Nomadesc remembers Michael Andrés Aranda Perez and Harold Antonio Rodríguez at meeting with Canadian ambassador

Photo by Nomadesc.

On May 16, the Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project accompanied the Association for Research and Social Action (Nomadesc) at a meeting with Canadian Ambassador Marianick Tremblay in Cali.

Above you can see that posters of Michael Andrés Aranda Perez and Harold Antonio Rodríguez were held in the group photo with the Ambassador.

Michael Andrés Aranda Perez

Cuestión Pública reports: “The young man from Cali was killed on May 28 [2021] by a bullet wound to the abdomen while participating, for the first time, in a demonstration. His relatives presume that the shot came from uniformed police officers and assure that the investigation for his murder does not advance in the Prosecutor’s Office.”

Harold Antonio Rodríguez

Manifiesta Media has reported: “On the night of May 3, 2021, Harold Rodríguez wanted to buy two sausages to go and then go to a viewpoint near his best friend’s house to see Comuna 20 and southern Cali. But in the midst of the onslaught of the Police, the GOES and the ESMAD at the Glorieta de Siloé during a vigil Harold died from a rifle shot to the face. The public force is presumably involved in the murder.”

Vorágine also reports: “The mother of Harold Antonio Rodriguez, a 20-year-old who had just left military service in Chocó, where he fought dissidents from the FARC and other illegal armed organized crime groups [says] ‘he defended his homeland by fighting the guerrillas and now the same homeland killed him,’ she says from her workplace in lower Siloam, just in the same direction where police from the Special Operations Group (Goes) and military arrived to break into the sector after 9:00 p.m. that day, to put control in the area after the riots that were being generated by the clash between the Esmad and demonstrators in the roundabout of Siloé.”

Canada on police violence

On May 9, 2021, Canada’s then-Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau stated: “Canada condemns the violence, including the disproportionate use of force by security forces, and urges that the violence cease.” That comment was quickly followed by: “We welcome the Government of Colombia’s commitment to fully investigate and hold accountable those who may be guilty of violating human rights during these events.”

By July 14, 2021, when Garneau met with Colombian Vice-President Marta Lucía Ramírez, he: “emphasized Canada’s concerns regarding violence in Colombia, both in the context of social protests and against social leaders and ex-combatants working to implement peace.” Garneau then again “called on Colombia to keep its commitment to fully investigate and hold anyone who has violated human rights to account for their actions.”

PBI at the UN

On March 8, Peace Brigades International co-signed this open letter that was presented to the UN Human Rights Council that says:

“Almost a year after these events [the protests of April and May 2021], the criminalization and prosecution of those who were in the so-called ‘Front Lines’ (Primera Línea) leading the protests and the human rights organizations that accompany them continue. Likewise, we see a lack of progress and results in the investigations against members of the Police allegedly involved in human rights violations during the protests.”

We continue to follow this situation.