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Colombia: Forced eviction of Comunidad Campesina de Pitalito
By: Front line defenders
On 25 October 2013, the campesino community of Pitalito was forcibly evicted from its land in the municipality of Chimichagua, in the Department of Cesar. The community, made up of 21 families, has been actively and non-violently struggling to defend their rights to the land since previously being forcibly displaced in June 2010.
Front Line Defenders views the community of Pitalito as human rights defenders due to their peaceful activities to defend their right to land, their denunciation of forced evictions of other similarly affected communities, and their work with them to speak about non-violent strategies of resistance. They have worked closely with the Fundación Comité de Solidaridad con los Presos Políticos - FCSPP (Political Prisoner’s Solidarity Committee) on their own case, as well as collaborating in FCSPP-organised workshops in order to share their experiences with others.
On 25 October 2013, at approximately 9:00am, a vehicle arrived in the Pitalito community carrying the Police Inspector, a municipal official, a legal advisor from Chimichagua, the provincial attorney of the Banco Magdelena, an official from the Colombian Institute for Family Wellbeing and a lawyer for local landowner Juan Manuel Fernández. Under Decree 747 (1992) a judge had ordered an inspection of the site. The inspection did not take place until further vehicles had arrived bringing members of the Cesar police force and members of the Escuadrón Móvil Anti-disturbios – ESMAD (Mobile Anti-Disturbances Squadron – a unit of the Colombian National Police Riot Control that is under the command of the Colombian National Police). The police immediately surrounded the site and members of ESMAD began filming and photographing the community. The site inspection began at approximately 9:20am and finished at 2:50pm and resulted in the forced eviction of the community members, as persons in civilian clothing dismantled the homes and destroyed property and crops belonging to the 21 families.
Lawyers for the community were present at the time of the eviction as they had been informed of the site inspection on 24 October. Their concerns that the eviction was carried out in an arbitrary and illegal manner, without adhering to due process and the right to appeal the site inspection results, were ignored by the authorities. The community members were forced into a truck and left out at the side of the road on the way in to the municipality of Curumaní.
On 21 May 2013 the community of Pitalito had returned to the lands from which they had been forcibly evicted on 24 June 2010. The community maintains that some members were forced, at gunpoint, to sell their land at unjustly low prices. Those who resisted longer were forcibly removed. It is alleged that the paperwork was all arranged to make it appear that Juan Manuel Fernández de Castro had purchased the land legally, despite State institutions, including the army, being involved in the forced eviction. The area is rich in minerals and ideal for palm tree plantations. Following their return this year, and a complaint filed by Fernández de Castro, a previous police inspection was carried out. Due to irregularities in the inspection a counter legal argument was filed by the FCSPP and the inspection was rendered legally void.
By carrying out this most recent forced eviction the authorities have failed to take into account that the case of the community is registered before the Unidad de Víctimas y Restitución de Tierras (Victims and Land Restitution Unit) and therefore no further evictions should have been carried out.
The members of the community have been harassed and intimidated regularly both by members of the army and persons working for Juan Manuel Fernández de Castro, who have turned up at different occasions and taken photographs and videos of the area and the families.
Previously, on 29 September 2013, human rights defenders and lawyers for the community of Pitalito, Leonardo Jaimes Marín and Rommel Durán Castellanos, both members of the FCSPP, were travelling back to Bucaramanga from Curumaní where they had been carrying out activities related to their accompaniment of the Pitalito community, when their vehicle was pulled over by police at a checkpoint near the town of Rio Negro, Santander.
The vehicle was assigned to Leonardo Jaimes Marín as part of his protection scheme. The driver informed the police of this and explained that being stopped in the middle of the road at 10:35pm put the occupants at risk, and that all required searches should be conducted at the nearest police station. The police asked the identities of the persons travelling in the car and one commented that Leonardo Jaimes Marín is a lawyer “for guerrillas”, and went on to name some of the community members who had been defended by the FSCPP lawyer. Officers also remarked that they were probably transporting weapons in their vehicle, as well as “who knows what else”. The occupants of the vehicle were held for approximately 25 minutes as the police took photographs of them, breathalysed the driver and made note of all their personal details.
Front Line Defenders expresses its serious concern at the actions of the Colombian authorities in forcibly evicting the community of Pitalito and believes that they, and members of the FCSPP, are being specifically targeted because of their human rights activities and speaking out to other communities affected by forced evictions by powerful landowners. Members of the community had carried out capacity building on their security, protection and legal rights and shared the acquired non-violent strategies with other affected communities, informing them of their rights and assisting them in returning to their lands.
Action Update Needed. Before taking further action on this case please contact info@frontlinedefenders.org for further information
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