DEATH THREATS TO PEACE PROCESS SUPPORTERS
Fourteen
individuals and two human rights organizations were threatened in an
email sent by paramilitaries as a wave of mass death threats targeting
those involved in Colombia’s peace process continues. Their families
were also threatened.
In
an email sent on 9 March, the Black Eagles South Bloc (Águilas Negras
Bloque Sur) paramilitary group threatened 14 individuals and two human
rights organizations, the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers' Collective (Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo, CCAJAR) and the Committee of Solidarity with Political Prisoners (Comité de Solidaridad con los Presos Políticos, CSPP).
It read “Communist guerrillas […] your days are numbered, your blood
will be as fertilizer for the fatherland […] this message is also for
your children and women.”
Among those named was human rights defender José Humberto Torres of CSPP and political analysts León Valencia and Ariel Ávila of the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation (Fundación Paz y Reconciliación, PARES). PARES recently issued a report on the armed conflict and post-conflict scenarios. Also named were three members of the New Rainbow Corporation (Corporación Nuevo Arco Iris): José Aristizábal García, who returned to Colombia in 2014 following a long exile, Fernando Hernández Valencia and Adolfo Bula. The death threat also mentions several politicians, including Senators Claudia López and Iván Cepeda, as well as the Bogotá mayor Gustavo Petro and his colleague Gloria Flórez, who have been active on human rights and peace-related issues.
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