Key developments
since March 1999: Guerrilla groups have continued to use antipersonnel
mines. In October 1999 UNICEF and other partners launched a mine awareness
program. In November 1999, Colombia’s AP mine production facilities were
destroyed. In January 2000 the President signed the ratification law, a crucial,
but not final, step in the ratification process. In March 2000 Colombia
ratified CCW Amended Protocol II. The Army cleared 35 minefields, in military
operations, in 1999. More than 2,000 AP mines were destroyed from stockpiles.
Mine Ban Policy
Colombia signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December
1997 but has not yet ratified. On 14 January 2000 at a public ceremony during an
official visit by Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Lloyd Axworthy,
Colombian President Andrés Pastrana Arango signed ratification Law
554/2000 approving the
treaty.[1] As established by
Colombia’s Constitution, following President Pastrana’s signature of
the law, the Constitutional Court is required to prepare the legal instrument
for ratification of the treaty. In January 2000, Landmine Monitor was told that
this process was expected to take between three to six
months.[2] The ratification law
does not contain other provisions for implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty.
Colombia participated as an observer in the First Meeting of State Parties to
the Mine Ban Treaty in Maputo in May 1999. The head of the delegation,
Ambassador Jaime Girón Duarte, told the plenary that “the use of
antipersonnel mines in armed conflicts is an affront to all notions of human
dignity.” He went on to state that Colombia “has communicated its
willingness to replace the use of antipersonnel mines protecting vital
production and telecommunications sites, both military and civilian, with
sensors and electrified
fences.”[3] Colombia has
not participated in the various intersessional meetings of the treaty in
Geneva.
Colombia voted in favor of the December 1999 UN General Assembly resolution
supporting the Mine Ban Treaty, as it had in 1997 and 1998.
On 16 June 2000, at the meeting of the Grupo de Río held in Cartagena
de Indias, Colombia, Colombia was one of nineteen countries of the region that
signed the Cartagena
Declaration.[4] The
Declaration’s paragraph 15 states, “We call on all States that have
not done so to ratify as soon as possible the Ottawa Convention, in order to
achieve the elimination of antipersonnel mines... and we renew our commitment to
landmine victim rehabilitation as well as mine clearance in our region, in
keeping with our goal to declare the hemisphere free of antipersonnel
landmines.”[5]
According to an official in the Disarmament Unit in the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, a questionnaire to gather data on the antipersonnel landmine situation
in the country has already been submitted to relevant civilian and military
authorities in preparation for the Article 7 transparency
report.[6] It is expected that
the “imminent ratification of the Ottawa Treaty will force those
authorities to produce this data rapidly, for the preparation and submission of
the document to the UN.”[7]
Colombia on 6 March 2000 ratified Amended Protocol II (Landmines) of the
Convention on Conventional Weapons. A technical report has been requested from
the Ministry of the Defense in order to comply with the Convention and its
protocols, including Amended Protocol II regarding
landmines.[8] Colombia did not
attend the First Annual Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II in
December 1999 in Geneva.
Colombia is a member of the Conference of Disarmament. According to an
official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Colombia maintains a
“favorable position” on the question of negotiating a transfer ban
on landmines in that forum.[9]
Over the past year, the Campaña Colombiana Contra Minas (Colombian
Campaign Against Landmines), or CCCM, has made a concerted effort to press for
ratification of the treaty in the National Congress, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and Ministry of National Defense and has also urged support for the treaty by
the various groups involved in Colombia’s internal war. CCCM has been
active through a number of letters, forums, meetings and working documents, and
has requested other organizations’ support as well. The International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Colombia has also advocated for
ratification of the Mine Ban Treaty, and its law department has produced a
document encouraging the government to incorporate the Mine Ban Treaty in
Colombian law.[10] UNICEF
Colombia has also played an important role in pressing for treaty ratification
and for the extension of mine awareness programs throughout
Colombia.[11]
Production
According to the General Command of
Colombia’s Armed Forces, Industria Militar (INDUMIL), a government-owned
facility, destroyed its antipersonnel mine production equipment on 18 November
1999.[12]Landmine Monitor
Report 1999 reported that the Ministry of Defense had instructed INDUMIL to
cease production of antipersonnel mines in
1996,[13] but the General
Command indicates that antipersonnel mine manufacture did not cease until
September 1998.[14] According
to INDUMIL’s Production Manager, there is still production of the Carga
Direccional Dirigida (CDD) directional fragmentation mine
(Claymore-type).[15] He said
these are made to be used only in command detonated mode, and are not classified
as AP mines by the Colombian Army. Claymore-type mines used in command
detonated mode are permitted under the Mine Ban Treaty, but prohibited if used
with tripwires.
