Since its creation, the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó has been stigmatised and subjected to threats. Among the most severe attacks against the Community between 2012 and 2013, the following are worthy of note:
Monitoring and Surveillance
- 11 January 2013: The wife of Germán Graciano, a member of the Internal Council of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, received a call from someone who identified himself as coordinator of “the office in Bogota for the demobilized”. The caller offered money for information about the leaders of the Community.[1]
Baseless Accusations and Slander
- 4 October 2012: On the radio station “Apartadó Estéreo” and on a radio frequency used by the 17thBrigade, alias “Samir”, a demobilized member of the FARC, accuses Eduar Lanchero, a recently deceased supporter of the San José de Apartadó Peace Community, as a “FARC ideologue”, and once again accuses the Peace Community of working in coordination with the FARC.[2]
Civilians caught in midst of the armed conflict
The Community has continued denouncing the presence of alleged paramilitaries in its territory: in February 2013 the Community reported an influx of trucks and the increasingly visible presence of alleged paramilitaries in the villages of La Esperanza, El Porvenir and La Cristalina; they also affirm that on 23 February 2013 alleged paramilitaries said they were planning a massacre against the Peace Community, and that the target was the leaders.[3] In addition, the Community has denounced that members of these groups sometime enter the homes of members of the Community’s Internal Council, asking for information about the Community and on the leaders.[4] Moreover, combat between the security forces and the guerrillas of the FARC in the territory of the Community and also in the village of San José has continued.[5]
Footnotes:
[1] Peace Community of San José de Apartadó: Continúan las amenazas de exterminio, 16 January 2013
[2] Peace Community of San José de Apartadó: La mentira y la difamación como políticas de Estado, 9 October 2012
[3] Peace Community of San José de Apartadó: Paramilitares, criminales del Gobierno, 25 February 2013
[4] Peace Community of San José de Apartadó: Esquizofrenia exacerbada en extremo, 27 January 2013
[5] Peace Community of San José de Apartadó: Población civil: escudo en combates y blanco del paramilitarismo tal es la política de Estado, 5 February 2013; San José de Apartadó Peace Community: Paramilitares, criminales del Gobierno, 25 February 2013