CURRENT SITUATION
It has been difficult to digest Colombian Ministry of defense Villegas’ words. Last January 11th, in a radio interview he declared: “In Colombia there is no paramilitarism. To say that there is paramilitarism would be to give political recognition to a group of bandits who are dedicated to common and organized crime. There are murders but they are not systematic. If there were, I would be the first to accept it”.
The Colombian National Center of Historical Memory reports that in 339 municipalities out of 1123 there are “illegal armed groups post-demobilization. Those groups are responsible of several human rights violations.
SHARING, WORK AND NEWS ABOUT VOLUNTEERS
During the month of January the volunteers engaged in escorting people to the villages of Mulatos and La Esperanza. They have been requested to accompany Peace Community members because of the massive presence of AGC paramilitaries in the area. Such armed groups are systematically occupying the zone, threatening the civilians and forcing them to submit to their domain. The death threats to anyone who reports their presence add up to those made against the Peace Community, considered as “number-one enemy”.
Despite several alerts and press releases made by numerous NGOs and associations and addressed to the government, there has not been any answer or intervention yet (while writing on the 31st of January), either by the Public Forces or by the State. In the meanwhile the civilians are risking to be evicted or worse to lose their lives.
Notwithstanding, in the Peace Community people try to distract themselves: adults play soccer, children keep on playing in the afternoon, and the community organized a pizza party for a hundred people!
OPERAZIONE COLOMBA
