CPTnet
21 December 2006

COLOMBIA: Government reneging on accord with miners; violence continues in
the South of Bolivar

by Joel Klassen Translated by Irene Erin Kindy

In a 4-6 December 2006 visit to the South of Bolivar, CPTers Irene Erin
Kindy and Joel Klassen learned that the pressures of paramilitary groups on
civilian society are growing. The national government, including the army,
has not complied with the accord signed with the region's mining communities
to put an end to their forty-seven-day mobilization. (See 29 September 2006
CPTnet releases, "CPTers accompany mining region residents who demand
justice after assassination, other military abuses" and "COLOMBIA URGENT
ACTION: Ask Colombian Government to Meet with Miners." See also 3 November
release, "Gold miners call for end to killings; CPT to send delegation" and
9 November release, "Miners return home.")

Kindy and Klassen accompanied a human rights verification commission
comprising regional representatives of the Human Rights Ombudsman
(Defensoria) to San Pedro Frio. The commission was formed to follow through
with the sixth point of the accords. Unfortunately, government
representatives of the Attorney General, investigative agencies and the
human rights office of the Vice President excused themselves for lack of
funding. In this way, they did not follow through with the agreement signed
on 30 October 2006 in Santa Rosa del Sur.

The commission learned that members of the army battalion Nueva Granada had
occupied houses within the limits of the village of San Pedro Frio, even
during the days of the negotiation, and had threatened inhabitants, calling
them guerrillas. For days, the army occupied the house of a leader of the
Federation of Agro-Miners and of Southern Bolivar FEDEAGROMISBOL, one of the
main sponsors of the mobilization. The army remained in the village until
21 November, a total of three weeks.

This action flagrantly violates the 30 October agreement, which in part
simply reiterates international humanitarian law stipulating that all armed
groups should maintain themselves at a distance from the civilian population
and not use civilians as shields against attacks by their adversaries.

Soldiers left the impression that they think that all community leaders are
guerrillas. One leader said, "A soldier asked me what it means to be a
leader here. For him it meant to be part of the guerrillas. When I told
him that I do what I do so my children and grandchildren can remember me as
a person who tried to leave them the best life possible, he seemed surprised
and didn't know what to say."

In other parts of the South of Bolivar, supposedly demobilized
paramilitaries have threatened leaders of FEDEAGROMISBOL. This situation
prompted one of them to make the observation that, "What is happening now is
the same as 1998 [when another farmers and miners mobilization was followed
by repressive actions]- on one hand the government is not following through
with their commitments and on the other they're threatening us with death."