IPO declares its solidarity against arrests in Catatumbo

12.02.10

The International Peace Observatory declares its profound indignation to national as well as international organizations for the mass detentions suffered by the peasant community of Catatumbo, North Santander, on the 6th and 7th of February 2010. Army agents detained 12 people from the regions of Teorama and Convencion.

The people detained are Diosmel Galvis Vergel, Roimar Carrascal, José de Dios Benítez, Edilson Márquez, Gabriel Quientero, police inspector, Aleida Angarita, ex president of the Junta de Acción Comunal (Community organization) of San Pablo, Jesus Antonio Quintero Salazar, José Alberto Quintero Salazar, Olinto Salazar Pabón, Diorgen Acosta, Héctor Saúl Carrascal, Neyder Carrascal. They are all members of the community and workers in the region. They are accused of rebellion, terrorism, and intent to commit crimes against the state.

According to the community, the agents from the Fiscalia (District Attorney’s Office), CTI, Dijin, and the National Army were accompanied by informants, reinserted guerillas, who accuse the community leaders of being auxiliaries of the insurgency. Unfortunately, in Colombia, what is known as “False Positives,” is a common practice used to silence those who fight for justice as well as to create fear and uncertainty in forgotton and abandoned areas of the country.

As an organization of international accompaniment that has accompanied the peasant communities of Catatumbo for the past 5 years, we declare our support and solidarity to those who have been detained, their families, and the Peasant Association of Catatumbo (ASCAMCAT) that has been defending the process of the Humanitarian Refugee Camp during the last 10 months. The process seeks to denounce extrajudicial assasinations, indiscriminate fumigations, erradication which has not been planned with the community, the persistence of paramilitary groups in the region, lack of social investment by the government in the area (health, education, water, etc), and other problems.

IPO maintains the objective of observing the human rights conditions in the area of Catatumbo and delivers a message of solidarity and calm to the community by accompanying the Verification Mission which will take place between February 12-15. We demand that the the Colombian government rapidly clarifies the judicial situation and accusations against those arrested and that their rights are respected during their detention.

International Peace Observatory
12 February 2010

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