farmers, Jhon Morales, was murdered by four gunmen. This was thought by locals to be a warning to the farmers not to object to the pipeline being laid.
The farmers’ objections were that it cut across many of the key water sources on their farms, caused serious soil erosion, starved the crops and fish ponds of water and affected their ability to mine locally for gold.
The situation has been exacerbated by the role the Colombian Army and paramilitary groups has adopted in policing the pipeline. They are supposed to be guarding it from guerrilla attacks, but their presence has intimidated the locals, made it difficult for farmers to farm and silenced any opposition to the pipeline.
Almost without exception, the farmers have gone from being landowners and respected members of their communities, able to look after their families through their farms, to destitutes scratching around for whatever scraps that town life can bring them.
When the farmers instructed Marta Hinestroza, a local lawyer, to claim compensation she was threatened. Despite this, she put together a claim on their behalf. BP paid out small amounts to some of the farmers — from a few hundred to, in a handful of cases, a few thousand pounds.
BP argues that in making these payments the claims have been resolved. However, in all cases, the compensation paid was a fraction of the actual value of the losses that the farmers have sustained.
The claimants do not contend that BP had involvement in the paramilitary incidents. However, they are alleging that in entering into contracts with many of the farmers, BP took advantage of the regime of terror brought about by the Army and paramilitaries, the lack of education of the farmers, the lack of available legal representation in the area, and even took steps to sideline the obtaining of legal advice when it was available. All of this was done to push through the timetable for the installation of the pipeline and to ensure that it was achieved as cheaply as possible.
BP is one of Britain’s main advocates of the principle that multinationals should behave abroad as they would at home. If BP had acted in the UK as it allegedly has in Colombia, it would be facing a raft of legal actions and negative news. It would be quite wrong if that company has been able to rely upon the lack of education and lack of access to lawyers and the media to ride roughshod over these farmers’ rights.
We hope that BP, even as we prepare the case to litigate it in the UK, will seek to honour its public declarations of corporate responsibility by voluntarily compensating our clients for the devastation that the pipeline has caused.
And it might stop my mum worrying about me becoming lawyer victim number three.
Danny