Displaced leader assassinated on Medellin bus

[Judi Lynn]

Displaced leader assassinated on Medellin bus
Tuesday, 07 June 2011 22:25
Adriaan Alsema

http://colombiareports.com.nyud.net:8090/pics/2011/06/ana.jpg

A leader of victims of forced displacement is assassinated Tuesday while traveling on a bus in Colombia's second largest city Medellin.

According to several media, community leader Ana Fabricia Cordoba was shot dead on a bus in the north-eastern neighborhood of Santa Cruz where she had taken up the role of leader of displaced families fighting to be returned their lands.

Cordoba fled her home region of Uraba in 2001 after her husband was killed by paramilitary forces.

While in Medellin, the woman increasingly got involved in defending the rights of displaced and had filed several complaints before authorities about crimes committed against members of the displaced community.

Little less than a year ago, Cordoba's son was also murdered. The displaced leader had said the police was responsible for the killing of her son.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16810-displaced-leader-assassinated-on-medellin-bus.html

[roody]

1. Amazing that someone unrecced this.

Why can't we ban murder supporters from DU?

[Judi Lynn]

2. Colombian gunman kills victims' rights campaigner

Colombian gunman kills victims' rights campaigner
08 Jun 2011 16:19

Source: reuters // Reuters
By Luis Jaime Acosta

BOGOTA, June 8 (Reuters) - A gunman shot dead a Colombian rights leader campaigning for the return of land snatched by illegal militias, police said on Wednesday, just days before a new land reparations law was set to come into effect.

Latin America's No. 4 oil producer has endured more than 40 years of violence from guerrillas and drug runners, and while some fighting and killings continue, the country has seen the conflict subside over the last decade.

Police said that the gunman killed Ana Fabricia Cordoba, 51, on a local bus in Medellin in the Antioquia province, 220 km (136 miles) northwest of the Colombian capital.

Cordoba was a leader of a group trying to protect the rights of people displaced by the war and worked for land restitution after her husband was murdered by an armed group.

At least a dozen leaders of land restitution movements have been killed in the last two years, rights groups say.

More:
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/colombian-gunman-kills-victims-rights-campaigner

[Bacchus39]

3. a tragedy, obviously a hit.

p.s. I didn't realize Colombia was number 4 in oil production, ahead of Ecuador even.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_oil_production

[Judi Lynn]

4. Colombia condemns murder of land activist Ana Cordoba

8 June 2011 Last updated at 17:02 ET
Colombia condemns murder of land activist Ana Cordoba

~snip~
Ms Cordoba had fled to Medellin after her husband and several of her children and siblings were killed in Uraba province, an area plagued by right-wing paramilitary and left-wing rebel violence.

In Medellin, she led a number of non-governmental organisations supporting the rights of victims of Colombia's decades-long armed conflict.

She founded Latepaz, a pressure group campaigning for the restitution of the almost seven million hectares (17 million acres) of land forcibly taken from its rightful owners by various armed groups since 1985.

Death threats

She was also a member of Women's Peaceful Path, a group demanding a negotiated settlement of the conflict between the Colombian state, various rebel groups and the paramilitary groups originally founded to combat the rebels.

Some of her colleagues said she had been receiving death threats and had asked the state for protection, but had not received any.

More:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13703816

[gbscar]

5. Murdered displaced leader's children blame state (+ comment)

Murdered displaced leader's children blame state
Wednesday, 08 June 2011 14:48
Marguerite Cawley

One of the daughters of the displaced leader murdered Tuesday blamed the Colombian government for the incident and requested protection for her siblings, while the government issued a statement condemning the assassination.

"I attribute this crime to the state," said Efe Diana Ospina Cordoba, the 28-year-old daughter of Ana Fabricia Cordoba, the displaced leader and cousin of former Senator Piedad Cordoba who was murdered Tuesday on a Medellin bus in the Santa Cruz neighborhood.

Diana believes that the homicide is related to the assassination of her brother Johnatan 11 months earlier, also in Medellin, whose death was attributed by various people to the city's metropolitan police. The daughter reported that her mother had refused to let the case go unheard, and stated, "She told me: 'they are going to kill me, but what I want is justice,'" newspaper El Espectador reported Wednesday.

<...>

Diana called on the government to make sure that the crimes that have occurred do not go unpunished, and to offer security measures for her and her younger siblings, as they failed to do for her mother.

Meanwhile, the national government has condemned the assassination, with Vice President Angelino Garzon stating that "The moment of the victims has arrived in Colombia. This government reaffirms its promise to the victims and their rights and tells criminals that cases like that of Ana Fabricia will not remain unpunished,"newspaper Semana reported.

Notary and Registry Superintendent Jorge Enrique Velez said that, in the face of the recent murder, he offers any displaced Colombian or victim of land seizure to come solicit the necessary protection at his office, and that despite the threats, "the land will be recovered because this is the promise of the government."

<...>

http://www.colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16835-murdered-displaced-leaders-children-blame-state.html

Comment:

And the state certainly deserves to be blamed, yes, in more than one sense.

