In Colombia, A Cemetery Full of Questions

[Judi Lynn]

In Colombia, A Cemetery Full of Questions
August 6, 2010
Constanza Vieira, Inter Press Service

LA MACARENA, Aug 6 (IPS) - The most determined attempt by the far-right paramilitaries to establish a presence in this town in central Colombia ended in failure.

They showed up in 2003, protected by the police. But local residents armed with sticks and shotguns caught them and turned them over to the prosecutor general's office, which threw them in jail.

At the time, members of the paramilitary militias were robbing people outside of bars in La Macarena. The system was for the police to raid a bar and search the customers, before pointing out to their paramilitary partners which of the bar-goers were carrying anything of value.

When those customers left the bar, they would then be robbed and killed by the paramilitaries, who would dump their bodies in the nearby Guayabero river.

But the paramilitaries failed to extend their tentacles into the town of La Macarena, located to the south of the mountains of the same name, which are known for their unique and extensive biodiversity.

~snip~
Orjuela is not pointing fingers or accusing anyone. He is simply calling on the authorities to investigate. "The only means of proof we have is what the community has told us," he commented to IPS.

"They tell us, but they won't confirm it in public, because they're scared," he added.

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