19
c. In April 2009, the representatives indicated that two months prior, “pamphlets
threatening the population began circulating in certain neighborhoods and
municipalities close to [Medellin’s Comuna 13]. The pamphlets said, ‘The time for
social cleansing has arrived,’ causing fear and tension in the community in
general." They found that the distribution of those pamphlets was not an isolated
incident but a mechanism used by “supposedly demobilized paramilitary groups
and groups of narcotraffickers fighting for control and territorial domination in the
city" to terrorize the civilian population. They also indicated that although these
are not acts specifically carried out against the beneficiaries, they increase the
risks they face. They added that on the days prior, “murders, explosions during
the night, and a serious alteration of the public order" took place, caused by
confrontations between the aforementioned groups "for territorial control of the
city."
d. In addition to the shots fired into the air by a police officer assigned to the
permanent post at the residence of beneficiary Mery Naranjo (supra Considering
18), they indicated that on April 24, 2010, eight supposed soldiers of the National
Army began shooting from the sidewalk in front of the house of that beneficiary
"without any motive and in an indiscriminate manner,” almost injuring a daughter
and a niece of Ms. Mery Naranjo who were in the house. According to the
representatives, the police on duty in the permanent post in front of the residence
of the beneficiary "did not alert their superior officers or requested
reinforcements," for which reason the beneficiary had to call the police through
the National Police’s general system for attending emergencies. Likewise, they
indicated that the situation had arisen at other times, generating "a response from
the illegal armed groups," leaving the house of beneficiary Mery Naranjo with
several bullet holes, "with no concrete results having been obtained to date from
the corresponding investigation.”
e. On May 21, 2010, beneficiary María del Socorro Mosquera Londoño had been
insulted and beaten by members of the Police upon trying to defend certain young
people who they were harassing in an arbitrary and illegal fashion. They
highlighted that Ms. Mosquera Londoño was able to communicate with the police
contact assigned to her "after a long time" and that in spite of this, "she did not
receive any kind of assistance from the armed forces and [that] currently, no
investigation is being carried out into these serious facts."
f. On August 25, 2010, a serious situation against the public order arose that put the
beneficiaries Mery Naranjo and María del Socorro Mosquera in particular danger.
They indicated that "more than 20 men dressed as civilians carrying firearms,
knives, and clubs entered the home [of Ms. Mery Naranjo] in the company of
three police officers shouting that they were looking for guns.” Meanwhile, the
security and oversight post of the police at her residence "was empty, facilitating
the illegal search." They added that the national authorities and the Chief of the
Police Station became aware of these facts on that same day.
g. In addition, they "briefly recounted" the incidents leading to the grave situation of
public order that they have experienced for several months in Medellin’s Comuna
13. They indicated that there is a general situation of human rights violations in
the Comuna where the beneficiaries reside due to the permanent establishment of
paramilitaries in a large part of the city, to the "failure of the demobilization,
disarming, and reinsertion" process, and to the operation of criminal gangs,
pandillas, and combos. All this "contributes to the understanding of the context in
which the [beneficiaries] live and the impact that it has on their situation of
vulnerability and risk" as mediators in the conflict, complainants over the
irregularities, and leaders in the defense of human rights in the Comuna.
h. Finally, they indicated that on November 3, 2010, during the morning hours in the
neighborhood where the beneficiaries reside, a group of police officers from the
area "physically and verbally attacked the child Alfonso Villa Mosquera and Marlon
Daniel Herrera Mosquera, grandson and son of Ms. Socorro Mosquera.” According
to the representatives, the police officers had "covered their own identifications"