[news] Colombia: Soldiers say they will kill, not capture union leaders

[ron]

Leaders from a peasant organisation in Colombia's northeastern department of
Arauca is threatened by the Army's Mobile Brigade Number 5. A lawyer
defending jailed trade union leader Luz Perly Córdoba, is also receiving
death threats. Amnesty International fear for his safety.

14.03.2004 (By Amnesty International)  Members of the Asociación Campesina
de Arauca (ACA), Arauca Peasant Association Human rights lawyer Rodolfo Ríos
Lozano has reportedly received death threats accusing him of links with
left-wing guerrillas. Other human rights lawyers threatened in this way by
the armed forces or their paramilitary allies have been killed, and Amnesty
International is seriously concerned for his safety.



A recent telephone death threat accused him of being a "FARC terrorist dog,
lawyer who defends narcoterrorists" (Perro terrorista de las FARC, abogado
defensor de narcoterroristas). The FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de
Colombia, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) is a guerrilla
organisation that has been fighting the Colombian government since the
1960s.



During a separate telephone call he was told that he had to choose between
leaving the country, dropping the cases he was working on, or being killed.
Over the last few days the death threats have become more frequent. The
callers have not identified themselves. He has also reportedly been kept
under surveillance and followed by unidentified men who have been loitering
around his home and his office.



The threats follow the release of several people he was defending, and who
had reportedly been detained in a number of mass arrests around the country
during military-coordinated operations with the Office of the Attorney
General.



Over the past year Amnesty International has documented a number of mass
arrests of people accused of "subversive" activities, including human rights
defenders, peasant leaders and trade unionists. Frequently the arrests are
made on the basis of spurious allegations by the armed forces and paid or
military informers. Many of those arrested in these operations have later
been released.



Rodolfo Ríos is representing Luz Perly Córdoba, president of the Asociación
Campesina de Arauca (ACA), Arauca Peasant Association. Luz Perly was
detained in Bogotá on 18 Febuary and has been accused of being linked to
guerrilla activities. She was apparently detained on the basis of evidence
from informers, not serious and impartial judicial investigations.



ACA treasurer Jesús Gutiérrez was detained in Arauquita the same day. Over
the last year members of the ACA in Arauca department have reportedly been
threatened, harassed and beaten by members of the armed forces who have
repeatedly accused the ACA of being a "subversive" organization.



The ACA has played a role in exposing the human rights crisis in Arauca
Department including human rights violations in which the armed forces are
implicated. Criticising the armed forces in this way puts them in grave
danger.



On 21 February troops of the Army's Mobile Brigade Number 5 reportedly
entered the area of Botalón in the municipality of Tame, Arauca Department,
where ACA leaders Marina Navarro and Daniel Botello live. The soldiers
apparently had orders to detain Navarro and Botello, but according to
witnesses, soldiers operating near Botalón said that the two leaders would
not be captured but would be killed.



Amnesty International is seriously concerned for the safety of these two
activists. The following day, soldiers from the same mobile Brigade
reportedly entered the nearby hamlet of Betoyes wearing paramilitary
uniforms, and threatened the inhabitants.