Colombian trade unionists given 4 days to live

international | worker & community struggles and protests | news report Friday September 17, 2004 17:18 by Lasc - lasc info at lasc dot ie

Auc threaten leaders in Cali

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UPER URGENT ACTION: 4 DAYS TO LIVE - PARAS THREATEN SINTRAEMCALI

OPERACIÓN DRAGON: MORE TENTACLES UNCOVERED
FOUR DAYS TO LIVE

PARAMILITARIES FROM DARIEN THREATEN SINTRAEMCALI LEADERS
Immediately after the discovery of "Operation Dragon", which uncovered a murky operation coordinated between active military agents and retired Colombian army personnel - according to Lieutenant Colonel JULIAN VILLATE LEAL, contracted by the corporation called CIL, ?Consultaría Integral Latinoamericana? and its associate ?Asociada Seracis?.

Today paramilitaries from Darien called several people on the list discovered in Operation Dragon, summonsing them to meetings. The man who called warned that if they did not keep the appointment, they would be assassinated four days later. The people who were called are all mentioned in the military intelligence documents related with Operation Dragon.
The Events:
At 4:31 p.m. acting SINTRAEMCALI President LUIS ENRIQUE IMBACHI RUBIANO, was with several members of the Public Services International PSI [trade union delegation] in a gigantic demonstration convened by the workers central organisations in Bogotá. He received a
call to mobile number 310 238 86 63, which has been assigned to him by the Ministry of Interior protection programme.
When the acting President answered his telephone, a man who did not identify himself said, "Am I speaking with Luis Imbachi?" Luis answered yes, and asked with whom was he speaking. The man responded: "My name does not matter, tell ALEXANDER LOPEZ, CARLOS MARMOLEJO and OSCAR FIGUEROA PACHONGO, and you, to go to CALIMA DARIEN and go to the Telecom office in front of the park, we will pick you up there. This is an order from comandante "gordo Lindo" [nickname, literal translation ? Good-looking Fatty]. We already know that you are behind Operation Dragon. If you don?t attend the appointment we will assassinate you". Luis Imbachi tried to keep the communication going and asked who the caller was. The man answered "don?t take the piss [no me mames gallo] son of a bitch, I?m serious" and hung up.
Luis Imbachi immediately noted the number from where the call was made - (032)
5100283 ? which is in Cali. He called the Telephone Directorate of EMCALI, asking them to locate the address of the caller?s phone. This was from a public card telephone in the "Los Cámbulos" district, close to one of the security centres, and was made with a Prontel card.
And in the same fashion CARLOS MARMOLEJO, a member of SINTRAEMCALI?s Executive Committee, received a called at 4: 20 p.m. to his mobile, number 310 8913272, in which a man said: "Am I speaking with CARLOS MARMOLEJO?". Carlos asked who was he speaking with. The man said " Listen, I am speaking to you on behalf of "gordo lindo". You have to present yourself in front of the Telecom in Darien with ALEXANDER LOPEZ, OSCAR FIGUEROA PACHONGO and LUIS IMBACHI. We give you until 20th September, and we already know all about Operation Dragon" and he hung up. This call was made from number (032) 6503015. By the same process through the Telephone Directorate of EMCALI, this was also identified as coming from, a public card telephone situated on the junction of 12th Street and 4th Avenue in Cali.
Meanwhile another SINTRAEMCALI leader CARLOS OCAMPO was informed by his class mates at the Santiago University in Cali, where he is studying, that a black man wearing a bullet proof jacket was insistently asking for him. This occurred between 7:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on 15th September, the time when OCAMPO normally arrives to take his classes.
BACKGROUND:
1. On 23rd August 2004 Congress Representative ALEXANDER LOPEZ MAYA,
was alerted to a plan that was being elaborated to assassinate several political leaders, trade unionists and human rights defenders, and that this scheme was prepared by active and retired military personnel operating in the cities of Cali, Medellín, Barranquilla, Ibagué and Bogotá. According to the information received, the first in the list would be ALEXANDER LOPEZ, BERENICE CELEYTA and LUIS HERNANDEZ, against whom they would start from 23rd August 2004.
2. On the 25th the Attorney General [Fiscalía] and the Technical Investigation Team CTI,
carried out two raids, in Cali and Medellín. This led to the discovery that the Colombian Army supplied classified information to a private international consultancy corporation -
expert in security investigations ? through Liuetenant Colonel JULIÁN VILLATE LEAL, military ID No. 7217167. The purpose was to interchange information that would permit the identification of the precise political positions, personal habits, activities and above all vulnerability in the daily movements of opposition political leaders - as well as trade union, social and human rights leaders ? all threatened with death.
3. It seems that the Fiscalía verified that ? what for now appears to be a parallel intelligence network ? that not acts with the collaboration of the Army?s Third Brigade, but also involves the Superintendent of Public Services, the management of Cali Public Corporation, EMCALI; the Intelligence Service of the National Police, SIPOL; the National Electricity Finance body, FEN; the Ministry of the Interior; the Department of Administrative Security, DAS; the Cali Metropolitan Police, who knew about, collaborated with, endorsed and above all helped the intelligence work being carried out by, CONSULTORIA INTEGRAL
LATINOAMERICANA, CIL and a company called SERACIS. They exchanged special information over the liquidation processes of several public corporations, including the Barranquilla Telephone Corporation; Tolima Electrica and the Cali public services corporation EMCALI, amongst others all facing liquidation and privatisation.
4. Army officer JULIAN VILLATE justified his presence in the place that was raided and the possession of several confidential documents - now incorporated in the case ? arguing that it was on behalf of CIL, to which he referred as "our corporation" ["nuestra empresa"]. The officer recognised with this affirmation his double role: on the one hand he presented himself as a member of the National Army and on the other as a private investigator paid by CIL.
5. VILLATE maintained that CIL was contracted by EMCALI and by the Superintendent of Public Services, with the purpose of furthering an analysis of the economic, financial and socio-political reality of the corporation, that is trying to suggest actions in strategic terms to guarantee its viability.
6. In the raid on apartment 301, in the ?El Castillo? building [literal ? ?the Castle?], situated at No. 8N-37 in 4th Avenue North of Calí, the investigators found a folio with 21 files in it, with the inscription "SECRET". The text had been remitted on 24th May 2003 from Calí by the Military Intelligence Centre of No 3 Regional Army Brigade to the Colonel, Central Director of Intelligence, in Bogotá. The document was internally numbered under the reference: 093
CIME-RIME3-INT4-252.
7. In all the documents found in the Calí raid ? including the Army document, emphasis is given to the political activities carried out by Polo Democrático [Democratic Pole], Frente Social y Político [Social and Political Front], Alternativa Democrática [Democratic Alternative], MOIR, and congress representatives WLSON BORJA, GUSTAVO PETRO, MARIA ISABEL URRUTIA, CARLOS GAVIRIA, JORGE ENRIQUE ROBLEDO, LUIS
CARLOS AVELLANEDA, and Governor of Valle ANGELINO GARZON and the Mayor of
Bogotá LUIS EDUARDO GARZON. These were marked out in the reports as endorsing the objectives of the insurgency and creating spaces for humanitarian interchange [of prisoners held by the state and the guerrilla movements]. Similarly, the documents detail the activities of SINTRAEMCALI, its leaders and advisers.
For reasons of the above we request that:
1. Demands are made to the Colombian government and especially to President of the
Republic, Alvaro Uribe Vélez, that the rights to life, personal integrity and liberty are respected for trade union leaders LUIS IMBACHI, OSCAR FIGUEROA, CARLOS MARMOLEJO and Congres Representative for the Valle del Cauca, ALEXANDER LOPEZ MAYA, as well as for the other persons facing an attempt on their life under the unfolding Operation Dragon.
2. Demands are made to the Colombian Government, the National Attorney General, the national Prosecutor General that they give a full and detailed report of the investigation carried out to establish the responsibility of members of State Forces, active and retired, as well as the corporations Consultoría Integral Latinoamericana Ltda. and Seracis, in the ?Operation Dragon? assassination plan.


