Human Rights Concerns Raised By The Security Arrangements Of Transnational Oil Companies (April 1998) Letter To President Ernesto Samper

President Ernesto Samper

Palacio de Nariño
Carrera 15a, 15-80
Santafé de Bogotá, Colombia

Dear President Samper:

We write to express our grave concern about human rights violations that have occurred in areas where the security forces lend protection to transnational oil companies. Our research indicates that several cases of apparent extrajudicial execution in the regions of Arauca and Casanare over the last four years have not been resolved nor subject to serious investigation and prosecution. We are also gravely disturbed about serious human rights violations attributed to paramilitary groups, which apparently are a growing factor in the violence in Casanare.

We are aware that these abuses occur in the context of violent attacks on oil facilities and personnel, as well as on the security forces, by guerrillas active in the areas. However, these abuses in no way justify an illegal response by government forces. We urge your prompt attention to these cases, so that those responsible will face legal consequences for their actions and the relatives of victims may obtain some redress for their terrible loss.

We have written to the transnational oil companies that operate in Colombia to urge that they, too, insist that the military and police forces protecting their interests respect human rights. Copies of those letters are attached.

Cases in Arauca

Several cases of serious human rights violations in Arauca have yet to be resolved by Colombian authorities, including the following:

· On January 10, 1997, Army soldiers reportedly executed Oscar Orlando Bueno Bonet, Jefferson Ramírez, and John Jairo Cabarique in the Modelo

neighborhoodof Saravena.59 The circumstances of these killings, portrayed by the army as guerrillas killed in combat and portrayed by relatives of one of the victims as extrajudicial executions, have yet to be clarified by the authorities.

· Soldiers reportedly detained Bori de Jesús Ortiz Herrera, a construction worker from Brisas del Caranal, Arauquita municipality, on October 16, 1996. At the time of his detention, Ortiz Herrera was unarmed and dressed in civilian clothing, according to residents who filed a complaint with the office of the departmental prosecutor (procurador departamental). According to the complaint, the solders searched Ortiz Herrera, beat him, and carried him from town. Nonetheless, the military publicized his death as resulting from combat with the guerrillas, asserting that he was carrying a revolver, grenades, and subversive material. Community members denied the accusations and alleged that the military refused to permit a civilian inspection of the corpse.60

· On September 28, 1996, Abimelec Parra, a thirty-three-year-old banana industry worker from La Horqueta, Tame municipality, was reportedly shot dead by soldiers stationed at Fortul, as was his companion José Beyer. Parra and Beyer were traveling together on a motorbike when soldiers allegedly opened fire with machine guns, later dumping the bodies along the road in Malacay, between Saravena and Tame. Parra, along with his brothers, was rumored to be on a military "black list."61

Radio news broadcasts subsequently reported that the two were guerrillas killed in combat. Family members denounced the case to the Tame personería, and a complaint was lodged before the military base in Fortul. We are aware of no further action in this case.

· Luis Joaquín Bello Mendivelso, a thirty-year-old peasant from Caranal, Arauca, was the victim of an extrajudicial execution by soldiers on September 8, 1996.62 On that date at about 2:45 a.m., soldiers came to his house looking for him by name. The soldiers wore ski masks and handkerchiefs to cover their faces. They handcuffed Bello Mendivelso, searched his house, and asked, “Where are the arms?” When Bello Mendivelso asked why he was being handcuffed they responded that it was for security precautions. The soldiers accused Bello Mendivelso of collaborating with the guerrillas, and took him away. When asked where he was being taken, the soldiers replied, to the military base at Tame or the city of Arauca. Bello Mendivelso's wife, pregnant with their child, was ordered not to leave her house until 7:00 a.m. Shortly afterwards, residents heard significant gun fire, so much that it sounded like a battle about one kilometer away. Residents found Bello Mendivelso's corpse, apparently bearing signs of torture, on a bridge about one kilometer away from Caranal.

Bello Mendivelso's widow went to military installations in Fortul to attempt to identify the soldiersresponsible for her husband's detention. Over the course of half a day, approximately fifteen soldiers passed in front of her some half dozen times. She did not recognize any of the soldiers. Col. Mario Montoya Uribe, Operative Command No. 2 commander, announced that military criminal judge No. 124 would investigate the case.63 We are aware of no further progress in the case.