Nearly all major guerrilla groups have publicly acknowledged that they are
not only users but also manufacturers of AP mines. The Colombian Armed Forces
have identified and denounced the production of AP mines by Colombian guerrilla
groups in several documents and declarations in the
past.[16] Most of these mines
are homemade, using cheap and easy to find materials. The common “Minas
Quiebrapatas” (Legbreaker mines) are mainly manufactured by the UC-ELN
(Unión Camilista-Ejército Nacional de Liberación Nacional).
There are also so-called “Kleimor” (Claymore) or
“Cazabobos” (fool hunters) mines, “M-Klim” mines,
Propelled Mine or Charge and the “Bomba
Elena.”[17]
According to the Colombian Army’s Press Agency, in the past two years
there has been an increase in the use of homemade antivehicle mines by guerrilla
groups in Colombia. These antivehicle mines are manufactured with gas, oxygen,
or refrigerating
cylinders.[18]
Mines and improvised explosive devices are also made and used by
non-combatants in Colombia. In several parts of the country, including
Chocó, Santander and Antioquia Departments, farmers make “pig
mines,” for various reasons, including protection of crops from animals
and theft.[19] Antipersonnel
landmines are also manufactured and used by coca, poppy, and marijuana growers
to protect illegal drug crops, and by alkaloid processors in order to keep the
Army and others away from their laboratories and
stockrooms.[20]
Transfer
Colombia maintains that it has never exported AP
mines, though it has not adopted a formal moratorium on
exports.[21] In the past, it
has imported AP mines from the United States and perhaps other
nations.[22] A Ministry of
Foreign Affairs official told Landmine Monitor of his growing concern over the
increasing illegal traffic of light weapons, including AP mines, across
Colombia’s borders with Ecuador, Venezuela, and Panama by land, air, and
sea routes.[23] During the
crisis sparked by the multiple kidnapping of civilians at the Church of La
María, in Cali, Valle del Cauca, the Army said it found approximately 500
industrially manufactured foreign landmines while searching for the
victims.[24] No additional
information was released about the mines.
Stockpiling and Destruction
According to a March 1999 letter from the Office of
the General Inspector of Colombia’s Armed Forces, the Armed Forces have at
least 18,000 AP mines in
stockpile.[25] In January 1999
Colonel José Manuel Castro, a legal advisor in the Ministry of Defense,
stated that the Colombian Armed Forces have mines in stockpile and that
“the Ministry wants to search for alternatives, to destroy them as soon as
possible.”[26] According
to an official in the Disarmament Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
information on the size and composition of the AP mine stockpile will be made
available when Colombia ratifies the Mine Ban
Treaty.[27]
According to a letter from the General Command of the Armed Forces, on 2 July
1999 INDUMIL destroyed 2,542 AP mines from its stockpile, at the José
María Córdoba
Factory.[28]
It is not possible to get accurate information on guerrilla-held stockpiles
of AP mines.
