Since noon Monday, ESMAD blocked the entrance to the Paso del Colegio Bridge to all traffic except the Quimbo´s constant traffic of workers, engineers and machinery. The President of Asoquimbo, Elsa Ardila, members of regional organizations, Local, National, International Press as well as Observers from the International Observatory for Peace were not permitted to enter, effectively creating a black out of what the State was doing in the area. Only after some journalists did an interview on the air stating they were being kept out and blasting the message from a car, media with documentation from the Ministry of Communication were allowed to enter. Meanwhile, independent journalist and human rights observers were denied entry.
During the ordeal elders, children and expecting mothers were not spared from the baton strikes, punches, kicks and shoves with shields of the ESMAD. One child was removed from their parents and later was returned only after. The people, who were forcibly removed, were taken out in six Chivas (local rural buses) that rushed past those outside and the groups of people were not permitted to interact Those removed were taken back to the towns closest to their community. In the last two Chivas, the fisherman of Hobo forced the drivers to stop and jumped out to unite with those who had been blocked out.The people occupying the banks of the river were within 30 meters of the shore, which is an area that is legally permitted to the inhabitants of the country as a public area to inhabit freely. When the ESMAD came at everyone with violence, the Defenders of the River held hands and stood in the water. Tear gas and violence were then used to force people out. The Mayor of the Municipality of Paicol, Norberto Palomino Ríos, supporting the National Government and Emgesa, issued the order for the forced removal of about 200 affected people in the area.
While the local autonomous environmental organization CAM pronounced in a meeting with the Minister of Interior last week they would be present for the forced removal, no one ever showed. Both the Vice Ministers of Environmental and the Interior refused to give any statements to Miller Dussan of Asoquimbo, during the removal while being blocked from entering the site. Meanwhile the Ombudsman from the Paicol Mayor’s Office road in the boats used by Emgesa workers and watched the removal from the construction site across the river. Local Media in Spanish about Tuesday´s Events:
El Esmad reprime indiscriminadamente a pescadores artesanales en el Quimbo Comienza desalojo en El Quimbo (Photos here) Emgesa con licencia para expropiar
Please sign and send the following online petitions links:
CENSAT Agua Viva and Change.org These petitions can be used as print out letters to take to and they can be used as print out letters to take to Colombian Embassies and Consulates as delegations or in protests:
List of Colombian Embassies All Over the World
U.S. Consulates and Canadian Consulates
Messages can also be sent to these Power Holders:
President Juan Manuel Santos Comment Page and Phone Number
Minister of Environment
Frank Pearlfpearl@minambiente.gov.co
011 57 332 3400 Minister of Interior German Vargas Lleras
011 57 2 42 74 00 Complaint Line 01-800-09-11170
reclamos@mij.gov.co – atencionalciudadano@mij.gov.co
Comptrollers Office
cgr@contraloriagen.gov.co – 57 1 3537700
Ombudsman Office
(571) 5878750 –
Huila Office
Secretaria: Martha Cecilia Ibarra
57 8 8710402 – Fax: (57) (8) 8710899
huila@defensoria.org.co