· Soldiers extrajudicially executed another man from Caranal, twenty-year-old driver Luis Evelio Morales, that same night. About five soldiers, faces uncovered, arrived at his house and informed family members that they were detaining Morales. They handcuffed him, telling his family to remain calm, that they were only taking care of an official act (diligencia), and that they had three more houses to search. They refused to allow the family to turn on any lights in the house. They asked if Morales had a brother. Morales's family members asked why he was being detained, and where they could find him. The soldiers replied that they were taking him to either Tame or Yopal.

Relatives lodged a complaint at the Fortul personería and before military authorities. A community protest took place about a month after the killing.64 We are aware of no progress in this case.

Notice of his death aired publicly, together with that of Bello Mendivelso. Local press cited Operative Command No. 2 stating that soldiers of the Heroes of Pisba Counter-guerrilla Battalion No. 24 had engaged in armed combat with the Comrade Tomás of the guerrilla National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional, ELN).65

· Yolián Octavio Quinchía Mazo, a twenty-two-year-old peasant, was murdered early in the morning of June 4, 1996, as he slept in La Ceiba community, Arauquita, near the La Esmeralda military base. At about 1:40 a.m., family members heard four shots fired in the community. When they went to Quinchía Mazo's house about four hours later, his family found his lifeless body in his bed, soaked in blood. About two months before his death, army soldiers had detained Quinchía Mazo along with other young men from his community, accusing them of being guerrillas and bombing the Caño Limón-Coveñas pipeline. A lieutenant stated that they should be careful because they were under surveillance. He told Quinchía Mazo that the next time a killing occurred in the area, or the next time the pipeline was attacked, he would know that Quinchía Mazo was responsible. Quinchía Mazo was also offered money to collaborate with the Army.66

· Puerto Lleras Massacre: The military was responsible for a number of serious human rights violations in Arauca during 1994-1995. Among the most egregious was the massacre of ten civilians by the army in the hamlet of Puerto Lleras, Saravena.

On January 3, 1994, a grenade exploded in the installations of the Reveiz Pizarro Mechanized Groupbased in Saravena, killing at least three soldiers.67 Hours later, the military detained an estimated one thousand people in Saravena's town square. According to the Andean Commission of Jurists, a major in the Army led this mass detention, in which the Army utilized hooded individuals to point out suspects. No one was arrested during this procedure.68

That same day, members of the Reveiz Pizarro Battalion assaulted the hamlet of Puerto Lleras, Saravena municipality, producing what is now known as the Puerto Lleras massacre. According to an “Interinstitutional Commission” formed by several government bodies, ten civilians were killed in the assault. Some were later dressed in military uniforms and photographed; all were reported by the Army as guerrillas killed in combat.69 Autopsies for a majority of the victims revealed that they had sustained "massive destruction of brain tissue produced by multiple firearms projectiles" and "multiple firearms wounds."70 The victims included José del Carmen Salcedo (or Balcedo), Iván (or Juan) Lozano González, Ezequiel Tovar Salazar, Fructuoso Rincón Páez, Ciro Blanco Cáceres, José Alexis Fuentes Guerrero, Elisabeth Tabares, Iván Londoño, Luis Hernando Vargas and Adolfo Calderón Flórez.71 The Interinstitutional Commission reported that a number of complaints indicated that all Puerto Lleras residents had been made to lie face down in a local soccer field, and were deprived of food and water for twenty-four hours. Some individuals complained that soldiers also had sacked a number of homes and made off with money and valuables worth at the time some eleven million pesos.72

After the special investigations unit of the National Procurator's Office conducted its own investigations, the office lodged charges against six officials and three soldiers who presumably participated in the assault.73 Special Investigations also recommended that a special prosecutor be assigned to the military penal case assigned to military court No. 124 of Saravena.74 However, the men were acquitted by the military court, a decision affirmed on appeal in November 1996, leaving the case in total impunity.75