Use
Landmine Monitor knows of no instances of new
deployment of antipersonnel landmines by the Colombian Army since Colombia
signed the ban treaty in December 1997. The Commander of Colombia’s Armed
Forces, General Fernando Tapias Stahelin, has stated that the Armed Forces laid
approximately 20,000 AP mines throughout Colombian territory in the
past.[29] In January 2000, he
told Landmine Monitor, “Colombian Military Forces have defensive
minefields, located near installations of high risk and difficult to
access.” He stated that the Armed Forces’ minefields “are
correctly identified, marked and protected by military personnel, and follow
international
guidelines.”[30]
According to General Stahelin, Colombia’s Armed Forces have maps of their
minefields, but for security reasons this information is not available to the
public.[31] During a recent
field visit to La Calera district near the capital Bogotá, the Colombian
Campaign observed that Army minefields there did not have the necessary measures
to prevent risk to the nearby
population.[32]
Colombia’s main guerilla groups are: FARC – Fuerzas Armadas
Revolucionarias de Colombia (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), the UC-ELN
– Unión Camilista-Ejército Nacional de Liberación
Nacional (Camilista Union-National Liberation Army), and the EPL –
Ejército Popular de Liberación (Popular Liberation Army). There
are also numerous paramilitary groups, collectively termed the AUC –
Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (United Self-defense Groups of Colombia).
Two of the guerrilla groups, FARC-EP and the UC-ELN, as well as paramilitary
groups, have used and are believed to still be using antipersonnel mines in the
country.[33] There is no
evidence that the EPL has used AP mines. The FARC-EP and the UC-ELN have both
in the past acknowledged their use of AP
mines.[34] According to a
newspaper article published in Cali in May 1999, during talks with government
officials FARC representatives discussed the landmines issue under the item that
deals with International Humanitarian
Law.[35] Colombia’s Armed
Forces reported that 52 mines placed in San José de Sumapaz department
had been discovered on 28 February 2000. The mines were found along village
paths, around the school and football field, and near the radio transmission
station on Granada Mountain.[36]
Landmine Problem
Colombia is perhaps the country most affected by
mines in the Americas region. Information collected by the Colombia Campaign to
Ban Landmines (CCCM) indicates that at least 135 of Colombia’s 1,050
municipalities in twenty-three of the country’s thirty departments are
mine-affected in all five regions of Colombia (Caribbean, Andean, Amazonian,
Orinoquia, and Pacific regions). The 135 municipalities cover a total area of
145,000 square kilometers or 13% of the national territory. The department of
Santander is one of the most affected, and has reported mine victims since
1990.[37]
In updating its list from Landmine Monitor Report 1999, the CCCM has
identified the following mine affected
areas:[38]
1) Amazonian region
Amazonas department: Santa Sofia municipality.
Caqueta department: Florencia, Montañita, Miraflores, Puerto Rico,
San Vicente del Caguán, Remolinos del Caguan, and Cartagena del
Chairá municipalities.
Guaviare department: Calamar, Miraflores, and San José del Guaviare
municipalities.
Putumayo department: Puerto Asís and Orito municipalities.
Vaupes department: Mitú municipality.
2) Andean region
Antioquia department: Caicedo, San Roque, San Carlos, San Francisco,
Segovia, Mutatá, Turbo, Apartadó, Currulao, Zaragoza,
Yondó, San Luis, Cáceres, Amalfi, Dabeiba, Tello, Bello, Yali,
Puerto Triunfo, Cocorná, Granada, El Bagre, Maceo, Campamento, Carmen de
Viboral, Copacabana, and Vegachi municipalities.
Boyacá department: Pajarito, Pauna and Chiscas municipalities.
Cauca department: Argelia, Caloto, Caldono, Corinto, El Bordo, and
Patía municipalities.
Cundinamarca department: Cabrera, Claraval, Junin, Guayabeltal, Medina, San
Bernardo, Viotá, and Sumapaz municipalities.
Huila department: Suaza, Acevedo, Algeciras, and Anzoátegui
municipalities.
Nariño department: Puerres and Tuquerres municipalities.
Norte de Santander department: Ocaña, Convención, Cucutilla,
Chitaga, Cachipa, Los Patios, El Turra, Tibú, and Teorama
municipalities.
