Colombia: Attempted Murder of Women Group leader

URGENT ACTION - OBSERVATORY


COL 003 / 9712 / OBS 022
Persecution / Summary execution risk
COLOMBIA
8 December 1997


The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, an FIDH
and OMCT venture, requests your URGENT intervention in the following
situation in Colombia.

Brief description de la situation:

The Observatory is gravely concerned for the personal security of Ms
Glen Gonzalez, President of the organisation "Corporacion Suenos de
Mujer"(The Dreams of Women Association) and other members of the
organisation in Apartado, Uraba Province.

Agir Ensemble pour les Droits de l'Homme (Act Together for Human
Rights), member of the OMCT-network informed the Observatory on the
basis of information from  FEDES (The Foundation for Education and
Development) that on the 25th of November 1997, in the City of
Apartado, armed members of a Paramilitary group forced their way into
the home of Ms Glen Gonzalez in an attempt to kill her. Fortunately,
she was not in the house.

They apparently then searched the homes of other members of her family
declaring that they had "express orders from their superiors" to kill
her, on the pretext that Ms Glen Gonzalez had gone to Bogota with
photos to denounce the human rights situation in Uraba. Before they
left the area they produced a list of women that they proposed to
execute.

During these events, Ms Glen Gonzalez was travelling to Bogota to
participate in a meeting of the National Council of Women for Peace on
the  24th  November. Some 50 other women from Uraba also participated.
According to information received Ms Glen Gonzalez did not publicly
present the denunciation. The photographs of the houses of ex-members
of the community council houses which were destroyed by paramilitaries
have already been used in a published work on the lives of women from
Uraba.

It is important to underline that  paramilitaries have tried to
assassinate Ms Glen Gonzalez  in the past and equally other people
working with her . Two members of the  council were killed and a
several members of the Dreams of Women Association have been forced to
leave the region.

Actions requested:
Please write to the Colombian authorities requesting that they:

i.	 take all necessary measures to guarantee the life and physical and
psychological integrity of Ms Glen Gonzalez, all other members of
Association of Dreams of Women and members of  community council;

ii.	urgently adopt appropriate measures to guarantee non governmental
human  rights organisations and their members the means to act freely
in favour of the defence and promotion of fundamental freedoms
enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the
international Treaties ratified by Colombia;

iii	put an end to the actions of paramilitary groups including their
disarmament. Ensure the initiation of legal proceedings and penal and
civil sanctions for those who have violated human rights;

iv.	conform to the dispositions of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and other Pacts and Conventions ratified by Colombia.


Addresses:

S.E. Dr. Ernesto Samper Pizano, Presidente de la Republica, Palacio de
Narino, Santafe de Bogota, Colombia.  Fax (+ 571) 284 21 86 E-mail:
esamper@presidencia.gov.co

Dr. Jaime Bernal Cuellar, Procurador General de la Nacion, Carrera 5,
Nš 15-80, Santafe de Bogota. Fax (+ 571) 281 75 31 or 342 97 23

Dr. Carlos Vicente de Roux, Consejero Presidencial para los Derechos
Humanos, Palacio de Narino, Santafe de Bogota, Colombia.  Fax (+ 571)
3371 13 51

Dr Jose Fernando Castro Caycedo, Defensor del Pueblo, Calle 55 No.
10-46, Bogota. Fax (+571) 346 33 39 or 346 29 47 or 346 12 25

Dr. Horacio Serpa Uribe, Ministro del Interior, Ministerio del
Interior, Cra. 8 No. 8-09, Bogota. Fax (+571) 251 58 84

Dr. Alfonso Valdivieso Sarmiento, Fiscal General de la Nacion, Calle
35 No. 4-32, Bogota.  Fax (+571) 288 28 28

Geneva- Paris, 8 December 1997

Kindly inform the Observatory of any action undertaken quoting the
code number of the present appeal.

The Human Rights Action Network, a part of Derechos Human Rights, distributes appeals on behalf of victims of human rights violations. You are invited to join the network. Please check the date of the present action and do not write if it's over a month old.