Colombian military fire at house of JFC international guest Angel Torres
Angel Torres, who visited Europe in April as part of a delegation organised by Justice for Colombia which included stops in Brussells, london, Belfast and Dublin, had his house riddled with bullets by the Colombian Army.
Mr. Torres is a member of the peasant farmer organisation Association of Peasant Environmentalists of Lozada-Guayabero (Ascal-G) which organises in the area including the village of San Juan de Lozada where there has been an army camp set-up since November 2013. Since the troops from the 9th Mobile Brigade set-up in the area, local residents have been subjected to repeated harassment, including illegal searches, and having their photos taken to monitor their activities. In the last weeks of June and the first of July, numerous incidents were recorded.
On 24 June, the 22-year old Marco Tulio Salcedo Pinilla had his documents removed and was accused of being a guerrilla. Days later a member of Ascal-G was held by the troops and he was photographed. On 2 July an explosive device blew up just metres from the house of a local resident and on the evening of the 4 July after another explosive device blew up next to a house, the Army opened fire leaving 12 bullet holes in the house of Angel Torres. There were several people inside the house at the time, fortunately none of them were injured. When he took photos of the damage caused he was verbally abused by the soldiers.
