160. In this section, the Commission provides a chronological summary of information presented by the petitioners in communications and documents regarding statements made by public officials against the work of CCAJAR. 161. On April 28, 1999, General Bravo Silva, Commander of the Fifth Brigade, addressed a letter to human rights organizations, including CCAJAR.283 The letter called CCAJAR a “sounding board for the policy of crime and violence of armed subversive groups.”284 162. In 2001 the website of the National Narcotics Control Bureau (Dirección Nacional de Estupefacientes – DNE), a body attached to the Ministry of the Interior and Justice, published a text in which CCAJAR was referred to as “traditional defenders of the FARC.”285 163. On May 21, 2002, a poster signed by the Association of Retired Servicemen (Asociación de Militares en Retiro) was distributed at a number of universities and the Office of the Attorney General.286 The poster said that “the collective of straw dog lawyers of the ELN has been camouflaging itself for a long time as a human rights organization with consultative status at the OAS, deceiving the whole world, with offices in Brussels, Switzerland, and other countries, from where they manage finances and an international political war.”287 164. On September 8, 2003, then-president Álvaro Uribe Vélez, said at a ceremony marking the transfer of command of the Air Force that “collectives and lawyers appeared; they appeared under a variety of names, spokespersons for terrorism.”288 Uribe accused several human rights organizations of being “writers and demagogues at the service of terrorism, hiding cravenly behind the banner of human rights.”289 165. As a result of those statements, the Bolivar Central Bloc of the United Self-defense Forces of Colombia issued a communiqué on September 29, 2003, supporting the statements of the president “against certain humanitarian agencies that seem to have taken sides in the conflict ... [and] are entities of Colombia’s terrorist guerrillas .”290 It said that “the words of the president are an open secret, which makes it an urgent imperative for the government to intervene against organizations of this type.”291 The communiqué also said that “in Colombia there are collectives of defense lawyers of ‘political prisoners’ at work, with names as emblematic and suggestive as José Albear (sic) Restrepo, the legendary guerrilla fighter who presided over the infamous people’s assemblies.”292 166. On February 10, 2004, then-president Uribe Vélez criticized the work of CCAJAR at a meeting with the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, saying that “they use the issue of human rights as a pretext to cover for terrorists.”293 He said, “If the Lawyers’ Collective wants to defend terrorists, let them do so in accordance to law, but they should not hide behind human rights organizations.”294 President Uribe said that the lawyer Reinaldo Villalba “is a specter who wanders through the corridors of the European Parliament Petitioners’ communication of June 23, 2005. Petitioners’ communication of June 23, 2005. 285 Judgment T-1062/05 of the Constitutional Court, October 20, 2005. Enclosed with the State's communication of November 1, 2006. 286 Petitioners’ brief containing observations on merits, December 20, 2013. 287 Copia reducida del afiche “Solidaridad con un héroe nacional” de mayo de 2002. Annex 46 to the petitioners’ brief containing observations on merits, December 20, 2013. 288 Remarks by president Uribe at the inauguration of the new Commandant of the Armed Forces of Colombia (FAC) September 8, 2003. Annex 51 to the petitioners’ brief containing observations on merits, December 20, 2013. 289 Remarks by president Uribe at the inauguration of the new Commandant of the Armed Forces of Colombia (FAC) September 8, 2003. Annex 51 to the petitioners’ brief containing observations on merits, December 20, 2013. 290 Public communiqué, “Porque ladran los perros?” September 29, 2003. Annex 53 to the petitioners’ brief containing observations on merits, December 20, 2013. 291 Public communiqué, “Porque ladran los perros?” September 29, 2003. Annex 53 to the petitioners’ brief containing observations on merits, December 20, 2013. 292 Public communiqué, “Porque ladran los perros?” September 29, 2003. Annex 53 to the petitioners’ brief containing observations on merits, December 20, 2013. 293 IACHR, 2004 Annual Report, Ch. IV. Annex 52 to the petitioners’ brief containing observations on merits, December 20, 2013; Judgment T-1062/05 of the Constitutional Court, October 20, 2005 Enclosed with the State's communication of November 1, 2006. 294 Judgment T-1062/05 of the Constitutional Court, October 20, 2005. Enclosed with the State's communication of November 1, 2006. 283 284 31