Santander department: Barrancabermeja, Bucaramanga, California, El
Playón, Florida Blanca, Galán, Piedecuesta, San Vicente de
Chucurí, Lebrija, Matanzas, El Carmen de Chucuri, Betulia, Suaita,
Suratá, Zapatoca, and Macaravita municipalities.
3) Caribbean region
Bolivar department: Simití, Morales, San Pablo, Santa Rosa del Sur,
Rioviejo, Tiquisio, Achí, Cantagallo, Altos del Rosario, Córdoba,
Montecristo, Carmen de Bolivar, San Martín de Loba, and Zambrano
municipalities.
Cesar department: Curumaní, La Jagua de Ibirico, La Jagua del Pilar,
Pailitas, Pelaya, San Alberto, Chiriguaná, Codazzi, El Copey, and
Valledupar municipalities.
Cordoba department: Tierralta and Puertolibertador municipalities.
Magdalena department: Ciénaga and El Banco municipalities.
Sucre department: Toluviejo, Guaranda and Ovejas
municipalities.
4) Orinoquia region
Arauca department: Fortul, Tame, Saravena, La Esmeralda, Arauca, and
Arauquita municipalities.
Casanare department: Támara and Sacama municipalities.
Meta department: Calvario, El Castillo, Lejanías, Mapiripán,
San Juanito, and La Uribe municipalities.
5) Pacific region
Chocó department: Riosucio municipality.
Valle del Cauca department: Palmira and Jamundi
municipalities.
Not all the territory of each municipality is
mine-affected. Most of the mine-affected lands are in rural areas inhabited by
peasants who rely on small-scale subsistence agriculture and herding. Paths and
walkways are often mined. Some urban centers have also been affected. There are
some reports of increased mining of communal areas frequented by civilians, such
as schools, football fields and bridges. In the department of Norte de
Santander and Bolivar, most mine-affected areas are illegal drug
plantations.[39] CCCM has noted
that a majority of minefields in Santander and Bolivar are unmarked, the
exceptions being those closer to urban centers.
The humanitarian impact of AP mines is widespread and great. The government
of Bolivar Department has estimated that 60% of school absenteeism in Santa Rosa
del Sur was due to the risks posed to children by AP mines near schools and
towns.[40] CCCM carried out a
field visit to the southern region of Bolivar Department and found that peasants
in Buena Vista, near Santa Rosa del Sur, preferred not to send their children to
school because of the threat of
landmines.[41] They estimated
that at least twenty of their cows as well as other farm animals have died
because of exploding mines in the past six months alone. The inhabitants of the
area live in constant fear, and children suffer severe traumas associated with
war, such as night terrors, incontinence and personality disorders.
Some communities are unable to produce food or earn money needed to survive;
others suffer tremendous economic losses due to the mining of productive
agricultural lands and the death of their farm
animals.[42] Equally
devastating is the psychological damage suffered by people in mine-affected
communities.[43]
These mine-affected communities urgently request help from NGOs, state
institutions and international organizations to begin the processes of
prevention, attention to victims and demining. Members of these communities
feel they are military targets for the armed groups, and are completely
abandoned by organizations and institutions that could
help.[44]
Mine Clearance
While Colombia’s rural population would
greatly benefit from mine clearance programs, there are currently no official
humanitarian mine clearance programs in progress. Mine clearance is undertaken
by the National Army and is primarily military, not humanitarian, in its purpose
as it is usually conducted during combat
situations.[45]
The Colombian Army has reportedly destroyed a considerable number of
antipersonnel mines belonging to the Colombian guerrillas. According to a
report by the Press Agency of the Colombian Armed Forces, during 1999 the Army
cleared 35 minefields and deactivated 370 AP mines. It also seized 239 mines
from the guerrilla groups.[46]
Another military official reported that during the last week of 1999, sixteen
minefields were cleared near the villages of San Vicente, San Luis, San Carlos,
and San Francisco, in Antioquia
department.[47]
The Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Los Andes in
Bogotá is interested in carrying out research to develop a robot for the
detection of landmines. The research project has the support of the Mars Group,
the explosives unit of the National
Army.[48]
Mine Awareness
On 4 October 1999, the Ministry of Communications,
UNICEF Colombia and the Canadian Embassy in Bogotá signed an agreement
for implementing a mine awareness program in
Colombia.[49] The program,
which was to run for one year, has recently received an additional $50,000 from
the Canadian Embassy in order to extend it for an additional six
months.[50] Funds managed by the
UNICEF Colombia Office have been invested in the production of material for the
prevention of accidents and for advocacy. Three videos are being produced on
the topic of landmines in Colombia, as well as a series of posters and a
document about implementation of the treaty in Colombia. The Scouts of Colombia,
Colombian Red Cross, and CCCM are in charge of designing, testing and fielding
these prevention
materials.[51]
Landmine Casualties
A statistical survey by CCCM has identified 736
mine victims since 1991.[52]
Accidents involving landmines were reported in 23 departments in the country.
