Letter to Ambassador Brownfield of killings and threats in Chocó

We, the undersigned U.S. religious and non-governmental organizations who work on Colombia, are writing to ask that you intervene in the human rights situation in the Bajo Atrato River region of the Chocó. On January 13, Argénito Díaz community leader from Llano Rico was shot dead. This murder follows the killing of three other Afro-Colombians (Manuel Moya, Graciano Blandón and his son Yair) in December 2009, the August 2009 murder of Curvaradó community leader Benjamín Gómez and ‘Chemita’ of the Cacarica community in July 2009.

Ambassador William R. Brownfield

U.S. Embassy

Calle 24 Bis No. 48-50

Bogotá, DC

Colombia

January 26, 2010

Dear Ambassador Brownfield,

We, the undersigned U.S. religious and non-governmental organizations who work on Colombia, are writing to ask that you intervene in the human rights situation in the Bajo Atrato River region of the Chocó. On January 13, Argénito Díaz community leader from Llano Rico was shot dead. This murder follows the killing of three other Afro-Colombians (Manuel Moya, Graciano Blandón and his son Yair) in December 2009, the August 2009 murder of Curvaradó community leader Benjamín Gómez and ‘Chemita’ of the Cacarica community in July 2009.

Mr. Diaz and Benjamin Gómez formed part of the Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó communities (Chocó) whose lands were illegally usurped by palm oil companies. Mr. Diaz formed part of a legal action against such companies that resulted in the Chocó Tribunal ruling in January 2009 which orders companies that violated the law to cease their operations in Afro-Colombian collective titled lands within forty eight hours. If the companies do not comply, it is incumbent on the Colombian authorities to act within forty-five days to implement the order. As of yet, the Colombian government has not implemented the order and the companies continue to operate illegally in these territories.

Mr. Diaz has protective measures from the Organization of American States. After the December murders of Moya and the Blandons, a series of false accusations appeared in the press and elsewhere against the Interchurch Justice and Peace Commission1 (in particular Abilio Peña, Danilo Rueda and Father Alberto Franco), Father Javier Giraldo, Gloria Cuartas and Ivan Cepeda of MOVICE, as well as international groups including Peace Brigades International and PASC who accompany the Justice and Peace Commission and the Afro-Colombian communities in the Chocó. The recent wave of killings and threats show that the Colombian authorities have not taken the sufficient steps to combat impunity in the Curvaradó case, bring the twenty three oil palm, banana and agro-business industrialists accused of links to paramilitarism to justice, dismantle the illegal armed groups operating in Chocó and guarantee security for the region’s inhabitants.

This series of murders leads us to kindly request that the U.S. Embassy urge the Colombian government to fully investigate and bring to justice the perpetrators of these killings. The Colombian authorities should be encouraged to take bold action to secure the physical safety of the residents and human rights NGOs operating in the Bajo Atrato River area. Lastly, we recommend that you please ask the Colombian authorities to take action to effectively dismantle the military, economic and social operational structures of illegal armed groups operating in the Chocó.

We thank you in advance for your attention to this important matter and look forward to hearing from you on actions taken by the U.S. Embassy on this unfortunate situation.

Sincerely,

Scott Wright
SICSAL-USA

Marino Cordoba, Charo Mina Rojas and Eunice Escobar
Association for Internally Displaced Afro-Colombians (AFRODES USA)

Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli
Senior Associate
Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)

Nicole Lee
President
TransAfrica Forum (TAF)

Carlos Quesada
Latin America Director
Global Rights

Gail Phares
Director
Carolina Interfaith Task Force on Central America

Sister Tierney Trueman
President
Sisters of Saint Francis (Rochester)

Deborah Peterson Small
Executive Director
Break the Chains: Communities of Color and the War on Drugs

Dr. Agustin Lao-Montes
Assistant Professor
Sociology; Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino
University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Tianna Paschel
PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
University of California-Berkeley

Mark W. Harrison
Program Director
General Board of Church and Society
United Methodist Church

Jim Vondracek
Managing Director
Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN)

Kelly Nicholls
Executive Director
US Office on Colombia (USOC)

Barbara Gerlach
Colombia Liaison
United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries

Adam Isacson
Director of Programs
Center for International Policy (CIP)

Kiran Asher, Ph.D
Associate Professor of IDSC and Women’s Studies IDCE
Clark University

Sharon Hostetler
Executive Director
Witness for Peace

Annalise Udall Romoser
Acting Director of Public Policy and Advocacy
Lutheran World Relief

Roland Roebuck
Afro-Latino Activist and NASGACC member

James Early
Board Member
TransAfrica Forum (TAF)

Joseph Jordan
Associate Professor and Director
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Sonja Haynes Stone Center

John Lindsay-Poland and Susana Chamorro
Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean
Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR)

Janvieve Williams Comrie
Executive Director
Latin American and Caribbean Community Center (LACC)

Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Washington Office

Partnership for Earth Spirituality New Mexico

Francine Crownshaw Colombia Action Network New Mexico Liz Deligio8th day center for Justice