Colombian authorities revealed Wednesday a pamphlet from a group calling itself the “Anti-Restitution Army” had issued death threats to 13 human rights supporters in the country.
The obscenity-laden document called prominent land restitution advocates, including Colombian politicians Ivan Cepeda, Piedad Cordoba and lawyer Jose Humberto Torres, “guerrillas hidden in the roles of human rights defenders” and said the “Anti-Restitution Army” had instructions to “eliminate them.”
“We will not allow the taking of this land from good people to give to guerrillas disguised as victims,” the document read.
According to official figures, there have been 169 threats made against human rights supporters in Colombia in 2012.
Colombia’s Victims and Land Restitution Law, which went into effect in January, seeks to restore land stolen from citizens through displacement by armed groups. Claimants have to prove that their land was lost through forced displacement and that they will use their restored property for something useful.