Cases in Casanare

Several cases of serious human rights violations in Casanare have yet to be resolved by Colombian authorities, including the following:

Carlos Mesías Arriguí Cerquera and Gabriel Federico Ascencio: On April 13, 1995, these two peasant activists were shot dead by gunmen in Arriguí Cerquera’s residence and shop in Yopal. The men fled on a motorcycle with no license plates, according to the government's Interinstitutional Report.76

At the time of his death, Arriguí Cerquera was president of the Asociación Departamental de Usuarios Campesinos (ADUC) in Casanare, the local branch of a national smallholders association. He also had been a leader of the January 1994 El Morro paro, or work stoppage, against British Petroleum (BP).77

Military and police commanders in the region alleged that Arriguí was a guerrilla. Without explaining the apparent contradiction, they also insisted the guerrillas were responsible for his assassination. We are aware of no evidence to support the claim that Arriguí was killed by guerrillas. The government’s interinstitutional commission called for an investigation “to establish the presumed participation of state agents” in the slaying.78 We are aware of no progress in this case.

Mysterious circumstances surround the killings of Virginia Oballe de Castro and her son, Ramiro Castro Oballe. Oballe de Castro was a local wealthy woman engaged in various causes and who, according to numerous individuals whom Human Rights Watch interviewed, possibly had conflicts with various local actors, including BP, the local government, and one or another guerrilla factions. At the time of her murder, Oballe de Castro was reportedly engaged in a reforestation contract with BP.79 The two victims were taken from their home in the Jorge Eliecer Gaitán neighborhood of Aguazul and killed on October 21, 1996. According to information received by the Banco de Datos de Violencia Política, a group of men identifying themselves as agents of the Administrative Security Department (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad, DAS) forced the two into a vehicle and drove off.80 According to documents Human Rights Watch reviewed in the local Fiscalía office, however, the guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC) is presumed responsible for their deaths, which resulted from 12 mm. caliber gunshots. In November 1996, the Army reportedly claimed to have the killer(s) in custody; however we are unaware of any further steps taken in this case.

Tauramena Protest

The repression on September 16, 1996, by security forces of the several-week-old protest in Tauramena against BP resulted in the death of a photographer covering the event, as well as the injury of several police and a protester. The circumstances of this grave incident have yet to be clarified.

Marcos Mendoza

Soldiers of the Guías de Casanare Battalion, operating under the authority of the XVI Brigade, allegedly shot dead Marcos Mendoza on June 3, 1996, in his home in the Planadas communities. Mendoza had reportedly participated in a stoppage protesting BP policies. Earlier on the day of his murder, soldiers had searched the communities, according to residents, threatening to return. Inside the teacher’s house, soldiers reportedly broke a metal filing cabinet and confiscated photographs of Mendoza. They then searched Mendoza’s house. One resident present when the army arrived was reportedly injured during the search.81 Mendoza’s widow visited military barracks to inquire about her husband’s murder and was informed that he was a guerrilla commander. The Army offered to reimburse her for two chickens killed during the assault.82

Human Rights Violations Attributed to Paramilitary Groups

Most observers interviewed by Human Rights Watch believe that the presence of paramilitary groups in Casanare is growing. In addition, the officially-sanctioned Rural Security Cooperatives (Cooperativas de Vigilancia y Seguridad Rural, CONVIVIR) are becoming more numerous. CONVIVIRs are made up of civilians authorized to gather intelligence for the security forces, join maneuvers, and use weapons banned for private ownership, including machine guns, mortars, grenades, and assault rifles. Although CONVIVIR receive a government license, the identities of their members remain anonymous even to local authorities, making it extremely difficult to establish accountability for their actions.

Other violent civilian groups falling under the rubric of paramilitaries are those linked to illegal drug traffickers, wealthy business people and/or individuals with large landholdings.

In principle, the military is committed to combatting paramilitaries in Casanare. Gen. Ismael Plata Vera, commander of Army’s XVI Brigade based in Yopal, told Human Rights Watch that should a paramilitary group appear, the Army was committed to combatting it, just as it would any other illegal armed group.83 Nevertheless, General Plata said that the Army had no concrete evidence of their presence in the department and denied that paramilitaries commit abuses in Casanare.84 However, our research indicates army tolerance for paramilitary activities in Casanare and in some cases, direct collaboration. The general's statement, which flies in the face of available facts, suggests a military interest in covering up for paramilitaries.