The largest number of casualties, 151, were recorded in 1997. CCCM identified
63 victims in 1999, and 35 in the first half of 2000.
Approximately 95% of mine victims were men, 3% were women and gender was not
specified for the remaining 2%. A total of 83% of the victims were adults, and
7% were children (for the remaining 10% of the victims their age was not
specified). Fifty-nine percent of the victims belonged to the Armed Forces, 22%
were civilians, 2% were members of guerrilla groups, and 1% were police officers
(the status or occupation of the remaining 16% was not specified).
Approximately 90% of incidents involving landmines occurred in rural areas of
the country.
CCCM believes the figures reported here significantly underestimate the
actual number of AP mine victims in the country, due to lack of systematic
reporting.
The Information Department of the Ministry of Health is currently in the
third year of a project which aims to generate needed statistical data on
various aspects related to health and violence in Colombia, so as to arrive at a
comprehensive view of violence in the country.[53] While results are not
available, the project does not include indicators on AP mines in its
methodology.[54]
There is no precise data available on the total number of victims among
non-state actors. The data compiled by CCCM only shows that six members of
guerrilla groups have been injured and two killed, as well as one member of
paramilitary groups injured and six killed in the 1993-99
period.[55] This figure too is
probably a significant underestimation of the real numbers of NSA mine victims
in the country’s long internal armed conflict.
Landmines continue to claim victims in Colombia on a regular basis. On 21
December 1999, 11 people were injured and 3 were killed in a newly-laid
minefield in La Jagua del Pilar, between the departments of Cesar and
Guajira.[56] On 30 January
2000, in the Santa Rosa del Sur area, four peasants including an eight-month old
infant girl were injured when a mina quiebrapatas (‘leg-breaker’
mine) exploded on a path they usually take between Buena Vista and their
home.[57] A few days prior, and
in the same municipality, a twenty-four-year-old peasant from Campo Llano was
killed by a mine.[58] On 28
February 2000, General Euclides Sánchez Vargas, Commander of the
Colombian Army’s Fifth Division reported the discovery of fifty-two AP
mines laid in San José de Sumapaz, Cundinamarca Department near the
village school.[59] Also in the
Sumapaz area, two soldiers were injured by a mine in April 2000 while searching
an abandoned guerrilla
camp.[60]
Survivor Assistance
According to an Official at the Ministry of Health,
Colombia’s health care system is structured into three levels, in keeping
with World Health Organization
guidelines.[61] The Colombia
Campaign to Ban Landmines has examined information provided by the National
Department of Statistics regarding the distribution of these health care systems
by department. The Colombia Campaign concludes that Colombia’s health
care facilities are insufficient for providing adequate coverage and are also
unequally distributed.
Medical, surgical and rehabilitation services for victims are usually located
in the main urban centers, whereas most victims live in rural areas. In rural
areas, it is sometimes nearly impossible to get immediate medical help and can
sometimes take hours or even days to reach the nearest hospital. The injured
person is often presumed to be the enemy, making their transit extremely
dangerous.
