Soldiers of the Calibio Battalion threaten and steal from campesino in the settlement of Notepases, in the Cimitarra River Valley

27.01.07

ACVC

On December 30th, soldiers belonging to the Calibio Battalion, stationed in the settlement of San Francisco arrived at the home of José Angel Blanco, where Benjamin Sanchez Quinceno was residing. Among the soldiers was a FARC deserter known as “Crisian”. The soldiers insulted Benjamin, saying, “in this settlement there are lots of sons of bitches who support the the guerrilla, and you are one of them, you feed the guerrillas.”

The soldiers threatened that the paramilitaries would soon enter the zone. They left on January 1st, returning to Benjamin’s house January 8th identifying themselves as paramilitaries. Troops had entered the settlement on the 7th. José Nelson Ramírez López, a known paramilitary known as “Arturo”, came with the troops. The paramilitary terrorized the people, showing a list of names on which Benjamin was the first. He made known that there were six paramilitaries with orders to kill traveling with the patrol.

At 7 PM on the 8th, soldiers from the Calibio Battalion, identifying themselves as paramilitaries, returned to Benjamin’s house, pushing him to the floor and pointing their weapons at him. They said “Son of bitch, guerrilla, you thought you could escape but we came to kill you”. As he fell, Benajmin dropped a bag with money. “Arturo” asked that it be passed to him, later stealing 800,000 Colombian pesos (almost 350 dollars) from the bag.

While leaving the vereda “Arturo” informed Benjamin that he must go speak to the “bosses” or he would be killed on the next visit.

Finally, on January 12th, Benjamin had to evacuate the zone accompanied by International Peace Observatory members.

Read more Denuncias

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

www.peaceobservatory.org  |  info@peaceobservatory.org  |  Telefax: (+57) 1 232 10 06   |  Móvil: (+57) 314 296 47 69