· In La Curama community and in Pore, Pore municipality, a reported twenty-five armed and hooded men, dressed in olive green, shot five people to death on January 5, 1997. The victims were Blanca Dorelis Tumay Acero; Rosendo Fonseca Chaparro, Fonseca’s wife, Graciela Bohórquez; their son, WilliamFonseca B.; and Bernabé Liberato Roa.85 Another man, Diego Aponte Alvarado, was also killed in Pore.86 Residents reportedly indicated that the killers belong to a presumed paramilitary group known generically as the “Masetos.”87 The attack may have been in retaliation for a previous taking of town by guerrillas.88

· Presumed members of the Renacer security cooperative, or CONVIVIR, murdered two men and a woman, Walter Balaguera, Filiberto Ruiz, and Hair Gualdrón Rodríguez in front of their six children in Trinidad (or San Luis de Palenque) municipality on December 2, 1996.89 Balaguera was reportedly tortured before being murdered. This CONVIVIR has reportedly engaged in threatening residents, searching homes illegally, confiscating goods, and hindering residents’ freedom of movement.90 Some families —including that of Hildebrando Camacho Calderón, president of San Luis de Palenque’s municipal council— have since fled the area. Although residents of Trinidad and San Luis de Palenque have reportedly denounced these activities to the local military contingent, the Guías de Casanare Battalion,91 no action has been taken against them to the best or our knowledge. Local civic leaders have been invited to participate in the CONVIVIR, believed to be led by a local attorney.92

· On September 28, 1996, in Aguazul’s Porvenir neighborhood, individuals using firearms of assorted caliber shot dead Germán Cárdenas Albarracín, William Heredia Tovar, and Salvador Monsón Vargas.93 A witness interviewed by the BBC indicated that Army soldiers surrounded the neighborhood before allowing gunmen to come in and remove the victims from their homes.94 The gunmen apparently wore hoods and weredressed in military-style uniforms.95 Human Rights Watch received allegations that the Renacer CONVIVIR was involved in the killings.

· At about 4:00 a.m. on November 2, 1995, a group of approximately seventeen heavily-armed individuals, dressed in civilian clothing and with covered heads or faces, broke into the house of brothers Audenar and Wilmer Antonio García Mantilla. The house is located on the Mañanitas farm, Trinidad municipality. The men shot Audenar as he attempted to flee. They captured Wilmer, tied him to a tree, and opened fire on him, killing him. The armed men used a radio to call for assistance, and a military helicopter arrived a short time later. A uniformed man, to whom the individuals referred as “my lieutenant,” emerged from the helicopter. The majority of the individuals dressed in civilian clothing left in the military helicopter. Audenar died later from his injuries.96

We respectfully request that your government undertake a serious, impartial and independent investigation of the cases described in this letter, and prosecute and punish those found responsible.