While some major hospitals can provide quality medical assistance to mine
victims, costs are high. There are relatively few doctors expert in dealing
with the complex surgical demands of landmine injuries. Most victims never
receive mobility devices, apart from crutches or improvised prostheses.
In Colombia, there are four institutions that manufacture prostheses and
provide services for landmine and other victims of violence. The Hospital
Militar de Colombia (Colombia’s Military Hospital) in Bogotá is the
only institution fully prepared and equipped to treat a landmine victim from the
emergency room to rehabilitation, including psychological support. The hospital
manufactures prostheses and has a rehabilitation center. It treats military but
also provides services for civilians. The CIREC foundation in Bogotá has
a prostheses factory which also manufactures orthopedic devices. The San Juan
Bautista Orthopedic Center is located in Bucarmanga in Santander department.
The Antioquia Rehabilitation Committeee is in Medellín in Antioquia
department.
The Sueños Foundation, dedicated to caring for children that are
victims of AP mines in Colombia, has received a donation of an undetermined
number of prosthesis from a French
donor.[62]
Disability Policy and Practice
Social and economic reintegration programs for
landmine and war disabled remain virtually non-existent in Colombia. FOSYGA
(Fund of Guarantees and Solidarity), of the Ministry of Health, is a
governmental fund that provides some money to victims of political violence to
cover their medical expenses. However, due to the complexity of the
bureaucratic process and the documentation required to obtain funding, most
landmine victims never request it.
In 1981, the President’s Office decreed Law 2358, creating the National
Rehabilitation System. In 1990, Law 10 reorganized the National Health System.
In 1997, Law 418 established the obligation of the state to care for victims of
armed political or ideological conflict. The Plan Nacional de Atención a
Personas con Discapacidad, PNAPD (National Plan for People with Disabilities),
coordinated by the Health Minister, has a budget of US$3.6 million for the year
2000.[63] People with
disabilities are generally not aware of the Plan or its benefits.
There are no specific laws for landmine victims but the
Vice-President’s Office, jointly with the National Planning Department and
the Council Office for Social Policies, is developing a plan that could cover
landmine victims, with an open view for other violence victims. Currently, the
only disabled people in Colombia that receive a pension are either military
personnel disabled while on duty, or insured workers that are disabled while on
the job. Other victims of violence, including landmine victims, do not receive
pensions.
[1] “Convención sobre la
Prohibición del empleo, almacenamiento, producción y transferencia
de minas antipersonal y sobre su destrucción,” Diario Oficial
(Official Gazette of the Colombian Republic), 18 January 2000, p.
1-7. [2] Interview with Graciela Uribe
de Lozano, Head of the Disarmament Unit, Special Affairs Office, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Bogotá, 14 January
2000. [3] Statement by Ambassador Jaime
Girón Duarte to the First Meeting of State Parties, Maputo, 3-7 May
1999. [4] The nineteen governments were:
Colombia, Uruguay, Bolivia, Guatemala, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Brazil, Honduras,
Costa Rica, México, República Dominicana, El Salvador, Venezuela,
Chile, Perú, Argentina, Guyana, Panamá and
Paraguay. [5] Grupo de Río,
Declaración de Cartagena, paragraph 15, 16 June 2000, Cartagena de
Indias, Colombia. [6] Interview with
Pedro Agustín Roa, Assistant, Disarmament Unit of the Special Affairs
Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bogotá, 12 November
1999. [7]
Ibid. [8] Interview with Pedro
Agustín Roa, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bogotá, 10 December
1999. [9] Interview with Graciela Uribe
de Lozano, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bogotá, 14 January
2000. [10] Interview with Rolin Wabre,
ICRC Delegate for Colombia, Bogotá, 12 April 1999. Law Department of the
ICRC Delegation to Colombia, “La Convención de Ottawa sobre Minas
Antipersonales,” December
1998. [11] Interview with Nidya
Quiróz, Peace and Development Programme Officer, UNICEF Colombia,
Bogotá, 25 February 2000. [12]
Letter to CCCM for Landmine Monitor from the General Command of the Military
Forces, (No. 069087/CGFM-JADEC-DCCA-SJ-420), Ministry of National Defense,
signed by General Fernando Tapias S., Commandant General of the Military Forces,
received 21 January 2000. [13] See
Landmine Monitor Report 1999, p. 294, citing an INDUMIL production manager. Last
year’s report indicated that INDUMIL produced MN-MAP-1 and MN-MAP-2
antipersonnel mines. The Colombian Campaign has since discovered INDUMIL also
produced a Claymore-type mine, the CDD. Colombian Campaign Against Landmines,
visit to School of Engineers, Colombian Army, Bogotá, 12 June
2000. [14] Letter by the General Command
of the Military Forces, 21 January
2000. [15] Interview with Engineer
Sergio Rodriguez, Production Manager, INDUMIL, 5 July
2000. [16] See Landmine Monitor Report
1999, p. 294. [17] Ibid., p.
