“Attention!!! A social cleansing group is requested by good citizens and will begin operations in the municipality,” read the first sentence of a pamphlet which forced the second displacement of at least 20 former victims in the north of Colombia.
The pamphlet, which started circulating in the municipality of Remolinos in the Magdalena state, has led to the displacement of various victim families who had returned to their lands after having been displaced from there once before.
Much of the population of Remolinos has been displaced during Colombia’s civil war, and have recently begun to return. However, the recent developments are forcing families to displace themselves once again to nearby towns and cities like Soledad, Santo Tomas and Barranquilla, according to El Espectador newspaper.
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Guillermo Torres, a human rights defender and representative of the National Coordination for Displaced People, stated that armed men were seen in various areas of the municipality firing guns, according to El Heraldo newspaper.
Torres is one of the many names listed in the pamphlet to which the message is very clear.
“All these criminals and plagues have 72 hours to abandon the town. If you do not, we will drag you out of your house during the night and put a bullet in your skull or hunt you down wherever you may hide. The people on this list will meet their end, which is DEATH,” reads the crystal clear threat after a disclosing list of civilians who were required to flee.
“It is no secret that Remolino is in the process of victims returning and the restitution of lands; it can be presumed that this can be retaliations so that these processes don’t succeed,” declared Torres.
Recent activity in the region may suggest that the pamphlets are the work of politically-active drug trafficking organization “Los Rastrojos.” The police said to be investigating the authenticity of the pamphlet and who is responsible.
PROFILE: Rastrojos
Sources
- En Remolino, Magdalena se presentan nuevos casos de desplazamiento forzado (El Espectador)
- Éxodo en Remolino por amenazas en panfletos (El Heraldo)