4
body. Next to him was the body of a woman who had also been detained in
the same paramilitary reserve. According to the Commission:
The woman [was] a wounded guerilla [whom] ‘the delegates [of the Red Cross
International Committee] were evacuating when the vehicle was intercepted by
AUC. In spite of the opposition of the RCIC, which negotiated during one hour
trying to safeguard the life of the evacuated person, the three men took her out
of the vehicle and forced the delegates to leave the place’.
2.21 On September 23, 2000, at about 17:30 hours, six armed men
entered a house in the urban central area of San José de Apartadó and
kidnapped Luz Analia Retana Román, age 20, Hernando Arenas, age 18, and
Duver Antonio Román, age 15, who were later assassinated.
3.
That, based on the detailed facts, the Commission requested the Court “to
resolve in favor of issuing provisional measures in order to protect the life and
personal integrity of the members of the Community of San José de Apartadó” and
filed several particular requests, which are detailed below:
1.
That the protective measures be mutually agreed by the State and the
Community members and the petitioners. In the sense, and in order to
guarantee its effectiveness and relevance, it is necessary to consider the
compatibility of the offered guarantee measures with the nature of the
experience of the Community of Paz, because the personal and armed
protection of these people may endanger the principles of collective neutrality
and humanitarian area that inform their own existence and generate violent
responses by the armed actors in the region.
2.
That the political mechanism instrumented by the Vice-presidency of
the Republic be reinforced and given true effectiveness, in order to restore
the confidence between the Community of Peace and the local authorities.
3.
That the preventive and protective measures of the Community be
strengthened in compliance with the commitments assumed by the Red de
Solidaridad Social, which include the supply of short wave radios for San José
de Apartadó and other trails where the return of displaced people has taken
place; the installation of reflectors for lighting of the surroundings of the
urban central area; night exterior lighting of the urban central area and La
Unión trail; installation of an alarm system; repairs of the roads between
Apartadó and San José, and repair of the telephone system between the
municipality and the trails.
4.
That, as an essential part of the process of control and elimination of
the violence against the Community of San José de Apartadó, more effective
measures be adopted to investigate serious acts of violence and intimidation
committed against its members in order to judge and sanction those who are
liable.
4.
That the Inter-American Commission, issued in December 17, 1997,
precautionary measures in favor of the population of San José de Apartadó, in
keeping with Article 29 of its Rules of Procedure which, however, would have not
stopped the violence unleashed “against the members of the community and the
harassment acts [that] seriously and continuously threaten the right to life and the
personal integrity of the protected people.”