294-5. [18] Interview with Captain
María del Rosario Vásquez, Human Rights Official, Press Agency of
the Colombian Army, Bogotá, 25 January
2000. [19] Interview with users of
“pig mines” in Chocó Department, Bogotá, November
1998. [20] Interview with Captain Javier
Ayala, Director of Human Rights Office, Ministry of National Defense,
Bogotá, 13 December 1999. [21]
Interview with Alvaro Arias, Director, International Issues, Ministry of
National Defense, Bogotá, 20 January
2000. [22] See Landmine Monitor Report
1999, p. 295-296. [23] Interview with
Pedro Agustín Roa, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 24 January
2000. [24] Interview with Captain
María Vázquez, Human Rights Official, News Agency of the Colombian
National Army, Bogotá, 25 January
2000. [25] Letter from the General
Command of the Military Forces to the Human Rights Unit of the Ministry of
National Defense, numbered 2850-MDASE-DH-725, signed by Hugo Mauricio Ortiz
Concha, in absence of Major General Mario Hugo Galán Rodriguez, General
Inspector of the Military Forces of
Colombia. [26] Interview with Colonel
José Manuel Castro, Consultant for Legal Affairs at the Ministry of
Defense, Bogotá, 21 January
1999. [27] Telephone interview with
Graciela Uribe de Lozano, Head of the Disarmament Unit, Special Affairs Office,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2 February
1999. [28] Letter from the General
Command of the Military Forces, 21 January 2000. Héctor
Rodríguez, INDUMIL’s Production Manager, told Landmine Monitor in
January 1999 that INDUMIL had already destroyed its stock of mines, numbering
approximately 2,220. Interview with Engineer Héctor Rodríguez,
Bogotá, 18 January 1999. [29]
Interview with Captain Miguel Torralvo, Bogotá, 19 January 1999; and
interview with Major Juan Carlos Barrios, Director of the Human Rights Office, V
Division, Colombian Armed Forces, Bogotá, 24 February
1999. [30] Letter from the General
Command of the Military Forces, 21 January
2000. [31]
Ibid. [32] Field visit to La Calera,
Bogotá. [33] Interview with
Captain Javier Ayala, Director of Human Rights Office, Ministry of National
Defense, Bogotá, 13 December
1999. [34] See Landmine Monitor Report
1999, pp. 297-298. The July 1998 “Heaven’s Door Agreement”
between the UC-ELN and representatives of Colombian civil society states,
“Mines to deliberately kill or mutilate civilians will not be used,”
and commits the parties to “no longer plant antipersonnel mines in
high-risk areas for the civilian population.” It also commits the parties
to promoting “ratification of the Ottawa Treaty for banning the use of
antipersonnel landmines in the Colombian
Congress.” [35] “Joint
Agenda Government-FARC,” El País (Cali), Colombia, 7 May 1999, p.
