URGENT ACTION

The organizations that sign this document want to make public the 
following:

1. On August 10, 1998, at about 7:00 in the morning, more than 400 fully
armed men entered the municipality of Tiquisio.  At first, these men
identified themselves as members of the "Buffalo Company", assigned to the
Antonio Nari–o Battalion of the National Army.  The same individuals, took
over the hamlets of Puerto Coca and Tiquisio Nuevo (Puerto Coco), in the
municipality of Tiquisio, Bol’var Department, and, then, identified
themselves as members of a paramilitary group called ACCU.

The group gained access through the road that communicates the 
municipality of Guaranda, in the Sucre Department, with Tiquisio, and stayed 
for more than 8 days in the locality.  The same towns had been victims, in the 
past, of other bloody incursions by these murderous groups.

2. Some hours after the arrival of the paramilitary group, guerrillas that
were in the area, entered into combat with it, a war action that extended
until Saturday, August 16, and produced numerous casualties on both sides.

3. In the struggle, the paramilitaries enjoyed the continuous ammunition
support provided by civilian helicopters, one of them with registration
number HK2195, which unloaded war materials and picked up injured 
people several times in the soccer field at Tiquisio.

4. An hour after the paramilitary incursion began, the Interior Secretary
of the Municipality of Tiquisio contacted the office of the governor of
Bol’var through a radio communication in order to request the rapid
presence of public forces to preserve the life, the well-being, the
dignity, and the possessions of the inhabitants of the town.  However,
despite the fact that the II Division Command of the National Army, which
is located in Barranquilla, acknowledged the reception of the information,
members of that military institution only arrived to Tiquisio on August 18,
a day after the paramilitaries had abandoned the municipality.  Members of
the Armed Forces proceeded, then, to mistreat some of the residents and to
accuse the community of Tiquisio of being a refuge for guerrillas.

5.  The paramilitaries that took over the locality of Puerto Coca did not
find any of its inhabitants because they had been warned of the presence of
the group and abandoned the town.  Nevertheless, the paramilitaries looted
commercial stores and homes, and stole electrical appliances, various fowl,
pigs, and beasts of burden belonging to the people of Puerto Coca.

6. In the area of Tiquisio Nuevo (Puerto Coco), the paramilitary group did
not allow its inhabitants, during the 8 days that they controlled the
hamlet, to leave their homes, and forced them to prepare food and wash
their laundry for them.  Similarly, the paramilitaries stole jewelry,
clothing, food, and farmyard fowl belonging to the inhabitants of the
place.

7. In Puerto Tiquisio, the paramilitaries detained DAGOBERO MAURES 
PƒREZ, LIBARDO BEN’TEZ, and DONALDO C‡CERES DIAS, who, after 
being tortured and insulted in public, were murdered, decapitated and 
quartered.  The same fate was met by ARSECIO RIVERA, who attempted to 
find out about the well-being of the three detained men.

8. During their long stay in the municipality of Tiquisio Nuevo and during
the confrontation with the guerrillas, the paramilitaries occupied the
homes of the inhabitants of the town and used the church as their
"operational command".  The parish priest was forced to abandon his home
and suffered the loss of personal belongings.

9. In the worst moments of the fighting, the paramilitaries forced
children, teenagers, and other inhabitants of the hamlet to carry for them
their gear, food, and munitions, consequently, placing them in imminent
risk.

10. During the days they were at Tiquisio Nuevo, the paramilitaries forced
its inhabitants to attend several meetings in which the paramilitaries
accused them of being suspected abettors of the subversives, expressed
their goal of occupying Puerto Rico, which is the administrative center of
the municipality of Tiquisio, and promised to return again to Puerto Coca y
Tiquisio Nuevo.

11. According to inhabitants of the area, the paramilitaries requested
several times the support from regular forces of the Colombian Armed
Forces, particularly in what pertains to the supply of ammunitions, which
were delivered through the use of helicopters.  The same sources also said
that the paramilitaries told them they were supported by the rich
landowners of the region, who pay $300.000 in monthly salaries, and an
equal amount per murdered individual.

12. A consequence of these paramilitary activities is that there has
occurred the displacement of several dozen families of inhabitants of
Tiquisio.  These face a serious situation of food scarcity, and a total
educational crisis that affects all of the school population, 4.270
students, since the educators have abandoned the municipality and refuse to
return due to the death threats that have been made against them.

Faced with this situation, we are attaching a letter proposal to be
addressed to the Office of the President of the Republic, to the Ministry
of Defense, to the General Attorney (both the Fiscal’a General de la Naci—n
and the Procuradur’a General de la Naci—n), and to the Defensoria del
Pueblo.

Signatories:

Coordinadora Popular de Barrancabermeja; JAC Barrio la Esperanza; JAC
Barrio 1o de Mayo; JAC Barrio Kenedy; JAC Villarelis; JAC Barrio Maria
Eugenia; JAC Barrio Divino Ni–o; JAC Barrio el Campin; JAC Barrio Minas 
del paraiso; JAC Barrio 16 de marzo; JAC Barrio Boston; JAC Barrio 
Campestre; Lucha en Paz por Vivienda Popular; JAC Barrio Antonio Nari–o; 
JAC Barrio Pablo Acu–a; JAC Barrio Rafael Rangel; JAC Barrio Arenal; JAC 
Barrio Cardales; JAC Barrio Las Playas; JAC Barrio tres Unidos; Sindicato de
Educadores de Santander; Sindicato de trabajadores de las comunicaciones;
Sindicato de vendedores ambulantes; Sindicato Nacional de trabajadores de
Caja de Compensacion Familiar; Uni—n de Trabajadores Bancarios; 
Asociaci—n Municipal de Empleados Pœblicos; Club Deportivo y Cultural de la 
Central Provivienda; Club Deportivo y Cultural del Barrio la Tora; Club 
Deportivo y Cultural del Barrio 1o de Mayo; Colectivo por la Vida de la 
Parroquia Sagrada Familia; Mujeres Unidas; Diocesis de Barrancabermeja; 
Organizaci—n Femenina Popular; Corporaci—n Regional para la educaci—n y 
defensa de los derechos humanos; Programa de Desarrollo y Paz; Uni—n 
Sindical Obrera USO; Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de Industria y 
Alimentos; Uni—n de Trabajadores de Santander; Sindicato de trabajadores de 
fertilizantes; Sindicato de trabajadores de empresa de servicios pœblicos,
Sintraendespœblicos; Sindicato de trabajadores de la electrificadora de
Santander; Sindicato de trabajadores de hoteles;  Corporaci—n SEMBRAR;
Corporaci—n Jur’dica Libertad; ComitŽ de Solidaridad con los Presos
Pol’ticos; Justicia y Paz; Colectivo de Abogados; Familia Franciscana;
MINGA; Proyecto Nunca M‡s; Corporaci—n de Procuradores Comunitarios de
Antioquia; CEBS.


LETTER PROPOSAL:


Mister
ANDRŽS PASTRANA ARANGO
Presidente de la Repœblica
Kra.8 n.7-26  Santa Fe de Bogot‡
Tlf: 571/ 284 33 00   Fax: 571/ 286 74 34 - 286 79 37 - 284 21 86

Mister
NŽSTOR HUMBERTO MART’NEZ
Ministro del Interior
Kra.8  n.8-09 Santa Fe de Bogot‡
Tlf: 571/ 334 39 60 - 284 02 14   Fax: 571/ 286 04 05 286 02 14

Mister
RODRIGO LLOREDA
Ministro de la Defensa
Av. del Dorado con Kra.52, Santa Fe de Bogot‡
Tlf: 571/ 222 41 25 - 222 24 45    Fax: 571/ 222 18 74

Mister
JAIME BERNAL CUŽLLAR
Procurador General de la Naci—n
Kra 5 n. 15-80 Santa Fe de Bogot‡
Tlf: 571/ 283 86 09   Fax: 571/ 284 04 72 - 281 76 31 - 342 97 23

Mister
ALFONSO G—MEZ MŽNDEZ
Fiscal General de la Naci—n
Cll.35 n. 4-31 Santa Fe de Bogot‡
Tlf: 571/ 288 71 77   Fax: 571/ 286 11 85 - 287 09 39 - 288 75 90

Mister
JOSƒ FERNANDO CASTRO CAICEDO
Defensor del Pueblo
Cll.55 n.10-32 Santa Fe de Bogot‡
Tlf: 571/ 346 29 67- 346 40 65 - 346 39 35
Fax: 571/ 346 12 25 - 346 41 41 - 342 20 55

EXAMPLE:

Receive our heartfelt greetings.

With astonishment and indignation, we write to you, about the situation
through which the people of the Peasant Exodus from seventeen
municipalities in Southern Bol’var Departament and the Valley of Cimitarra
suffer today in Bogot‡, Barrancabermeja and other municipalities of
Southern Bol’var Department.

We make open and public our rejection to the delays that the National
Government has been presenting at the negotiating table; expressed,
particularly, in the lack of resolution to the petitions presented, a
situation that clearly detracts from a climate of good understanding, and
that ends up prolonging both the inhuman and degrading treatment that
thousands of people have been suffering, and the solution to their just
demands.

The treatment given to the situation of this community is the best
demonstration of the political will to transform the serious human rights
crisis that occur in those areas of the country.  In this respect, the
document presented by the Peasant Exodus from the Middle Magdalena 
Region, has complete validity and currency, in aspects, among many others,  
such as the dismissal of members of the public forces implicated in human 
rights violations, the elimination of the CONVIVIR and of the jurisdiction of
military tribunals, the disbanding of paramilitarism, and the organization
of an International Penal Tribunal.

It cannot be possible or admissible within a Constitutional State that,
while at the negotiating table, the government representatives express good
will, paramilitary groups have laid siege to the population of the towns of
Puerto Coca y Tiquisio Nuevo (Puerto Coco), in the municipality of
Tiquisio, Department of Bol’var.  Or that while those representatives speak
of fighting against paramilitarism, these act with impunity stealing the
communities' basic supplies; and that while these groups speak of respect
for life, DAGOBERO MAURES PƒREZ, LIBARDO BEN’TEZ, DONALDO 
C‡CERES DIAS Y ARSECIO RIVERA, were publicly mistreated and tortured, 
murdered, decapitated, and quartered.

For all of these reasons, we demand from you:

1. To implement the necessary guarantees to protect the life, the physical
integrity, the dignity and the property of the inhabitants of the
municipality of Tiquisio, in the Bol’var Department.

2. To investigate in a prompt and efficient manner the denounced facts and
to punish both penally and disciplinarily those responsible for these
crimes.

3. To conduct a fast internal investigation within the National Army to
determine if the lack of appropriate reaction by the institution in the
face of the facts denounced was due to simple negligence and dereliction of
duty, or to the systematic contribution to the paramilitary plans; and, in
either case, to dismiss those military individuals responsible.

4. To order Civil Aeronautics (Aeron‡utica Civil), the Colombian Air Force
and other control organisms, to establish promptly the origin of the
helicopters that took part in the paramilitary incursion at Tiquisio from
the 10 to the 17 of August, 1998.

5. To provide integral reparations to the victims of the paramilitary
incursion and to adopt humanitarian contingency plans that allow the
immediate overcoming of the lacks and needs of the inhabitants of Tiquisio.