Sincerely,

Dr. José Miguel Vivanco
Executive Director
Americas Division
Human Rights Watch

59 Human Rights Watch interview with relative of victim, name withheld for security, Arauca, February 1997; Human Rights Watch interview with resident, name withheld for security, Saravena, February 1997; and letter of the Comité Permanente por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos to Human Rights Watch/Americas, January 29, 1997. 60 Formal complaint filed before the departmental prosecutor of Arauca, October 16, 1996. 61 Human Rights Watch interview with relative of victim, name withheld for security, Arauca department, February 1997. 62 Human Rights Watch interview with witness, name withheld for security, Arauca department, February 1997. 63 El Corredor, "El ELN libera a dos secuestrados," p.1; " Ultimátum a la Amoco," p. 8, September 1-14, 1996. 64 Human Rights Watch interview with witness, name withheld for security, Arauca department, February 1997. 65 El Corredor, "Acusan al Ejército de dos asesinatos," September 14-27, 1996. 66 Formal complaint to government body. 67 Andean Commission of Jurists, Colombian Section (now Colombian Commission of Jurists), Informes Regionales de Derechos Humanos: Arauca, (Bogota: 1994), p. 63; and Informe de la Comisión Interinstitucional sobre la Situación de Derechos Humanos en los Departamentos de Casanare y Arauca (Procuraduría General de la Nación, Fiscalía General de la Nación, Defensoría del Pueblo, Consejería Presidencial para los Derechos Humanos, Asociación Nacional de Usuarios Campesinos-UR, Fundación Comité de Solidaridad con los Presos Políticos (Bogotá: July 1995). 68 Andean Commission of Jurists, Colombian Section, Informes Regionales de Derechos Humanos: Arauca, p. 66. 69 Andean Commission of Jurists, Colombian Section, Informes Regionales de Derechos Humanos: Arauca, p. 63; and Informe de la Comisión Interinstitucional, p. 33. 70 Andean Commission of Jurists, Colombian Section, Informes Regionales de Derechos Humanos: Arauca, p. 63. 71 Informe de la Comisión Interinstitutional, p. 33; and Andean Commission of Jurists, Colombian Section, Informes Regionales de Derechos Humanos: Arauca, p. 63. 72 Informe de la Comisión Interinstitutional, p. 33. 73 Andean Commission of Jurists, Colombian Section, Informes Regionales de Derechos Humanos: Arauca, pp. 65-66. 74 Ibid., p. 66. 75 Email communication, Colombian Commission on Jurists, February 6, 1998. 76 Informe de la Comisión Interinstitucional, p. 20. 77 Ibid. 78 Ibid, p. 42. 79 El Espectador, “‘Está distorsionando la realidad’: BP,” February 9, 1997. 80 Banco de Datos de Violencia Política, “Informe: Casanare octubre a diciembre 1996,” undated mimeograph. 81 Complaint signed by fourteen residents of the Planadas communities, June 13, 1996. 82 BBC2, “Oil and Terror,” Assignment television program, first aired February 8, 1997. 83 Human Rights Watch interview with Gen. Ismael Plata Vera, XVI Brigade Commander, Army barracks, Yopal, February 7, 1997; and El Tiempo website (URL: http://www.eltiempo.com), “Casanare está normal,” March 21, 1997. 84 Human Rights Watch interview with Gen. Ismael Plata Vera, XVI Brigade Commander, Army barracks, Yopal, February 7, 1997. 85 Bibiana Mercado, “Casanare: Síntomas de una guerra?” El Tiempo website (URL:http://www.eltiempo.com), March 21, 1997; and Human Rights Watch interview with a government official, Yopal, February 1997. 86 Human Rights Watch interview with a government official, Yopal, February 1997. 87 Bibiana Mercado, “Casanare: Síntomas de una guerra?” El Tiempo. 88 Human Rights Watch interview with a government official, Yopal, February 1997. 89 Banco de Datos de Violencia Política, “Informe: Casanare octubre a diciembre 1996,” (undated unpaginated mimeograph). 90 Ibid. Information received by another Colombian human rights NGO, the Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (Comité Permanente por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, CPDH), indicated that the killings of Ruiz and Gualdrón occurred on September 28, 1996, in La Esperanza community, San Luis de Palenque municipality. The January 23, 1997 complaint that arrived at CPDH offices described the responsible parties as members of the “Masetos” paramilitary group, in which a soldier belonging to the Guides of Casanare Battalion allegedly participates. “Masetos” is a word used by Colombians in the region to generically describe paramilitary actors. The complainant indicated that a prosecutor, accompanied by DAS agents, legally inspected the corpses. The complainant also indicated, however, that witnesses had not been called by judicial authorities to provide testimony, and that family members have not attempted filing official complaints for fear of reprisal. Letter to the CPDH, January 23, 1997. 91 Banco de Datos, "Informe: Casanare octubre a diciembre 1996". 92 Ibid. 93 Information from the Aguazul police commander’s report, undated. 94 BBC2, “Oil and Terror.” 95 Human Rights Watch interview with a government official, Yopal, February 1997. 96 Formal complaint filed with Defensoría del Pueblo, Yopal, November 1995.