Colombian cartels warned residents of nearly half of the country’s states that armed fighters would kill anyone who disobeyed the coronavirus blockade restrictions, according to a new report.
Despite government-ordered closing rules that started in March and have not yet been lifted, which include curfew hours but allow people to leave their homes out of necessity and in a medical emergency, according to reports, The cartel implemented stricter and sometimes deadly measures in 11 of the country’s 32 states.
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Groups of armed fighters handed out leaflets and communicated with communities via WhatsApp to establish curfews, blockades and movement restrictions for people, cars and boats, according to a report released Thursday by Human Rights Watch (HRW).
COVID-19’s instructions also included limits on store opening days and times, as well as community access prohibitions for foreigners and people from other communities.
A pamphlet of fighters of the National Liberation Army (ELN) in Bolívar, in northern Colombia, in early April said that “they were forced to kill people to preserve life” because the population had not “respected orders to avoid Covid-19 “. “
“This abusive social control reflects the government’s long-standing failure to establish a significant state presence in remote areas of the country, including to protect populations at risk,” said José Miguel Vivanco, director of America for HRW.
Members of the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are seen in the “Alfonso Artiaga” camp of the FARC 29th Front in a rural area of Policarpa, department of Narino, in southwestern Colombia, on January 17 2017. (LUIS ROBAYO / AFP via False images)
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The brochure said that “only people who work in grocery stores, bakeries and pharmacies can work,” and only until certain hours of the day, saying that others should stay “inside their homes,” according to a review by HRW.
Some contradictory mandates from cartel groups that exceeded government-implemented measures in terms of rigor left communities in difficulty without food and adequate needs, according to the report.
In Tumaco, armed cartel fighters overruled a government rule that allows street vendors to sell food as long as they avoid crowds.
But a community leader in the area told HRW that because the signs “do not allow street vending or [at times] allow [it] only until 5 in the afternoon … Families don’t get enough income to feed themselves. “
Some families have started sharing communal noodle soups or are simply sharing “a single pound of rice” among all family members, the person said.
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“The draconian ‘punishments’ imposed by armed groups to prevent the spread of Covid-19 mean that people in remote and impoverished communities in Colombia are at risk of being attacked and even killed if they leave their homes,” said Vivanco. “The government must urgently step up its efforts to protect these communities, ensure they have adequate food and water, and protect their health from the effects of Covid-19.”
