Elderly man killed in Curvaradó

Today in the morning, José Francisco Valdiri, an elderly man, was assassinated by paramilitaries in Bocas de Caño Claro, Collective Territory of Curvaradó. In the same incident, two of his relatives were beaten.

According to the information provided by a witness that happened to arrive at the location of the incident, Jose was beaten to death, being beaten all over the body. While escaping from the scene, the witness observed two youth also being beaten.

The witness fled to the Villa Luz community to give notice of the assassination committed by the paramilitaries. The high-risk situation led to the displacement of the families of this community.
This paramilitary violence occurred amid military operations of the 17th Brigade, between the communities Despensa Media and Brisas de Curvaradó.

Last Monday, the paramilitary structures present in the Collective Territory of Curvaradó on properties of the Villa Luz Lower Council, pressured the Peinado family to go to the Apartadó municipality to pick up twenty million pesos and bring it to Villa Luz, where the paramilitaries’ encampment is located.

Due to the paramilitary pressure and the fear of irreparable damages to her life and her family’s, on Thursday May 12 when Felicidad Peinado brought the money to the paramilitaries she immediately took refuge in the Tesoro-Camelias Humanitarian Zone.

Two hours after arriving to the humanitarian space, Mrs. Peinado requested that the National Ombudsman, the Minister of the Interior and the Presidential Program on Human Rights, grant guarantees to the family, which eventually was put in the hands of the State.

These grave incidents reflect the lack of guarantees for the restitution of collective properties, and reflect the 17th Brigade and National Police’s tolerance and failure to fulfill their constitutional obligations regarding the dismantling of the paramilitary.

Inter-Ecclesiatic Commission for Justice and Peace