Among the most severe attacks against the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission (CIJP) between 2011 and 2013, the following are worthy of note:

Threats & attacks

• June 2011: the Commission received a threatening phone call in Bogotá, in which they were advised to beware following advances in the judicial process against palm oil businessmen.  The defending human rights organization represents and supports the Curbaradó river basin Humanitarian Zones.[1] That same week, members of the Commission Danilo Rueda, Abilio Peña and the Priest Alberto Franco, all sighted the vehicles in which they were travelling being followed.[2] On the 17th of June 2011, two vehicles forced the vehicle in which Abilio Peña was traveling to stop, and he was approached by a man who asked him to lower his window.  On the same day, when Alberto Franco, executive secretary of CIJP, tried to make calls from his mobile phone, he received and answer from the Police’s Gaula Unit (Unified Action Groups for Personal Liberty).  Likewise, it was noted that unidentified personas continued to observe Danilo Rueda’s home.[3] It is worth highlighting that unknown persons also entered Danilo Rueda’s home on the 13th of May and stole two devices that contained sensitive information relating to his human rights work on behalf of CIJP.[4]
• May 2012: the Commission received multiple threats: on day 1, two men in Bogotá followed Alberto Franco for one hour.   The next day, members of the Commission were approached as they left the organization’s headquarters by a man who threatened them.  On the 7th of May, two men on a motorbike followed Danilo Rueda in Bogotá.[5]
• 19 October 2012:  In the port of Turbo (Antioquia), three men approached Edwin Mosquera, member of CIJP, and one of them, identifying himself as a paramilitary with the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia, warned Mr. Mosquera that although he could continue unimpeded for the time being, CIJP’s work was being watched.  Mosquera was awaiting the arrival of a victim and proposed witness of the case before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for the murder for Marino López and Operation Genesis.[6]
• 27 October 2012:  A voicemail is left on the home landline of Danilo Rueda, (CIJP coordination team member), in which is heard a conversation about the armed conflict, peace talks with the FARC and the possible participation of the ELN (National Liberation Army) in the talks.  CIJP fears the preparation of an unfounded criminal proceeding against Danilo.[7]
• 2 November 2012: Death threat by the Urabeños against CIJP’sValle de Cauca field team.[8]
• 13 February 2013: An attack on the armoured vehicle provided by the National Protection Unit used by Father Alberto Franco, member of the CIJP Coordinating Team.  The vehicle was hit three times by bullets from a silenced firearm; fortunately the Father Alberto was not in the vehicle at the time of the attack.[9]
• 27 February 2013: CIJP denounced that alleged paramilitaries had warned that if the members of the Communities of Self-Determination, Life and Dignity (CAVIDA) of Cacarica (Department of Chocó) continued to report on them, they [the alleged paramilitaries] would take measures to silence them.[10]
• 21 March 2013: The CIJP denounced a plan of attack against one of its members. According to the organization, the plan was going to be carried out at the entrance of the individual’s home, but it was cancelled because the person was out of the country.[11]

Monitoring and surveillance

• May 2012: CIJP reports five incidents of alleged monitoring of the CIJP headquarters in Bogotá.[12]
• 1 May 2012: Alberto Franco is followed along Seventh Street in Bogotá.
• 8 May 2012: Danilo Rueda is followed by two men on a motorcycle in the Chapinero neighbourhood of Bogotá.
• 19 May 2012: Two men film the home of Danilo Rueda.
• 11 and 22 October 2012: Surveillance of the residence of Jesus Alberto Franco, CIJP coordination team member.[13]
• 20 October 2012:  Monitoring of Danilo Rueda, CIJP coordination team member, perpetrated from a pick-up truck while Mr. Rueda travelled to the organization’s headquarters.[14]
• 27 October 2012: Eight calls are made to the family of Fabio Ariza, CIJP member, in which an unidentified individual asks for hislocation, whether in outside of the city, in order to talk some things over with him.[15]
• 9 November 2012: Surveillance of the home of Abilio Peña, CIJP coordination team member.[16]
• 10 November 2012: Surveillance of CIJP headquarters by two men, one of whom identifies himself as a DAS official.[17]
• 11 February 2013: Surveillance of Father Alberto Franco’s home (CIJP).[18]
• 21 and 22 February 2013: Surveillance of Father Alberto Franco and of Danilo Rueda (members of the CIJP Coordinating Team) by individuals riding a motorcycle.[19]
• 25 February 2013: Surveillance of Danilo Rueda (CIJP) at his residence by the same two individuals who stalked him on 22 February.[20]
• 27 February 2013: Surveillance of Danilo Rueda (CIJP) as he headed to the CIJP headquarters, by two individuals who also took pictures of him.[21]
• 7 March 2013: Monitoring of Abilio Peña, member of the CIJP Coordinating Team, by a man riding a motorcycle.[22]
• 9 March 2013: Surveillance of the home of Father Alberto Franco (CIJP).[23]
• 19 April 2013: A call is intercepted between Danilo Rueda, member of the CIJP coordinating committee, and Jani Silva, leader of the Zona de Reserva Campesina Perla Amazónica, following her receipt of a death threat. The conversation is sent to Danilo Rueda’s mobile phone just minutes after he hangs up his call with Ms. Silva.[24]
• 29 April 2013: Surveillance of the home of Abilio Peña, member of the CIJP coordinating committee.[25]
• 1 May 2013: Surveillance of the home of Danilo Rueda.[26]
• 2 May 2013: Monitoring of Alberto Franco, member of the CIJP coordinating committee, near his home.[27]

