Excmo. Sr. Presidente Gustavo Petro Urrego President of the Republic of Colombia contacto@presidencia.gov.co | Sr. Fiscal Francisco Barbosa Delgado Attorney General of Colombia |
September 23, 2023
Dear Sirs:
According to INDEPAZ (Institute for the Study of Development and Peace), at least 123 social leaders and 30 ex-combatant signatories to the 2016 Peace Accords have been killed thus far in 2023. One of the more recent victims is Benicio Beltrán Borja, an ex-combatant who was killed on September 22.
The campesino communities in the southern limits of Bolívar Department and the northeast of Antioquia Department are experiencing extreme anguish because of recent clashes between armed groups present in the region. These events have resulted in the displacement of more than 60 people. In the rural communities surrounding Briceño, Antioquia Department, around 20 families had to abandon their homes because of fighting between the paramilitary group Clan del Golfo and FARC dissidents (disidencias de las FARC). The majority of the displaced have found refuge in the former Territorial Training and Reintegration Space (ETCR) in the village of Carrizal de Remedios, where government security forces are present.
Benicio Beltrán Borja—an ex-combatant, signer of the peace agreement, and active participant in the government’s reintegration program—was dedicated to agricultural production in Cañaveral Chicamoqué village, Segovia municipality, Bolívar Department. During an armed incursion in the village on September 22, witnesses say that Clan del Golfo paramilitaries seized Benicio Beltrán Borja, killed him, and burned his body.
We urge that you:
- conduct an impartial, transparent investigation into the assassination of Benicio Beltrán Borja, publish the results, and bring those responsible to justice
- consult with campesino communities in southern Bolívar and northeast Antioquia to devise security measures for their protection, in strict accordance with their wishes
Sincerely,
Brian J. Stefan Szittai and Christine Stonebraker-Martínez
Co-Coordinators
copies: Luis Gilberto Murillo, Ambassador of Colombia to the US ~ via email, US mail
Joel Hernández García, Rapporteur for Colombia , Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) ~ via email, US mail
UN: Juliette De Rivero, Representative in Colombia of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights ~ via email
US Embassy: Francisco Palmieri (Chargé d’Affaires, ad interim); Adam Levy (Human Rights Unit Chief) ~ via email
US State Department: Christine Russell, Desk Officer for Colombia ~ via email
US Senators from Ohio: Brown & Vance
US Representatives from Ohio: Beatty, Brown, Johnson, Jordan, Joyce, Kaptur, Latta, Miller, Sykes ~ via email
23 SEP 2023_Infoabe_Colombia
