Letter
from sixty U.S. Representatives to President Uribe, June 25, 2004
June
25, 2004
The Honorable Alvaro Uribe Velez
President of Colombia
Palacio de Narino
Carrera 8, No. 7-26
Bogotá, Colombia
Dear President Uribe:
We are writing to express our serious concerns about recent statements
that you made questioning the legitimate work of international
human rights organizations in the Peace Community of San José
de Apartadó. We are familiar with and support the important
work conducted by such organizations as Peace Brigades International
and the Fellowship of Reconciliation in protecting and promoting
human rights in Colombia.
Through their presence, these organizations have helped to protect
the rights of civilians in many communities, including San José
de Apartadó, which has suffered numerous massacres, forced
disappearances and other human rights violations. In recognition
of the vulnerability of the Peace Community of San José
de Apartadó, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights has
on three occasions issued Provisional Measures that call on Colombia
to protect the community and "the persons who offer services
to the community." On April 15, 2004, the Constitutional
Court of Colombia ruled that those Provisional Measures are constitutional
and that the Government of Colombia must ensure their compliance.
We were troubled by the comments you made on May 27, 2004, when
you suggested international organizations are obstructing justice
by declaring, "I want to remind the foreigners in San José
de Apartadó that in Colombia there is not, nor can there
be, impunity for either Colombians or for foreigners. If you come
here, come here to help our communities, not to obstruct justice."
And you stated, "I repeat my respectful submission to the
DAS (Department of Administrative Security) and the Police, that
if these people obstruct justice again they should be put in jail.
And if it's necessary to deport them, they should be deported."[1]
Those hostile remarks lie in stark contrast to the actual conduct
of the international organizations present in the community—including
the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Navarra Nuevo Futuro, and Peace
Brigades International—which abide closely by all Colombian
laws, while carrying out their humanitarian missions.
Furthermore, we are concerned that on June 2nd, DAS agents and
a large contingent of soldiers entered San José de Apartadó
to present Peace Brigades International (PBI) volunteers with
a written order for a meeting. The stated reason for the meeting
was to carry out an "administrative check." However,
when the two PBI volunteers arrived at the DAS office they were
subjected to interrogation-like questioning and were told to sign
a legal document known as a "voluntary deposition" ("version
libre") —which is usually the first step in a criminal
investigation. Subsequently, PBI met with Vice-President Francisco
Santos in an attempt to rectify the declarations made on May 27
and to share its concern over the incidents with the DAS. PBI
was accompanied in the meeting by Michael Frühling, the Director
of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in
Colombia
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that international organizations
working in the Urabá region have been the target of unfounded
allegations. On August 21, 2003, the then Commander of the Colombian
Armed Forces, General Jorge Enrique Mora, held a press conference
in which international organizations, including Peace Brigades
International and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, were
accused of turning a blind eye to guerrilla activity of the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in another community in Urabá.
In response, the Colombian Human Rights Ombudsman stated that
this accusation "did not correspond to reality and, on the
contrary, could put the community at risk."
We are extremely concerned that these types of comments are calling
into question the work of many highly respected international
organizations in the region of Uraba. These comments are all the
more disheartening in that they directly contradict Presidential
Directive 07 (9/9/03) as well as the Ministry of Defense’s
Directive 09 (7/8/03), which order all civilian and military government
officials to “refrain from questioning the legitimacy of
human rights organizations and their members; making statements
that discredit, persecute, or incite persecution of said organizations;
or making public or private declarations that stigmatize the work
of these organizations.”
Given these concerns, we respectfully ask that you undertake the
following actions:
Ø That you, as President of the Republic, retract your
comments and publicly state your support of international human
rights organizations working in region.
Ø Call for a reaffirmation in writing by Vice President
Santos of the "carta de aval" (letter of support) which
has been granted to Peace Brigades International since the organization
first started working in Colombia in 1994.
Ø Ensure that clear directives are sent to all civilian
and military officials in the region of Uraba to support the work
of international organizations accompanying the Peace Community
of San José de Apartadó, and to recognize the important
role played by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) and the Colombian Human Rights Ombudsman (Defensoria del
Pueblo).
Ø Implement the April 15, 2004 decision of the Constitutional
Court, Sentence T 327, which requires the full implementation
of the Provisional Measures granted to San José de Apartado
by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights that oblige the state,
among other requirements, to "continue to enable participation
of the beneficiaries of the provisional measures or their representatives
in the planning and implementation of these measures."
Mr. President, we care very deeply about Colombia and want to
help improve the situation in the country for all Colombians.
We reject actions that seek to undermine peace, like the bombing
attack that occurred on May 22, 2004 in a discotheque in Apartadó,
a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law against
the civilian population. We strongly believe that the work of
international humanitarian organizations like Peace Brigades International
and the Fellowship of Reconciliation is critical to the goal of
a brighter future for Colombia and a reduction of such violence.
Therefore we urge you to publicly make clear your support for
the good work these organizations undertake.
Thank you for your attention to this matter, and we look forward
to hearing from you.
Jan Schakowsky (D-9th IL) SPONSOR
Jim McGovern (D-3rd MA) SPONSOR
Aníbal Acevedo-Víla (D-PR)
Tammy Baldwin (D-2nd WI)
Chris Bell (D-25th TX)
Sherrod Brown (D-13th OH)
Michael Capuano (D-8th MA)
Wm. Lacy Clay (D-1st MO)
John Conyers (D-14th MI)
Elijah Cummings (D-7th MD)
Danny Davis (D-7th IL)
Peter DeFazio (D-4th OR)
William Delahunt (D-10th MA)
Rosa DeLauro (D-3rd CT)
Elliot Engel (D-17th NY)
Anna Eshoo (D-14th CA)
Lane Evans (D-17th IL)
Sam Farr (D-17th CA)
Chaka Fattah (D-2nd PA)
Bob Filner (D-51st CA)
James Greenwood (R-8th PA)
Raul Grijalva (D-7th AZ)
Luis Gutierrez (D-4th IL)
Maurice Hinchey (D-22nd NY)
Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-DC)
Dennis Kucinich (D-10th OH)
James Langevin (D-2nd RI)
Barbara Lee (D-9th CA)
Nita Lowey (D-18th NY)
Carolyn Maloney (D-14th NY)
Edward Markey (D-7th MA)
Karen McCarthy (D-5th MO)
Betty McCollum (D-4th MN)
Michael McNulty (D-21st NY)
Marty Meehan (D-5th MA)
Gregory Meeks (D-6th NY)
Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-37th CA)
George Miller (D-7th CA)
Dennis Moore (D-3rd KS)
Richard Neal (D-2nd MA)
James Oberstar (D-8th MN)
John Olver (D-1st MA)
Donald Payne (D-10th NJ)
Joseph Pitts (R-16th PA)
Bobby Rush (D-1st IL)
Martin Olav Sabo (D-5th MN)
Loretta Sanchez (D-47th CA)
Bernie Sanders (Independent VT)
José Serrano (D-16th NY)
Chris Shays (R-4th CT)
Ike Skelton (D-4th MO)
Pete Stark (D-13th CA)
John Tierney (D-6th MA)
Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-11th OH)
Chris Van Hollen (D-8th MD)
Henry Waxman (D-30th CA)
Lynn Woolsey (D-6th CA)
David Wu (D-1st OR)
Mark Udall (D-2nd CO)
Nidia Velazquez (D-NY)
Tom Allen (D-ME)
Rahm Emanuel-(D-IL)
As
of July 8, 2004, this document was also available online at http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/il09_schakowsky/pr6_25_2004colombia.html