Defamation and slander

• 2009: National and international newspapers published articles accusing the CIJP and the communities of the Curbaradó, Jiguamiandó and Cacarica River Basins, of belonging to the FARC insurgent group[28].   Moreover, some of these newspapers also accused the Commission of having perpetrated crimes, such as in the case of the murders of Curbaradó inhabitants Manuel Moya and Graciano Blandón, a crime publicly condemned by the Commission[29].  Many of the accusations were based upon a single source of information; the declarations of a demobilized member of the FARC, aka “Samir”.  An example of this was an article published by Mary O’Grady in The Wall Street Journal on the 14th of December 2009, which accused the Commission and other Human Rights defenders of being “friends of the FARC”[30].
• 2010-11: A number of articles and blogs were also published in 2010 and 2011 seeking to delegitimize the Commission’s work[31].   The Humanitarian Zones of Curbaradó, Jiguamiandó and Cacarica were described as “small farmer settlements under FARC oppression”.[32]
• 21 March 2012: Accusations and defamations are made by Darío Blandón, resident of Riosucio (Chocó) against CIJP during a forum organized by Semana Magazine and Sergio Arboleda University entitled “Does international human rights protection work in the country?” These accusations are also reproduced on the Internet.[33]
• 25 June 2012: During Fernando Londoño’s radio program “The Hour of Truth,” Dario Blandón slanders CIJP and PBI for their work in Curbaradó. Blandón accuses both organisations of threatening the black population and of being responsible for several assassinations, such as those of Graciano Blandón and Manuel Moya in 2009. He also alleges ties between CIJP and the FARC.[34]
• 27 June 2012: The International Trade Unionist Confederation sends a letter to President Santos mentioning part of the information from the interview with Darío Blandón in which he accused CIJP of being responsible for assassinations in the Curbaradó river valley.[35]
• 16 July 2012: On Santa Fe radio station, Dario Blandon, formerly the local human rights ombudsman in Río Sucio (Chocó), alleged that CIJP had stolen 18 million dollars of international aid meant for the afro-descendant communities in Curvaradó and Cacarica.[36]
• 25 December 2012: Letter sent to various authorities by the Middle and Lower Atrato Corporation (Corporación Medio y Bajo Atrato – ASODESMA) and Jaime Beitar, self-declared leader of the displaced in Turbo, accusing the Humanitarian Zones and CIJP and of acting under the FARC’s orders, and therefore impeding the construction on collective territory of a military base for Jungle Battalion No. 54 of the 17th Brigade. Furthermore, the letter denounced the supposed complicity of CIJP with the FARC in the preparation of an alleged assassination plot against the Afro-descendant communities in the region.[37]
• 27 December 2012: Slander against CIJP and the Humanitarian Zone of Curbaradó by Lieutenant Colonel Cortez, commander of Jungle Battalion No. 54, who said the influence of the 5th and 57th Fronts of the FARC is behind the opposition to the installation of a military base in the collective territories.[38]
• 11 February 2013: Letter addressed to various authorities, including the Inter-American Commission and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the U.S. ambassador in Colombia, accusing CIJP of procedural fraud and of representing the FARC in international tribunals. The letter claims that Danilo Rueda of CIJP forced displaced people to testify in the Operation Genesis case before the Inter-American Court against the 17thBrigade, the timber company Maderas del Darién, and the paramilitaries, in return for giving each family 100 million pesos (about US$55,000).[39]
• 19 February 2013: A member of CAVIDA who had served as a witness in the Operation Genesis case before the Inter-American Court was approached by a man in Turbo who questioned her about having been at the Court hearing with “those guerrillas of Justice and Peace [CIJP].”[40]

