Text of anonymous leaflet against the Mayor

Text of one anonymous leaflet circulated in Apartado apparently by paramilitary advocates/supporters

PEOPLE OF URABA : A CRY FOR HELP

We inhabitants of Apartado set in motion a struggle for the life of our children. We reject all violent actions. The attempts against our lives which we suffered days ago still interrupts our sleep.

The common pain of motherhood does not blind us to discover behind so much death, violence and terror a black hand hidden behind the repeated sacrifice of innocent lives.

Is it possible that someone benefits from the massacres, the terrorism and our pain ?

That someone could be given awards, honors and even decorated because of our human suffering ?

The absence of our Mayor has been converted into a sign of disgrace. She returns with a group of journalists weeping her false tears about our dead and again takes advantage of the impact of our sorrow to gain political prestige.

For God's sake, how much more blood must be spill in Uraba for her to win a new award ?

How many deaths will have to occur to prepare her new political campaign?

Journalists, humanitarian organizations, decorate her now ... politicians nominate her now... give her wherever she wishes. Massacres now are not sufficient for her. Now bombs threaten us. We do not want another one.

So that life will not be extinguished in Apartado, so that our dreams and smiles will not die forever, we unmask this farce which the entire country has believed.


Text of second anonymous leaflet against the mayor

This leaflet was issued in Apartado in Late February/Early March 1997, apparently by paramilitary advocates/supporters

"RELATIVES OF THOSE ASSASSINATED BY THE CAR BOMB"

Communiqué to Public Opinion

We people of goodwill inhabitants of Apartado repudiate the crime committed against our people, which was carried out by demented persons who do not measure the consequences of their actions and only seek to create panic and in that way destroy what we had obtained with great effort and even with our own blood, all this with the sole objective of "guaranteeing a dignified life to our loved ones."

After this horrible killing and finding ourselves in the street overnight, we only ask ourselves "Will the Mayor with her fake tears stop spending our tax money on sumptuous trips for her personal benefit and decide to use them to help those who are victims of the crime ?

Events such as those which have taken place in this region not only merit national or international censure but also that she be judged who in our view as Mayor did nothing to avoid it, only preferring to go on her political trips seeking peace prizes which have been bought with our blood. And she is the only person responsible for the violence experienced in Apartado.

Please, Madam Mayor, do not massacre your people...with your eagerness to be the center of attention we lose our loved ones. Carry out your functions and do not pretend to be something you have never been. We wait urgently for you to commit yourself publicly to give us the support which we need today to continue forward.

We call upon all goodhearted people to unite in prayer and we call upon the All Powerful One to send a ray of light to the martyred inhabitants of Apartado, victims of a war organized and directed by the Mayor of our battered municipality, Gloria Cuartas.

To guarantee our life.... ( last two lines illegible)