"[PDF] The Dark Side of Coal: Paramilitary violence in the Cesar region, Colombia"- 01 June 2014

PAX started fieldwork in 2011 with a view to analysing the human rights violations committed against the population of the Cesar coalmining region since the mid-1990s. The scope included both past and current infringements. The results of the study were intended to raise international attention for the suffering of the victims and the security situation of vulnerable groups, and to initiate a public debate about measures to relieve their situation. In 2012, PAX gained possession of written and oral statements made under oath by several exparamilitary commanders and former mining company contractors. The testimonies alleged that, for years, the mining companies Drummond and Prodeco had provided financial and logistical support to the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC: United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia) in the north of Colombia, in particular to the Juan Andrés Álvarez (JAA) Front of the Northern Bloc. The release of this new information led PAX to formulate the objective underlying this report. PAX wants to publicly report statements by both perpetrators and victims of gross human rights violations committed against the population in the Cesar mining region in the 1996-2006 period so as to describe the alleged role of the mininc companies in the paramilitary violence, the effects of which continue to this day. The aim of this report is to contribute to the truth finding process in Cesar and to further the resolution of the consequences of the violence for the victims…