9A. [36] “FARC siembran 52 Minas
en San José de Sumapaz,” El Colombiano (Medellín), 29
February 2000, p. 7A. [37] Interview
with Nidya Quiróz, UNICEF Colombia, Bogotá, 25 February
2000. [38] Statistical study by CCCM, on
the basis of data provided by Fundación Sueños, National Army of
Colombia, Office of the National Ombudsman of Colombia, Personería
Municipal de San Vicente de Chucuri, and Personería Municipal de Santa
Rosa del Sur. [39] Field visit to
communities in the Departments of Santander and Bolivar, 28 April to 12 May
2000. [40] Lupe Mouthon Mejía,
“Cuatro heridos al estallar minas en Santa Rosa del Sur,” Vanguardia
Liberal (Bucaramanga), 1 February 2000, p.
1D. [41] CCCM interviews with peasants
in Buena Vista, Santa Rosa del Sur, Bolivar Department, 3 May
2000. [42] Interview with Jorge Rojas,
researcher on forced population displacement at CODHES, Bogotá, 8 May
2000. [43] Interview with Luz Piedad
Herrera, Assistant Officer of Information, UNICEF Colombia, Bogotá, 3 May
2000. [44] CCCM interviews with members
of mine-affected communities in Santander and Bolivar Departments, 28 April to 6
May 2000. [45] Interview with Colonel
José Manuel Castro, Ministry of National Defense, Bogotá, 21
January 1999. [46] Interview with
Captain María Vázquez, Human Rights Official, News Agency of the
Colombian National Army, Bogotá, 25 January
2000. [47] Interview with Major Anselmo
Escobar, Human Rights Official, Fourth Brigade of the Colombian Armed Forces,
Medellín, 5 January 2000. [48]
Interview with Carlos Francisco Rodriguez, Director, Department of Mechanical
Engineering, University of Los Andes, project “Automata for mines
detection,” Bogotá, 13 March
2000. [49] Press release from Canadian
Embassy in Bogotá, “Canadá, el Ministerio de Comunicaciones
y UNICEF firman convenio de cooperación técnica en torno a minas
antipersonales,” Bogotá, 4 October
1999. [50] Interview with Nicholas
Caughlan, First Political Secretary, Canadian Embassy, Bogotá, 21 April
2000. [51] Interview with Clara Marcela
Barona, Communications Officer, UNICEF Colombia, Bogotá, 10 May
2000. [52] Statistical study by CCCM, on
the basis of data provided by Fundación Sueños, National Army of
Colombia, Office of the National Ombudsman of Colombia, Personería
Municipal de San Vicente de Chucuri, and Personería Municipal de Santa
Rosa del Sur. CCCM, “List of Victims of AP Mines in Colombia,”
1993-1999, Bogotá, April
2000. [53] Interview with Aicardo
Oliveros, “Communication and Violence” Project Officer, Information
Department of the Ministry of Health, Bogotá, 2 April
2000. [54]
Ibid. [55] CCCM, List of Victims of AP
Mines in Colombia, 1993-1999, Bogotá, April
2000. [56] Press release by the Press
Agency of the Colombian Armed Forces, Bogotá, 22 December
1999. [57] “Cuatro Heridos al
Estallar Minas en Santa Rosa del Sur,” Vanguardia Liberal (Bucaramanga), 1
February 2000, p. 1D. [58] “Pueblo
cercado por minas antipersonal,” El Espectador (Colombian newspaper),
Bogotá, 2 February 2000, p.
4A. [59] “FARC siembran 52 minas
en San José de Sumapaz," El Colombiano (Colombian Newspaper),
Medellín, 29 February 2000, p.
7A. [60] “Romaña se queda
sin Víveres,” El Espectador (Colombian Newspaper), Bogotá, 1
April 2000, p. 4A. [61] Interview with
Aicardo Oliveros, “Communication and Violence” Project Officer,
Information Department of the Ministry of Health, Bogotá, 2 April
2000. [62] Interview with Wilson
Ordoñez, Sueños Foundation, UNICEF Colombia, Bogotá, 27
April 2000. [63] “Garantizada
Atención a las Personas con Discapacidades,” Ministry of Health
Bulletin, Bogotá, 24 April 2000.
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