members of the Fourth Army Brigade with members of the Public Force attached to the Antioquia Police Command, the Government Security Department, the Air Force, the Technical Investigations Corps (CTI) and the Office of the Prosecutor General. The petitioner states that between October 16 and 18, more than 350 people were detained; 170 of these were brought before the courts. The petitioner alleges that because of the threats and persecution that resulted from the operation, many civic organizations were forced to break up, one of them being the Asociación de Mujeres de las Independencias (AMI)1 [Independencias Women’s Assosciation], whose Executive Director was Luz Dary Ospina Bastidas. 7. The petitioner alleges that on November 12, 2002, in the aftermath of a joint action conducted by the State Security forces word was spread among residents of the Independencia II neighborhood that paramilitary groups intended to put a finish to that organization. The petitioner states that Mrs. Ospina was told that her name was on the list of people that the paramilitary were planning to assassinate. She and her family left the neighborhood immediately,2 to protect her safety. However, the petitioner alleges that the paramilitary were taking over the houses vacated by those who had been threatened out of the neighborhood. For that reason, her husband and two children returned to protect the home. 8. The petitioner states that on March 3, 2003, members of the forces of law and order, five civilians without identification but claiming to be from the Prosecutor General’s Office, and three men in hoods searched the house of the Hoyos Ospina family without a search warrant. The petition alleges that these people searched the house and tied up Mr. Hoyos, threatening him that he would be locked up for three years. They then untied him and forced him to dig in the floor. They were looking for weapons and left when they found nothing. 9. The petitioner states that a group of armed civilians was digging holes in the backyard of the house on March 6, 2003. On March 11, 2003, another group of armed men, wearing armbands that identified them as members of the Special Anti-terrorist Command of the Public Force, repeated the operation searching for weapons. The petitioner states that in the face of this harassment, Mr. Hoyos and his children decided to leave the house, rent it out and store their furniture in one room. 10. The petitioner asserts that on June 26, 2003, a group of armed men came to the house and threatened the tenant that they would break the door down if she didn’t let them in. They allege that once inside, they asked for Mrs. Ospina and her family and proceeded to take the furniture of the Hoyos Ospina family. The following day, they came back to finish looting the property. The armed men also threatened the tenant, saying that if she reported this to the Public Prosecutor she’d lose her head. They told her that the house had to be vacated and had her give a message to Mrs. Ospina and her husband that they needed to speak with them and that they “should go to the Public Prosecutor to find out what would happen to them." 3 The petitioner states that the tenant vacated the premises and on July 8, 2003, the paramilitary took over the property. The petitioner states that the property was virtually dismantled: the windows, doors, the bathroom and kitchen appliances and fittings and the bricks were hauled away. 11. The petitioner reports that in August 2003 Luz Dary Ospina and her family moved to Bogotá. In October 2003, they asked the Solidarity Network to list them in the Register of Displaced Persons. That request was denied on December 2, 2003. This decision was later reversed by a December 13, 2004 order to enter these names into the Register of Displaced Persons. 4 At the present time Luz Dary Ospina and her family are living outside Colombia. The AMI is a group of women heads of household whose purpose is to win recognition of women in society. It is part of a broader network of women’s organizations in Colombia, called the “Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres” [Women’s Path of Peace]. 2 Her family consists of her husband, Oscar Tulio Hoyos Oquendo, her children Edid Yazmín, Oscar Darío and Migdalia Andrea Hoyos Ospina and her son-in-law Fabio Alberto Rodríguez Buriticá. Original petition received by the Commission on October 27, 2004, p. 3. 3 The petitioners allege that those who agree “to speak” with the paramilitary commanders never come back alive. Original petition received by the Commission on October 27, 2004, p. 4. 4 Resolution No. 11001-12791R of February 13, 2004. Affixed to the original petition, received by the IACHR on October 27. 1 2