Nijinsky
01-10-2008, 09:58 PM
http://justiceforcolombia.org/?link=newsPage&story=91
The Colombian Army continue to carry out extra-judicial executions in the region of Antioquia with absolute impunity. This is despite repeated calls by the UN human rights office in Bogotá to end this practice.
The region in which the latest murders have taken place – eastern Antioquia department – has seen a huge number of illegal killings carried out by the Colombian Army. A recent Justice for Colombia delegation that visited the region heard of over 100 cases in just a small area and an international mission in October 2007 reported that the practice was continuing.
The latest executions include:
On December 22nd in the village of 'El Pital' (Argelia municipality) agricultural worker Mario Angel Cardona Aristizabal was murdered by soldiers – a month after he had complained to the authorities that the army had included his name on one of their death lists. The authorities took no action. After his murder, residents of 'El Pital' fled the area as soldiers made a general threat against the entire population accusing them of being guerrilla sympathisers.
On December 18th, 2007 at 7pm, in the village of 'Santa Marta' (Sonson municipality), two soldiers from the 'Granaderos' Battalion of the 4th Brigade of the Colombian Army went to the home of Jose Albeiro Rendon, accused him of being a guerrilla sympathiser and threatened him. Mr Rendon and his family begged the soldiers not to kill him but the troops executed him in front of his wife and five children. Moments later, more soldiers arrived and they refused to leave the house until the following day, when they took the body of Mr Rendon to the Argelia municipality morgue and publicly claimed that he was a guerrilla fighter that had been killed during combat.
On November 24th, 2007, in the area of 'La Cristalina' (Argelia municipality), agricultural worker Duban Antonio Estrada Atehortua was killed by soldiers of the 'Barbula' Batallion of the 14th Brigade of the Colombian Army. At the time, Mr Estrada had been hunting and fishing with two other men, Diego Orozco and Wilmar Alzate Salazar when the soldiers opened fire on them without warning. Relatives had to travel to the military base in Puerto Boyaca municipality to recover Mr Estrada's body which had been taken there by the army. As is usual in such cases no civilian judicial authorities were called to the scene of the crime before the body was removed
http://justiceforcolombia.org/?link=newsPage&story=90
On December 28th trade unionist Sigifredo Higuera Ramirez was shot in the head by a soldier of the 'Manuel Murillo Toro' 1st Communications Battalion of the Colombian Army. A former worker at the NESTLE plant in Colombia, Mr Ramirez, had been an active member of the SINALTRAINAL trade union for 29 years.
The killing occurred in the town of Facatativa in Cundinamarca department, an hour from the Colombian capital Bogota. The soldier who carried out the assassination was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Oscar Hernán Peralta Rodríguez.
The Colombian Army continue to carry out extra-judicial executions in the region of Antioquia with absolute impunity. This is despite repeated calls by the UN human rights office in Bogotá to end this practice.
The region in which the latest murders have taken place – eastern Antioquia department – has seen a huge number of illegal killings carried out by the Colombian Army. A recent Justice for Colombia delegation that visited the region heard of over 100 cases in just a small area and an international mission in October 2007 reported that the practice was continuing.
The latest executions include:
On December 22nd in the village of 'El Pital' (Argelia municipality) agricultural worker Mario Angel Cardona Aristizabal was murdered by soldiers – a month after he had complained to the authorities that the army had included his name on one of their death lists. The authorities took no action. After his murder, residents of 'El Pital' fled the area as soldiers made a general threat against the entire population accusing them of being guerrilla sympathisers.
On December 18th, 2007 at 7pm, in the village of 'Santa Marta' (Sonson municipality), two soldiers from the 'Granaderos' Battalion of the 4th Brigade of the Colombian Army went to the home of Jose Albeiro Rendon, accused him of being a guerrilla sympathiser and threatened him. Mr Rendon and his family begged the soldiers not to kill him but the troops executed him in front of his wife and five children. Moments later, more soldiers arrived and they refused to leave the house until the following day, when they took the body of Mr Rendon to the Argelia municipality morgue and publicly claimed that he was a guerrilla fighter that had been killed during combat.
On November 24th, 2007, in the area of 'La Cristalina' (Argelia municipality), agricultural worker Duban Antonio Estrada Atehortua was killed by soldiers of the 'Barbula' Batallion of the 14th Brigade of the Colombian Army. At the time, Mr Estrada had been hunting and fishing with two other men, Diego Orozco and Wilmar Alzate Salazar when the soldiers opened fire on them without warning. Relatives had to travel to the military base in Puerto Boyaca municipality to recover Mr Estrada's body which had been taken there by the army. As is usual in such cases no civilian judicial authorities were called to the scene of the crime before the body was removed
http://justiceforcolombia.org/?link=newsPage&story=90
On December 28th trade unionist Sigifredo Higuera Ramirez was shot in the head by a soldier of the 'Manuel Murillo Toro' 1st Communications Battalion of the Colombian Army. A former worker at the NESTLE plant in Colombia, Mr Ramirez, had been an active member of the SINALTRAINAL trade union for 29 years.
The killing occurred in the town of Facatativa in Cundinamarca department, an hour from the Colombian capital Bogota. The soldier who carried out the assassination was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Oscar Hernán Peralta Rodríguez.