3. That the intellectual and material authors of Operation Dragon ? those pushing the attack campaign against politcial, trade union and human rights leaders - be investigated, judged and punished in exemplary manner.
4. Demands are made that the Colombian Government explains to the national and international community for what reason a contract was made with the private company Consultoría Integral Latinoamericana, through National Energy Finance [Financiera Energética Nacional] FEN, to the value of two hundred and forty million pesos (approximately US $ 96,000), to carry out intelligence work on opposition political leaders, trade union leaders and defenders of human rights.
Calí, 16th September 2004

Asociación Para la Investigación y Acción Social NOMADESC

Sindicato de Trabajadores de Las Empresas Municipales de Cali SINTRAEMCALI
Sindicato De Los Trabajadores Universitarios De Colombia SINTRAUNICOL
La Unión Sindical Obrera USO
Central Unitaria de Trabajadores CUT - VALLE DEL CAUCA
Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Minería en Colombia SINTRAMINERCOL
Movimiento Estudiantil del Valle del Cauca y Nariño
Fundación Comité De Solidaridad Con Presos Políticos - Seccional Valle del Cauca
Sintramunicipio Bugalagrande; Sintramunicipio Yumbo; Sintramunicipio Dagua; Sintrametal Yumbo
Organizaciones Barriales Juveniles Artísticas y Populares de Santiago de Cali


Más información sobre la Operación Dragón en : http://www.colombia.indymedia

 

ADDRESSES / DIRECCIONES
Presidencia de la República
Dr. Álvaro Uribe Vélez,
Cra. 8 No..7-26, Palacio de Nariño,
Santa fe de Bogotá.
Fax: (+57 1) 566.20.71 E-mail: auribe@presidencia.gov.co ;


[OR to better send e-mail to Uribe login to http://www.presidencia.gov.co and click on ESCRIBALE AL PRESIDENTE at the bottom of the page.

Para enviar correo al Sr Presidente, dirmjase a la pagina Web:http://www.presidencia.gov.co y haga clic en ESCRIBALE AL PRESIDENTE ubicado en la parte inferior, al final de la pagina.]
Misión Permanente de Colombia ante las Naciones Unidas en Ginebra.
Chemin du Champ d'Anier 17-19, 1209 Ginebra.
FAX: (+4122)791.07.87; (+4122)798.45.55
E-mail mission.colombia@ties.itu.int
With copies to:

Asociación para la Investigación y Acción Social Nomadesc E-mail Nomadesc @ latinmail.com
Campaña Prohibido Olvidar E-mail dhprohibidolvidar@yahoo.com

And, in the UK:

to Colombian Embassy (UK): mail@colombianembassy.co.uk



With a copy to the Colombia Solidarity Campaign at colombia_sc@hotmail.com