Across the Americas

Bogotá, Saturday 14, May 2005

I would like to thank the government of Colombia for inviting me to visit the country, and facilitating the many fruitful discussions that I have had in the last three days. I was honored to be received by the President, with whom I had informative and valuable dialogue. I also had the opportunity to meet with the Vice-President, the Minister for Interior and Justice, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Defense, and other high ranking officials of the Government and the security forces. I also had the pleasure to meet with the Procurator-General, the Ombudsman, the Attorney-General, and the members of the Constitutional Court. Of course, as I do in all my visits, I also met with many representatives from different sectors of civil society.

Segunda Carta Abierta al Presidente de la República,
sobre la crisis de legitimidad del Estado en la región del Atrato.

Respetado Dr. Álvaro Uribe Vélez:

El 24 de abril de 2004, Monseñor Fidel León Cadavid Marín, Obispo de la Diócesis de Quibdó, le entregó personalmente una CARTA ABIERTA, sobre la crisis de legitimidad del Estado en la región del Atrato, suscrita por la Diócesis de Quibdó, la Organización Regional Embera Wounaan – OREWA y el Consejo Comunitario Mayor de la Asociación Campesina Integral del Atrato – COCOMACIA.

Esa carta manifestaba profundas preocupaciones sobre la situación de inseguridad y desprotección, que a pesar del gran despliegue de la Fuerza Pública, sufren las comunidades indígenas y afrodescendientes en los municipios de Bojayá, Murindó, Vigía del Fuerte y Medio Atrato, expuestas a las múltiples agresiones de las fuerzas ilegales de la guerrilla de las FARC y los paramilitares de las AUC. Hacía especialmente hincapié en la inocultable tolerancia, connivencia y complicidad de miembros de la Fuerza Pública con el actuar de los paramilitares.

Amnesty International Press Release
Index: AMR 23/012/2005 (Public)
News Service No: 106
26 April 2005

If the Justice and Peace Bill is approved, victims of human rights abuses and their relatives may never know the truth about the crimes committed against them or see the perpetrators of these abuses brought to justice, Amnesty International said today as Congress debates the draft Justice and Peace legislation, which is designed to provide a legal framework for the demobilization of illegal armed groups.

"The draft legislation fails to comply with international standards on victims' right to truth, justice and reparation. It will exacerbate Colombia's endemic problem of impunity, and risks demobilized paramilitaries being reintegrated into the armed conflict," said Amnesty International.

Diana Losada and Christine Evans
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Colombia has been locked in an internal conflict for decades. Thousands of people have been killed in fighting and some two million have been displaced. Our field report this month comes from the South American country where there is an urgent need to establish accountability for gross human rights violations.

During the past year, over four thousand paramilitaries belonging to the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) have demobilised. But the legal situation for those demobilised or about to be demobilised is unclear. Few have been held accountable for atrocities and there is thus far no adequate legal framework specifying how to deal with investigations and sanctions for their crimes.

"We can scarcely find words;
the pain overwhelms us so deeply
that all we can do is weep..."

• Congressional letter to President Uribe on San José de Apartadó massacre

• Letter sent to Colombia's President, Alvaro Uribe, from the European Parliament