b) on “05.04.09[, i]n the context of a training and awareness-raising activity
on the crime of forced disappearance in Colombia, organized in the village of
Chinauta, in the Municipality of Fusagasugá, men dressed in black entered
three of the cabins where the relatives of the different branches were
staying, taking the documents, clothing, cell phones and bags of some
members”;
c) on “29.05.09[, i] n the context of the “International Week of the
Disappeared”, during the launch of the campaign ‘Victimas y Derechos: Haz
lo justo hasta encontrarlos’ (‘Victims and Rights: do the right thing until you
find them’), at approximately 4:00 pm, in Plaza de Bolivar, a video camera,
which was being used to record the activities of the relatives of the
disappeared congregated in ASFADDES. was stolen from inside the
ASFADDES tent.”;
d) on “13.07.10 a Public Forum organized by ASFADDES and entitled “Let’s All
Talk About the Disappeared” was held in Bogotá, at the Gabriel García
Márquez Cultural Center. After the event a stranger tried to board one of the
buses hired to transport the relatives to their lodgings. On the journey from
the Cultural Center to the hotel, a gray van with darkened windows and a
taxi followed the buses, and even tried to block their path. Upon reaching
the hotel the members and relatives of ASFADDES were received by a
person wearing a bellboy uniform, who told the communications coordinator
of ASFADDES to store the bag at the reception; the supposed bellboy
positioned himself beside the receptionist while another individual took the
bag containing the video camera, the material taped at the forum and
testimonies of relatives of ASFADDES. A recording from the hotel’s security
cameras shows how five individuals unconnected with the group of relatives
who were entering the hotel at that moment, were strategically positioned
to seize the equipment and the information.”
31.
In their report of September 17, 2012, the representatives alleged that “the
attacks, threats and harassment against members of ASFADDES, their relatives and
the organization’s offices have increased and intensified.” They mentioned that a
communiqué signed by the `Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia Bloque Central´ was
received at the ASFADDES office in Popayán, declaring several members of ASFADDES
to be “permanent military targets until they are wiped off the face of the earth, like
most of the disappeared.” This incident occurred on June 24, 2011 11, and
“converges[…] with the threats received by ASFADDES and its members due to their
legitimate activities in defense of human rights, [such as on] June 4, 2010, when a
pamphlet signed by the `Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia –AUC-´ arrived at the
Ombudsman’s Office in the city of Cali, threatening ASFADDES. This act of
intimidation, furthermore, was repeated on June 8, 2010, when the `Bloque Central´
of the `AUC´, sent a pamphlet ´ratif[ying] the communiqué issued by the Bloque Sur
Occidental last month, because many ideologists of Communism Past, Present and
Future hide in these structures […] ASFADDES.’”
32.
The representatives added that “during 2011 the National Police have not
appeared at the offices of ASFADDES” and argued that “[t]he failings in complying with
the provisional measures, are based on the restrictive interpretation made by the
11
The threats were received by Nidia María Palechor, Coordinator of the ASFADDES Branch in
Popayán, and Nilson López Santamaría and Esau López Santamaría, members of ASFADDES. Cf. Report of
the representatives of the beneficiaries submitted to the Court on May 28, 2012 (File on Provisional
Measures, volume IX, page 2519).
10