New extrajudicial execution in Catatumbo

17.07.08

Peasant Farmer Association of Catatumbo (ASCAMCAT)

While the authorities of the department of Norte de Santander say that Catatumbo is a haven of peace and that nothing serious is going on there, the Colombian Army continues to murder peasant farmers. The army claims that they are guerrillas being killed in combat, when soldiers have taken people from their homes in front of their families and presented them as combat deaths hours later. This is again what happened in the latest event denounced by the rural inhabitants of the Catatumbo region.

On June 23, troops from the 15th Mobile Brigade arrived in the village of San Jacinto (Teorama municipality) and raided the humble abode of Alirio Alfonso Sánchez Salcedo, 60, without a warrant or the consent of the Sánchez family.

On Thursday, June 26, at 8 am, Alcira Velásquez and one of her daughters left their house and headed toward the village of Guasiles to buy credits for her cellular phone. While on her way back, at 9:30 am, she heard several gunshots near her house. She hurried to reach her husband, but the soldiers would not let her pass because they were supposedly in the middle of a battle with insurgent forces.

At 11 am, they finally let her through, and she could see a covered body about 400 meters away. When she entered her house, her husband was not there. Alcira called the San Jacinto community together to begin a search. They asked the soldiers what they knew about him and they denied having any knowledge of the man. Nevertheless, they said that “the guerrillas attacked us.” On the morning of Friday, June 27, the Fiscalía (justice department) arrived to pick up the bodies of the dead.

Alfonso’s wife described how he had been dressed, and they confirmed that those were the clothes the dead alleged guerrilla had on. This information was confirmed when the body was moved to the city of Ocaña and two family members came to identify it.

We ask that the state inspection agencies, the international community and human rights organizations pay very close attention to the actions of the armed forces.

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