THE PARAMILITARIES ARE IN COMPLETE CONTROL

 Translated by Eunice Gibson, CSN volunteer translator

 For several days now we have been making a record of the very difficult situations that people are experiencing here in the area of our Peace Community of San José de Apartadó.  In spite of all of that, the government on acting as a spectator and as an accomplice to everything that is going on.

 

            -            Today, November 28, some two hundred (200) paramilitaries came to the  town of La Esperanza, where they held the people captive for several hours. They locked them up in the health center and kept them incommunicado.  According to the paramilitaries, they were investigating the records of each of  them.  They also said that they planned to stay there and that they would be the ones giving the orders and controlling everything.  They also said that they had  purchased a number of farms in Playa Larga and that their orders are that if they have need for any farm, the owner would have to sell it to them, whether he was willing or not.  They have already bought three large farms where they will have their bases in Playa Larga.  They said they would be doing the same thing in all the towns.

 

This situation is really dramatic.  It means that the various towns are at risk of imminent displacement and that the people's lives are in danger.  This is the way they are trying to make the communities submit to the plans of the paramilitaries.  We refuse that.  We will not accept it.  We will obey our principles of life.  We ask for solidarity in the face of these situations and for support in demanding that the government stop being an accomplice to these actions.

 

 

PEACE COMMUNITY OF SAN JOSÉ DE APARTADÓ

 

November 28, 2011

(This translation may be reprinted as long as the content remains unaltered, and the source, author, and translator are cited.)

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