If Colombian police (or military) killed her, which hasn't been proven but seems quite possible due to past precedent, then the state is morally and legally responsible for the murder.

If she was killed by anyone else, because displaced leaders have no shortage of enemies in both the private and public spheres, then the state is also morally and legally responsible for failing to protect her and prevent the murder.

The sad paradox, however, is that the Colombian state is divided into factions by default. There are many different authorities and officials, on both a local and national level, ranging from those likely involved in the murder for the sake of aiding the exploitation of her lost land to those who may have simply ignored or tragically failed to address her plight through no malice of their own.

This is ironically reflected in the fact that her daughter can simultaneously request protection from the Colombian state and yet also blame it for the murder, without incurring in a contradiction.

[Bacchus39]

6. hmmm, I don't believe the state can guarantee your safety

whether that be in Colombia, the US, or anywhere else.

[gbscar]

7. Moral responsibility isn't limited to what can or can't be done...

...and even legal responsibility applies when the state has failed to attempt to protect someone.

Vulnerable groups and individuals, such as displaced leaders, are also legally entitled to additional protection precisely because of the greater dangers they face.

So the specific degree might vary, arguably, but not the ultimate result: the state is still, one way or another, responsible. It is also undeniable that in both countries, but particularly in Colombia, the state has a history of being directly or indirectly involved with at least a good number of these murders, which is what makes it responsible through both action and omission.

I'm not arguing that the Colombian state is a mindless (as in completely controlled by the U.S.) and faceless monolithic murdering machine from top to bottom, mind you, but I don't believe in downplaying its own responsibilities to an insignificant level either.

[Bacchus39]

8. you would be opening up a can of worms for litigation against the state

it would be never ending. In the event state officials committed murder while acting under official, then yes, the state could be held responsible.

however, failing to protect you from a crime (unless the state knew of it beforehand)is not negligence on the part of the state.

lets use another example, is Brazil liable for the deaths by murder of the 3 activists recently killed in the Amazon??

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110608/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_brazil_amazon_killings


never mind Brazil is sending more police now, is the state liable for those already murdered??

[gbscar]

9. Going by both national and international rulings, that can of worms has already been opened

Colombia is a country at war and there is no lack of judicial precedent for the state's responsibility in this respect.

Brazil is a country at peace and, as far as I know, there aren't any too many court rulings or special measures -resulting from past precedents- meant to protect those activists. Comparatively speaking, I suppose few of them have been murdered.

The state might not know about all or even most crimes beforehand, but often it does know the risks. Especially in Colombia. Details and information can, admittedly, get lost somewhere along the line (accidentally or intentionally) but that doesn't eliminate the problem nor the resulting responsibilities.

There are, of course, many people who have complained about it using arguments similar to those you're mentioning...to say nothing of those who, in true Uribe-like fashion, insult the Colombian judiary and call judges "terrorists" or "guerrillas" for daring to find the state responsible.

In fact, recent news have included, among other things, a controversial court ruling finding the Colombian state responsible for a 1996 FARC attack on a military base. And that's just one case among many, many more.

In practice, it is certainly a potentially endless process, but that's what you get when such a ridiculously and tragically prolonged conflict is involved. If you resolve the greater problem, that would go a long way towards avoiding its consequences.

[Bacchus39]

10. I would simply say if the state is responsible for the commission of the crimes

then the state is responsible. yes, ruling against the state for FARC actions is not just controversial, its preposterous. Ingrid Bentancourt tried to sue Colombia for her kidnapping and enslavement. quite odd indeed, particularly since there are plenty of FARC assets to go after for compensation.

anyway, I see no difference between the situation in Colombia given an internal conflict with that of Brazil or Venezuela where murder is epidemic if, by your account, the state is responsible for preventing specific murders against specific individuals.

the state is responsible for general security, not for preventing something happening to you specifically.

[Judi Lynn]

11. VP calls for investigation into possible police involvement in activist's murder

VP calls for investigation into possible police involvement in activist's murder
Wednesday, 08 June 2011 18:04 Adriaan Alsema

Colombian Vice President Angelino Garzon asked Colombia's National Police to investigate allegations that policemen are involved in the murder of a victim's rights activist in Medellin Tuesday.

"The Vice President requested the authorities for an exhaustive investigation to bring to trial and punish the masterminds and perpetrators of this crime and to immediately grant protection to other persons who rightfully are demanding the right to restitution and return of their lands," Garzon said in a press release.

Earlier, Garzon and the Organization of American States had condemned the murder of the activist. The victim's family, that saw three of its members assassinated since 2001, blames the state for the murder.

According to Spanish press agency EFE, the 51-year old Ana Fabricia Cordoba is the 16th displaced leader to be killed since October when President Juan Manuel Santos announced legislation to secure that lands stolen by illegal armed groups are returned to the rightful owners.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/16841-vp-calls-for-investigation-into-possible-police-involvement-in-murder-on-displaced-leader.html