Help Find Woman Who Spoke Out Against Military Abuse
 

Disappeared: ALBA NELLY MURILLO! Take Action to Help Find a Woman Who Spoke Out Against Military and Paramilitary Abuse

February, 2009

The Campaign for Labor Rights received a report about the disappearance of Alba Nelly Murillo. Murillo is a 34 year old mother of five from the village of La Esmeralda in the municipality of El Castillo, Department of Meta. She is President of the local Community Action Council. In May, 2008, soldiers from the Colombian Army's 21 Vargas Battalion had come to the village asking for her whereabouts, complaining that she had spoken out publicly against military and paramilitary abuses to the population. On Sunday, February 15, she was last seen taking a path that would lead her past a military encampment. She has not been heard from since.

We are asking people to call the Colombian Embassy and to demand that they investigate the disappearance of Alba Nelly Murillo. We are also asking that you request that they call you back to update you on the results of their investigations. Let us know here at the Campaign for Labor Rights when you receive a response or also if, by Friday, the 27th, there has been no response from the embassy at all.

TO CONTACT THE COLOMBIAN EMBASSY, CALL:

202-387-8338 or 202 332 7476 or 202 332 7573

Write CLR at: clr@clrlabor.org

Below is the action alert sent out by the FENSUAGRO farmers, farmworkers, and aquacultural workers.

Bogotá, Colombia

February, 2009

DISAPPEARED:

THE PRESIDENT OF THE COMMUNITY ACTION COUNCIL OF THE LA ESMERALDA VILLAGE-ALBA NELLY MURILLO, IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF EL CASTILLO, DEPARTMENT OF META.

The National Federation of Agricultural and Aquacultural Workers Union-FENSUAGRO-CUT and the Independent Union of Farm Workers in Meta-SINTRAGRIM: We announce to the national and international public the DISAPPEARANCE of Alba Nelly Murillo in the municipality of El Castillo-Meta.

WHAT OCCURRED

On the 16th of February, 2000, in the afternoon hours, our Federation became aware of the disappearance of ALBA NELLY MURILLO, the sister of Comparer Ferney Murillo, spokesperson and educational leader of SINGATRIM, and the President of the Community Action Council of the village of La Esmeralda. Alba Nelly had been living in the central area of El Castillo for approximately two months. On Sunday, February 15th, very early at 5:00am, she left her house in her car and arrived at the community of Miravalles at 8:00am. There she encountered various persons, among them her brother, Ferney Murillo. He needed her to go to the house of her other brother NELSON MURILLO, in the village of Caño Lindo, with the very bad luck that she never arrived. Because of these circumstances, they have been searching for her in the community of Miravalles since Monday, February 16, 2009, when they knew she had disappeared.

On February 16, 2009, the Federation's Secretary of Human Rights made contact with the Public Defender of the Department of Meta, with the United Nations office, and with Meta's Civic Committee on Human Rights, in order to find ALBA NELLY.

February 17, 2009, the family of Alba Nelly communicated with FENSUAGRO's Secretary of Human Rights, and said that according to their own investigations in the Miravalles community, she had been seen leaving by way of Caño Lindo. The saw her pass near the Miravalles Health Center, which was along Caño Lindo. She had to have passed by the way of the bridge that crosses the Llamanes River. There ends what they know of the life of Alba Nelly.

The community tells that passing the Llamanes river bridge you find the National Army camped along the shoulders of the road where Alba Nelly had to pass. However, on Monday, February 16, 2009, in the afternoon hours, after the disappearance of Alba Nelly, the National Army was no longer found on that site, a situation limiting the family's investigations concerning the life of the President of the Community Action Council, Alba Nelly.

The persons living further down the Lllamanes River have been questioned if they saw Alba Nelly pass, and they have affirmed that they did not see her come that way on Sunday.

ALBA NELLY MURILLO, 34 years old, is the mother of five children, two girls and three boys of 16, 14, 11, 7, and 5 years respectively, all minors of age.

ANTECEDENTS:

During the days of the 21st and 22nd of May, 2008, there was a Humanitarian Mission to the villages of Campo Alegre and La Esmeralda so the commission could verify that the Battalion 21 Vargas of the National Army, that controls this territory by means of a mobile commission with permanent patrols, had carried out raids of the houses of campesinos, causing terror and anxiety. We have included parts of the Humanitarian Mission's report:

June 21, 2008, in the village of Caño Lindo, Inspection of Miravalles (El Castillo, Meta). A family of campesinos was obliged to displace itself because of the pressure and threats of soldiers of the National Army, troops registered to the Battalion 21 Vargas. They were intimidated and accused of being subversives and guerrilla collaborators. They had to leave running, forsaking all they had built. They were obliged to remove themselves to Bogotá. According to the report of Ms. Graciela Sun: "Together with her husband and her two children, minors of age, they left running for Bogotá. They had to sleep in the streets for several days.

May 7, 2008, in the village of La Esmeralda ( El Castillo, Meta). National Army troops under the direction of Mayor Baquero, in an affronting manner, arrived at campesino houses asking for Alba Nelly, who held the position of President of the Community Action Council, of the village of La Esmeralda. Mayor Baquero affirmed that Alba Nelly had denounced the Army for mistreatment in the urban center of El Castillo. "...The military insinuated to the campesino: you have communication with the guerrilla, you are going to "carry the note", add this to your report. This must refer to the days before that the community of the village had met and had documented reports about human rights violations on the part of the National Army and the paramilitaries.

http://www.solidarity-us.org/node/2067

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