Colombia: Peasants arrested and threatened due to their struggle for land

In the region Magdalena Medio, the peasant association Asociación Campesina Valle del Río Cimitarra (ACVC) is facing repression. At the end of September 2007, its leaders, Andrés Gil, Óscar Duque, Evaristo Mena and Mario Martín, were detained. This detention is a major obstacle for the ACVC to continue their struggle against the withdrawal of the Peasant Reserve Area (ZRC) in the Cimitarra Valley, created in December 2002 and withdrawn in 2003. The ZRC comprises over 25 thousand peasants in a process of comprehensive development and human rights defence. The region is subjected to a food and sanitary blockage.

It is very urgent to urge the Colombian government to carry out the judicial investigation against the leaders of the ACVC without depriving them from their freedom, as established in the new Columbian legislation. Moreover, the rights of the peasant families have to be respected, protected and fulfilled through the revocation of the ZRC withdrawal and the effective installation of the ZRC.