Harassment of IPO members and Fact-Finding Mission in El Tarra

22.09.10

By International Peace Observatory

International Peace Observatory condemns actions by the Colombian Army’s Thirtieth Brigade on September 7, 2010, in the municipality of El Tarra, Norte de Santander department. During a fact-finding mission to investigate incidents that took place in El Tarra on August 15, members of the Thirtieth Brigade filmed, detained, and made unfounded accusations against IPO volunteers and members of the fact-finding mission. We would like to express our concern over the use of these irregular procedures, particularly the unfounded accusations that were made. In addition to violating Presidential Directive 07 of 1999, these accusations put those Colombian and foreign civilians who were present at risk, by involving them in the conflict.

Details of the Incident
A fact-finding mission took place in the El Tarra municipality, Norte de Santander department, on September 7, 2010. The mission, organized by the Catatumbo Peasant Farmers’ Association (ASCAMCAT), aimed to document and reconstruct the events of August 15, 2010. On that date, members of the Twenty-third Mobile Brigade murdered a sixteen-year old youth, in a clear violation of International Humanitarian Law’s Principle of Distinction.

In addition, the fact-finding mission received other reports of abuse by the security forces. With this information, the mission wrote a report to support and provide arguments for the community’s request to move the Twenty-third Mobile Brigade out of the El Tarra municipal center. The report also demanded respect for human rights and compliance with the principles of international humanitarian law.

Around 12:00 pm, members of the Thirtieth Brigade suddenly entered a meeting at the Culture House. Residents of El Tarra and nearby villages were meeting with public officials, including the Municipal Human Rights Liaison (Personero), a representative from the Norte de Santander Governor’s Human Rights Office, the El Tarra Secretary of Government, and the Police Inspector, as well as representatives of human rights organizations and members of international organizations.

Near the Culture House, behind the schoolyard, two soldiers were filming the mission’s participants and the community members who were present. When IPO spoke to the soldiers to urge them to comply with article 15 of the Colombian Constitution, Soldier Luis Carlos Caicedo called Second Lieutenant Andrés Fernando Osorio Acosta. Osorio argued that the filming was carried out for security reasons, under orders from Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Andrade.

IPO subsequently asked Andrade to clarify the soldiers’ actions, given that they were not authorized to film community members in this way. Andrade assured IPO that the video camera was on because they were looking for anti-personnel mines in the street. As Humanidad Vigente’s and ASCAMCAT’s press release explains, “it is worth highlighting the fact that in the municipality of El Tarra, the streets are paved, unlike in rural areas.”

Following the press conference, members of the fact-finding mission, together with a group of Colombian and foreign journalists, went to take photographs and film at the site of some of the August 15 incidents, in order to gather more information for their investigation. The site was where several cars and a backhoe were burned, in the context of the popular protest sparked by the young person’s death.

Members of the fact-finding mission report that just minutes after arriving to the site, near the Twenty-third Mobile Brigade barracks, the mission was surrounded by a group of approximately 30 soldiers. The soldiers accused the mission members of taking photographs and filming the army and the military base, which is located within the El Tarra municipal center. The soldiers demanded to check the cameras, and were able to see that there were not any photos of them or of the military base.

Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Andrade thereupon asked a Spanish journalist and the two International Peace Observatory members for their IDs. Lieutenant Colonel Andrade also asked them where they had come from, where they were planning to go next, and about their activities in Colombia. The Lieutenant Colonel wrote down information from their IDs and other personal information. In addition, Lieutenant Colonel Andrade warned them that foreigners were not allowed to travel through the area, since it had been declared a special public safety zone and a special permit was required.

IPO has accompanied ASCAMCAT in the Catatumbo region since 2004. IPO has periodically met with the human rights coordinators of the different Brigades operating in the region, as well as the Ombdusman’s Office and Inspector General’s Office, to explain IPO’s work in the different municipalities.

ASCAMCAT and Humanidad Vigente assert that the fact-finding mission was a legitimate civil society activity, with the goal of documenting the human rights situation in the region.

However, Lieutenant Salcedo, from the Twenty-third Mobile Brigade, criticized International Peace Observatory’s work, asserting that “you defend guerrillas.” In addition, he stated that “your work is to frighten my troops with human rights.”

The soldiers insisted that the volunteers and the fact-finding mission were taking photos and filming the soldiers. The number of soldiers increased to 50 and the soldiers continued to surround and detain the fact-finding mission, preventing the fifteen people present from leaving.

When Lieutenant Colonel Adrade arrived, he stated that he would contact the DAS to verify the foreigners’ ID documents (referring to IPO and the independent photographer). When asked for the name of the DAS official who took their information, Lieutenant Colonel Adrade refused. He also contacted Captain Calderón, human rights coordinator with the Thirtieth Brigade in Cucuta. IPO had previously held meetings with Captain Calderón to explain their international accompaniment work in the region. The fact-finding mission asked to speak directly to Captain Calderón, but this request was also refused. At the same time, IPO’s Bogota office was trying to contact Captain Calderón. Although Captain Calderón was fully aware of what was taking place, he did not even answer his telephone.

Finally, the El Tarra Municipal Human Rights Liaison (Personero), Luis Alejandro Collante Miranda, and the SIJIN arrived. At this point, two hours after the detention began, the IPO volunteers and other members of the fact-finding mission were able to leave.

During this incident, soldiers were taking photos and filming members of the fact-finding mission and the international observers from the military base trenches. The IPO volunteers’ assertions were consistently ignored, hampering their efforts to dialogue with the security forces. IPO was constrained in its publicly acknowledged role of observing and documenting the human rights situation. The security forces harassed this group of human rights advocates, assumed an excessively aggressive attitude, and made baseless accusations against the fact-finding mission’s work.

Read more Denuncias

International Peace Observatory  |  Observatorio Internacional de la Paz  |  Bogotá, Colombia  |  NIT: 900.013.419-3

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