The Arauca Sectional Standing Committee for the Defense of Human Rights expressed its concern at the growing spiral of violence that is shaking the department of Arauca.
Its members expressed rejection of the following facts, which must be investigated and clarified:
The attack on the security scheme of the leader of the Comunes Party Juan Torres, which occurred on February 20 of this year in Tame, leaving serious doubts about the quality of the armor of the protection vehicle.
The indiscriminate increase in detained persons, according to the Ombudsman’s Office from 2022 to February 2023 totaled 93 cases, of which 28 people recovered their freedom due to humanitarian missions of the Ombudsman and the Church; however, recently the retention of the lords was known:
*José Vicente Núñez Patermina on January 17 in Arauquita.
*Henry Enrique Muñoz February 3 in Arauca.
*The social leader Abelardo Duarte Moncada on February 11, village of Rosario, municipality of Arauca.
*Deputy First Sergeant of the Army Libey Danilo Bravo on February 14 in Arauquita.
*Jeison Rafael Castellor Pertuz February 17 in Saravena. People whose lives must be respected, provided with humanitarian treatment and released as soon as possible.
The violent deaths from January 2022 to February 2023 exceed 385 victims, including 13 social leaders.
The victims of forced displacement in the same period exceeded 21,500 people.
Confinements civilian population Municipalities: Puerto Rondón 12 sidewalks and 1 indigenous community; Arauquita 13 sidewalks and 2 indigenous villages; Tame 7 indigenous villages and 11 paths.
The attacks and threats against protected assets of the population continue; In the same way, the conflict already affects 59 threatened teachers in the same period, of which 34 had to leave the territory. Today there are about 8,000 boys and girls missing from the department’s classrooms.
In Arauca, the escalation of the conflict and its effects cause the main damage to the civilian population and the social leadership, deepen social inequalities and generate an unconstitutional state of affairs in terms of guarantees for life and other fundamental rights.
Consequently, differentiated dialogue mechanisms must be discussed, exhausted, and created to facilitate the drive for total peace, leading to a verifiable bilateral and multilateral ceasefire that de-escalates the armed confrontation.
From the Committee, they call on the different actors in the dispute to adopt a humanitarian course in their actions that stops the bloodbath in the territory; the flowering of life and hope urges. At the same time, the state must improve the living conditions of the Araucanian people based on the design of a national plan for social intervention in Arauca, separated from the military component; which requires commitment from the regional government and the broadest unity of the social fabric in pursuit of life and dignity.
In the same sense, they propose that in view of the 2023 electoral process, the regional authorities lead a pact for democratic culture, reasoned deliberation and non-violence during the electoral campaign.
Source: Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights Sectional Arauca