CPTnet
February 12, 2001
Colombia: Call to Repudiate Paramilitary Violence

The Colombia project of Christian Peacemaker Teams is deeply concerned by
recent threats, intimidation and theft by paramilitaries in Barrancabermeja
against members of a women's organization and international workers with the
Peace Brigades organization (PBI).

On February 8, two armed men, claiming to belong to the AUC paramilitary
group came to a community center run by the Popular Women's Organization in
the city of Barrancabermeja. The men forced a PBI observer to hand over his
passport and mobile phone at gunpoint and declared PBI a "military target."

Paramilitary groups have acted with increasingly brazen belligerence --
particularly in Magdalena Medio region, but in others as well -- against
civilian groups and individuals. The declaration by paramilitaries of PBI as
a military target is a war crime that deserves swift and effective national
and international repudiation.

The agreement reached between Colombia President Andres Pastrana and
leaders of the the FARC gurrilla movement February 9 commits the Colombian
government to do its part to "end paramilitarism" by forming a commission
for that purpose. Yet actions by Colombian and U.S. governments
have indicated an unwillingness to take
seriously efforts to reduce paramilitary violence, which according to the
Colombian Commission of Jurists accounted for 78% of human rights abuse in
Colombia in 1998-99.

CPT urges supporters to open their eyes, ears, hearts and hands in
an effort to condemn and interrupt officially allowed suffering at the hands
of parties given impunity out of political convenience. Responding to
Amnesty International's action appeal of February 9 is one way to do this.
This document may be seen at:
http://amnestyusa.org/action/colombia_02092001.html

Christian Peacemaker Teams is a program of Brethren, Quaker and Mennonite
Churches. CPT P. O. Box 6508 Chicago, IL 60680 tel. 312-455-1199 FAX
312-432-1213, E-Mail cpt [at] igc [dot] org?Subject=Re:%20Colombia:%20Call%20to%20Repudiate%20Paramilitary%20Violence&In-Reply-To=<981999013 [at] MennoLink [dot] org> WEB www.cpt.org