 Footnotes:

[1] PBI expressed its concern for the threats in: Serious risks for the inhabitants of the Curbaradó and Jiguamiandó Humanitarian Zones, 21 June 2011
[2] CIJP: Hostigamientos y amenazas a la Comisión de Justicia y Paz, 17 June 2011
[3] Ibíd.
[4] CIJP: Seguimientos, señalamientos y robo de información a defensores de derechos humanos, 18 May 2011
[5] DIAL, Oidhaco, US Office on Colombia, Op. Cit.
[6] CIJP: Paramilitares intimidan a defensor de derechos humanos de la Comisión de Justicia y Paz, 19 October 2012.
[7] CIJP: Llamadas y cuestionamientos difamatorios a miembros de Justicia y Paz, 1 November 2012.
[8] CIJP: Paramilitares amenazan con incursión armada en bajo Calima, 6 November 2012.
[9] CIJP: Continúan los actos intimidatorios; ataque a carro de defensor de Derechos Humanos de la Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz, 13 February 2013.
[10] CIJP: Anuncio de incursión paramilitar en Cacarica, 1 March 2013.
[11] CIJP: Persisten las acciones contra las y los defensores de CIJP, 1 April 2013.
[12] CIJP: Judicialización contra integrantes de la Comisión de Justicia y Paz, 23 April 2012; Members of the Justice and Peace Commission monitored, CIJP, 9 May 2012; Monitoring and strange movements continue against the Justice and Peace Commission, 22 May 2012; CIJP: Threats to human rights organisations, 20 June 2012.
[13] CIJP,“Intimidaciones, amenazas y seguimientos a defensores de derechos humanos de la Comisión de Justicia y Paz”, 26 October 2012.
[14] CIJP, Llamadas y cuestionamientos difamatorios a miembros de Justicia y Paz, Op. Cit.
[15] Ibíd.
[16] CIJP: Nuevos hostigamientos a integrantes de la Comisión de Justicia y Paz, 10 November 2012
[17] Ibíd.
[18] CIJP: Continúan los actos intimidatorios; ataque a carro de defensor de Derechos Humanos de la Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz, 13 February 2013.
[19] CIJP: Continúan los seguimientos ilegales y hostigamientos a integrantes de CIJP, 27 February 2013
[20] CIJP: Continúan los seguimientos, Op. Cit.
[21] Ibíd.
[22] CIJP: Seguimiento a defensores de Justicia y Paz, 7 March 2013.
[23] Protectionline, Continúan los seguimientos a defensores de Derechos Humanos de la Comisión de Justicia y Paz, 10 March 2013.
[24] CIJP: Vigilancia e interceptación telefónica, 29 April 2013.
[25] Ibíd.
[26] CIJP: Nuevas acciones contra defensores de derechos humanos, 3 May 2013.
[27] CIJP: Nuevas acciones contra defensores de derechos humanos, 2 May 2013.
[28] PBI Colombia: The campaign to discredit and de legitimize human rights defenders working in the Chocoan and Antioquian Urabá continues. In: Focos de Interés, January 2010
[29] El Tiempo: ONG condena crimen de líderes negros en Chocó, 6 January 2010
[30] Mary Anastasia O’Grady: Las ONGs amigas de las FARC, In: The Wall Street Journal, 14 December 2009
[31] See for example the blog: Crónicas de una muerte anunciada, 8 February 2010
[32] Fanny Ketzmann: Las ONG son unas idiotas útiles, 8 July 2011
[33] CIJP: Judicialización contra integrantes de la Comisión de Justicia y Paz, 23 April 2012.
[34] Fernando Londoño and Dario Blandón: The Hour of Truth, 25 June 2012
[35] Protest letters: Nine members of black communities assassinated in Colombia, protest letters
[36] Radio Santa Fe: 18 millones de dólares han destinado a las comunidades negras y se perdieron en el
camino: Dario Blandón,16 July 2012
[37] CIJP: Falsas acusaciones contra CIJP, 29 January 2013.
[38] CIJP: Señalamiento de militares a comunidades en Curbaradó, 3 January 2013.
[39] CIJP: Constancia – Continúan los actos intimidatorios; ataque a carro de defensor de Derechos Humanos de la Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz, 13 February 2013.
[40] CIJP: Operaciones de paramilitares en Tumaradó, intimidaciones a integrantes de Cavida, 25 February 2013.