Bogotá, D.C. Mayo 20 de 2004
Doctor
Alvaro Uribe Vélez
Presidente de la República de Colombia
Palacio de Nariño
Bogotá D.C.
Fax: 00 57 1 286 74 34/286, 68 42/284 21 86
Mr. President:
The government of "democratic security" which has so loudly proclaimed itself to be the protector of the Colombian citizenry is not fulfilling this responsibility or even investigating the violence to which some citizens are subject. This is especially the case when it comes to indigenous people or when the murderers are members of the groups whose leaders are taking part in the much-vaunted peace process between the government and paramilitaries.
Last April 18th, while the Peace Commission was meeting with paramilitary leaders, mercenary groups who have been operating for more than a year in Bahia de Portete, in the Guajira peninsula within the Wayuú reservation in the Middle and Upper (Media y Alta) Guajira, viciously killed in plain daylight twelve children, elderly persons and women, all indigenous ancestral inhabitants from the region adjacent to the Bahia. This occurred after months of siege and aggressive intimidation of the Wayuú families and after some Wayuú from the Maicao area had already been killed. These mercenaries "safeguard" the shipments of drugs and the more traditional contraband cargos liquor and cigarettes and in the process accumulate economic resources for its paramilitary army, particularly through its control of gasoline contraband. This activity goes on openly there is no attempt made to hide it, and all of the regional organizations, DIAN officials, army and police personnel and the municipal and departmental authorities are well aware of what is going on.
The authorities turn a blind eye to all this and do not take any action against them: it is a month since the massacre and there still has been no institutional response to these crimes, much less support for the more than 500 Wayuú forced to abandon their land and live exiled from their homelands in Uribia, Maidao in Colombia and in Maracaibo and other areas in Venezuela.
Among the persons assassinated are Nicolas Barros Ballesteros, Arturo Epiayu, Alberto Everts Fince, Rolan Everts Fince, Rosa Fince Uriana, Diana Fince Uriana (disappeared it is not known where her body has been thrown), Reina Fince Pushaina, a minor, 13 years old (disappeared whereabouts of body also unknown), Margoth Epinayu, Ruben Epinayu, a minor, 16 years old, and a young girl from the Epinayu clan who was taken from her home and whose body has not been found. And, according to reports of the survivors and displaced, there are many more who are buried in different areas of Portete and 30 more disappeared. This situation has been courageously denounced by the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) and by other groups, such as Actualidad Etnica, and the newspaper El Tiempo whose reports have been very detailed.
Violence and atrocity; fear and exile; silence and complicity; all of these come together in Alta Guajira. But the authorities neither say nor do anything. It is just days since you announced to the country in what was also an appeal for international cooperation and this less than 10 kilometers from Portete, in Cabo de la Vela the launching of the governmental "ethno-tourism" project for which you now want to make use of the Wayuu and their tradition of hospitality. You desire to appear as the redeemer of needy and remote communities and behave as if you did not know that today peoples from these communities have been expelled from their lands by "atuodefensas" who have come to the Guajira from the interior of the country to "safeguard" the drug trafficking. The paramilitaries have made a hell of a region that has historically not been one of the areas which suffers from the internal armed conflict.
It surprises us, Mr. President, that all this is happening in regions in which huge mega-projects are being developed. For example, the recent maritime oil and gas concessions Bloque Tairona which are located in the same waters as Portete and the north zone of Alta Guajira; and the expansion project for coal production, the product of which is sent out of the country via Puerto Bolivar, port for the El Cerrejon carboniferous complex; and the new Jepirachi wind-park which you inaugurated less than five months ago, built by Empresas Públicas of Medellín (EPM) just a few kilometers from Portete against the will of these communities that have been robbed of all their rights. We insist that the security put in place for the development of these projects also be a guarantee for the security of the ancestral inhabitants whose lands are accommodating these enterprises.
The responsibility for the defense and protection of the rights of the Wayuú and their right to peaceful coexistence and respect come under the jurisdiction of all of those mentioned above, as well as under that of the local, regional and national authorities. These indigenous peoples have contributed immeasurably to the diversity of the Colombian nation. It is the responsibility of us all to keep watch and safeguard this precious richness, which comprises the identity of all Colombians.
Mr. President, the following signatories, citizens of peace from Colombia and the world, demand that you, the highest authority responsible for the lives and rights of Colombians, order the relevant investigations; protect the Wayuú; capture the paramilitaries responsible for these atrocities and demand of their leaders, with whom the Peace Commissioner is carrying out talks, that they retire their violent armies from the Wayuú region. We demand that you facilitate the quick interventions of the proper authorities in order to control the situation and of the human rights organisms of this indigenous people who are the resources that we must safeguard. They are indigenous to America and are found in their greatest numbers in Colombia and Venezuela.
Cordialmente
Firmas:
Gerardo Antonio Jumí Tapias, Senador indígena –Colombia-. www.indigenajumi.com
Francisco Rojas Birry, Senador indígena –Colombia-.
Juan Moreno Blanco, CC. 79 150 782 Usaquén. Docente investigador Universidad del Valle.
Hernán Darío Correa
Fundación Cultura Democrática
Fundación Hemera. Esta dirección de correo electrónico está siendo protegida contra los robots de spam. Necesita tener JavaScript habilitado para poder verlo.
Germán Humberto Rincón Perfetti
León Felipe Rodríguez Hernández, CC 80039729 BTA
LUIS EVELIS ANDRADE CASAMA, CC No.12.000.773 de Río Sucio choco
Presidente ONIC
Gustavo Gallón, Comisión Colombiana de Jurista
Eva Durán, CC. 45752961 de Cartagena
Darío Fajardo Montoya
Patricia Iriarte Díaz Granados, CC 64.865.652 de Sincé
Javier Correa C.
Julio Carrizosa Umaña, CC.171395. Miembro de Numero de la Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales.
ZAYDA SIERRA, Ph.D. Coordinadora Grupo de Investigación DIVERSER (Pedagogía, Sistemas Simbólicos y Diversidad Cultural). Facultad de Educación - Universidad de Antioquia. A.A. 1226 Medellín-COLOMBIA. Tel/Fax:(574) 2105700/2105704. Correo-E: Esta dirección de correo electrónico está siendo protegida contra los robots de spam. Necesita tener JavaScript habilitado para poder verlo.
Luis Carlos Osorio R., Director Fundación Hemera
Alberto Rivera Gutiérrez, Ph.D.
Diana Correa Valero, CC. 3.398.456
CRISTINA ECHAVARRIA. Dir. Iniciativa de Investigación Sobre Políticas Mineras (IIPM)
Centro Internacional de Investigaciones Para el Desarrollo (IDRC). Oficina Regional Para América Latina y el Caribe – LACRO. Av. Brasil 2655. 11300 Montevideo, Uruguay. Tel.: (5982) 709-0042 Ext. 228; Fax: (5982) 708-6776; www.iipm-mpri.org
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