{"id":4250,"date":"2016-10-31T19:56:53","date_gmt":"2016-10-31T19:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/redcolombia.org\/wordpress\/2016\/10\/31\/urgent-action-threats-to-human-rights-defenders-in-valledupar\/"},"modified":"2016-10-31T19:56:53","modified_gmt":"2016-10-31T19:56:53","slug":"urgent-action-threats-to-human-rights-defenders-in-valledupar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.redcolombia.org\/?p=4250","title":{"rendered":"URGENT ACTION: THREATS TO HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN VALLEDUPAR"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Red de Hermandad y Solidaridad con Colombia (REDHER) and the Association of Campesinos and Landless Communities of Cesar denounce the following events:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Events<\/span><\/p>\n

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On October 6 2016 at 8.30pm in the city of Valledupar, ELVIA JIMENEZ, legal representative of the Association of Victims of Cesar and member of the Fensuagro union, was travelling to her property in the Tierra Prometida district when she was assaulted by two hooded individuals on a motorbike without a licence plate who were carrying firearms. They threatened her and told her that she was a \u201cguerrilla bitch\u201d, \u201csoon you\u2019ll find out who we are\u201d, \u201cdon\u2019t keep fucking around\u201d and \u201cdon\u2019t get involved in things you have nothing to do with\u201d. They hit her, they ripped her clothing, broke her bag and took her mobile phone, telling her \u201cto leave the town and if not, they\u2019d kill her\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

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On October 6 2016 at 9.30pm in the city of Valledupar, GUILLERMO PEREZ RANGEL, a defender of human rights and regional spokesperson of the Congress of the Peoples, was travelling to his house in the Torres de Nando Marin district, when two hooded individuals on a motorbike with a covered licence plate, who were carrying firearms, attacked him and asked him for his mobile phone and USB sticks, and they forcibly took his backpack and they emptied his apartment. They took his mobile phone and told him, \u201cwe are going to show you we aren\u2019t playing around\u201d, \u201ccarry on sticking your nose where you have no right to and you\u2019re going to regret it.\u201d and \u201cguerrilla son of a bitch we are going to exterminate you\u201d. Guillermo Perez Rangel belongs to the Association of Campesinos and Landless Communities of Cesar, to Congress of the Peoples Caribbean and, from Valledupar, has been developing a process of organisation and accompaniment from various popular sectors that have been victims of the State and its apparatus. In the exercise of his work as a defender of human rights, he had been visiting campesino and indigenous communities in the region and carrying out public condemnations and leading opposition to the extension of the mining concession at Jagua de Ibirico and to the diversion of the San Antonio river, by the multinational Drummond.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Context<\/span>
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<\/span>– For a year now, members of the Association of Victims of Cesar, Elvia Jimenez and Guillermo Perez Rangel have been followed and intimidated, as has been confirmed by observations; likewise the presence of unknown people passing by the office; trucks with tinted glass taking photos passing alongside the office; threats such as those of October 6, all of which generates an atmosphere of intimidation:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Annex 1:<\/span><\/p>\n

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On May 21 2016 at 1.45pm, via the email address <\/span>bloquegaitanistanorte@gmail.com<\/span><\/a>, a message was received with the following content: \u201cBastard guerrilla, are you not going to keep quiet, you keep azuzando the people to organise their strikes, and you fuck up the lives of good people. Now you\u2019re linked up with the unions you\u2019re shutting down businesses. Lead is going to rain down on you, son of a bitch. And you\u2019re gringo friends aren\u2019t going to save you either, you\u2019ve got 24 hours to leave the city. We are going to exterminate all you rats, congress of the people, marcha patriotica, union members, and false defenders of human rights\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Annex 2<\/span><\/p>\n

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On June 3, the defender of human rights Guillermo Perez Rangel received an email from the address <\/span>bolivarpaz2014@gmail.com<\/span><\/a>, in which it says: \u201cHELLO SON OF A BITCH RAT, YOU SPENT THE NIGHT IN THE PLAZA ALFONSO LOPEZ, DID YOU SLEEP WELL? I HOPE YOU DID BECAUSE YOU\u2019VE ONLY GOT A FEW HOURS LEFT BEFORE YOU GO OFF TO DO YOUR TEACHING IN HELL. I WON\u2019T REPEAT IT AGAIN OUR ORGANIZATION DOESN\u2019T WANT RATS LIKE YOU DRESSED UP AS A WORKER FOR THE PEOPLE, WHEN THE REALITY IS THAT YOU ARE ORGANIZING THE PEOPLE FOR THE GUERRILLA. WE DON\u2019T WANT RATS NOR LACRAS COMMUNISTS IN THE TOWN, IF YOU WANT, STAY TO SEE WHAT\u2019S GOING TO HAPPEN TO YOU. WE\u2019VE GOT YOU IDENTIFIED GUILLERMO PEREZ RANGEL, YOU\u2019VE NOT GOT MUCH TIME LEFT TO LIVE JUST LIKE ALL THOSE RATS YOU GO AROUND DECEIVING THE POOR WITH, YOU WHAT YOU ARE IS GUERRILLA SONS OF BITCHES. GO OFF TO HAVANA OR CARACAS TO DO YOUR TEACHING THERE, BEFORE WE SEND YOU TO HELL, WE KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE OUT OF COLOMBIA COMMUNIST RATS, THE NEXT TIME YOU SEE MY FACE IT WILL BE THE LAST ONE YOU EVER SEE, WE ARE GOING TO KILL YOU SON OF A BITCH, YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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