The National Government at the head of the Ministry of Interior, together with the Victims Unit, the National Protection Unit, the Chocó Governorate, Police and National Army attend a monitoring and verification field meeting, of the situation presented in recent days in Bojayá, Chocó.

After yesterday the Ministry of Defense and the National Army visited the area and following the allegations made by four communities of Bojayá; La Loma, Corazon de Jesús, Pogue and Cuia, the National Government began the process of verification and monitoring of the situation of inhabitants of the area, due to the alleged incursion of illegal armed groups in the region.

On Friday and by order of the President of the Republic, Iván Duque, the Interior Minister Interior (E) Daniel Palacios traveled to Bojayá together with the director of the Victims Unit, Ramón Rodríguez, the governor of Chocó, the deputy director of the National Protection Unit and members of the National Army with the objective of verifying the situation the population is experiencing at the moment.

In this regard, the Interior Minister said that yesterday, measures had already been taken by the Military Forces to strengthen security in this area. He also indicated that one of the objectives of today's meeting is to establish conversations with the community.

The director of the Victims Unit, Ramón Rodríguez Andrade said that, “we have been accompanying Bojayá as a Victims Unit for Victims in each of the processes and today we are accompanying the Minister and the Military forces to take a tour, to review those risk reports, follow-up notes, in front of the Pogue community and what the community had manifested in front of the presence of illegal groups there and what we want is to review, talk with the communities and, mainly, give the peace of mind for part of the Military Forces”.

Recall that the department of Chocó has 189,438 victims reported in the Single Victims Registry, of which 174,591 are subject to care and / or reparation. In Bojayá alone there are 6,522 as the last known location, 6,269 of these are subject to attention, that is, they meet the requirements to access the care and repair measures established in Law 1448. The director of the Victims Unit added that, “the military operations that were already in the area are being reinforced, that is to say, the community of Chocó, especially that of Bojayá and Pogue that have the National Army, the Police and all the institutions to do the accompaniment in each of the processes”. Processes, he says, also advances the Unit for Victims in terms of “emergency care, aid and humanitarian assistance, but also the processes of reparation and collective reparation. There we will continue as a Victims Unit, as a National Government accompanying each of the processes”, he added.

The director also mentioned the mass burial of the victims of Bojayá, arranged with the community, which took place during the month of November 2019, an activity that accompanied the Victims Unit and in which more than 2 billion pesos were invested . And he also referred to 962 food packages that were delivered, between the first and December 13 of the year that ended, to those communities with mobility restrictions.

Accompaniment of the Victims Unit

In order to guarantee the joint action of the entities and with the objective of providing adequate responses in the municipalities of Chocó, the Victims Unit has requested the activation of contingency plans, promoting the convening of the Transitional Justice Committees and has accompanied the accomplishment of humanitarian missions to the areas affected by risk or humanitarian emergencies with the objective of attending to the population.

• March 1, 2019. Prevention and protection table convened by the Victims Unit in order to analyze and monitor the risk situation due to armed confrontations between the ELN guerrillas and Clan del Golfo. Coordination of actions for attention in the area.
• March 13, 2019. Meeting representatives of the communities and members of the Chocó Indigenous Dialogue and Coordination Board, Cooperating Organizations, Victim Unit, Secretary of the Interior of Chocó Department and Commander of the Army of Chocó Department in order to analyze the problem registered in the Opogadó river basin, jurisdiction of the municipality of Bojayá and coordinate attention and monitoring actions in the affected area.
• September 25-29, 2019. Humanitarian Mission with the accompaniment of Municipal Personnel, Municipality of Bojayá (Victims Liaison, officials of the Ministry of Municipal Health and Family Commissariat), a member of the Association of Indigenous Authorities - DRUA WANDRA in order to advance monitoring and verification of the risk of confinement and / or displacement of Afro-descendant communities in the Napipí and Opogadó river basins.
• October 11, 2019. Participated in CIPRAT carried out in the city of Quibdó, together with the municipal mayor's office, the Ombudsman, the National Police, the National Army, the Ministry of the Interior, the Municipal Office, the National Protection Unit and the Victims Unit. The risk situation registered in the area was contextualized and specific actions were socialized by the assisting entities, especially the Public Force.
• October 24, 2019. Territorial Committee of Transitional Justice in which the public order situation registered in the municipality of Bojayá was analyzed, which affects Afro-descendant and indigenous communities.
• November 14, 2019. Interinstitutional Meeting convened by the Victims Unit with the Local Humanitarian Team in order to coordinate humanitarian assistance in the municipality of Bojayá. Social Pastoral, Norwegian Refugee Council - NRC, Alliance for Solidarity, World Lutheran Federation, Heartland Alliance participated and the intervention areas were defined that allowed not to dualize care in the same basin and distribute interventions both in areas affected by confinement as well as areas at risk
• December 9 to 13, 2019. Humanitarian Mission for Humanitarian Attention to Afro-descendant and indigenous communities prioritized by the Mayor of Bojayá. Food kits and toiletries were delivered in the communities of Cuia and Chicue basins.