Once the emergency situation occurred on March 21 and 25 of this year in nine villages of the municipality of Puerto Libertador, Córdoba, and one of the Ituango municipality, Antioquia. The Victims Unit began the process of verification and expansion of information and has participated in coordination scenarios for the care and assistance of the people affected by this fact.
On March 21, 121 families (368 people), according to the Ombudsman and the municipal mayor’s office, had to leave the villages of Santa Rosa, Puerto Libertador and La Flecha, Ituango, due to threats from an illegal armed group, and arrived at the urban area of Puerto Libertador.
On the 25th of the same month, 609 families (1738 people) left, among them zenú and embera katios indigenous, from the villages of Riosucio, Rogero, Santa Bárbara, Jagua, Mutatá, Soledad, Tres Playitas and La Ilusión, also arriving to the urban area of that municipality.
Since then, the Victims Unit has carried out various actions to address the humanitarian emergency. On March 22, 29 and 30, the Entity participated in Transitional Justice Committees where the circumstances were analyzed and the care routes for the victims were activated.
The Unit requested the Territorial Entity the immediate activation of the Contingency Plan, taking into account the components of care: registration, accommodation, food, health and basic sanitation, education and good use of free time. He also led on April 1 a working table, with the Government of Córdoba, the Mayor of Puerto Libertador and the members of the local coordination team, to advance in the coupling of the interventions.
Humanitarian actions
In the framework of subsidiary support to the territorial entities, the Victims Unit to date has invested $ 340,979,310 COP to care for the affected population.
On April 8, the unit delivered an enlistment kit to shelter the municipality of Puerto Libertador, and on the 15th of the same month, it delivered 730 food kits in the village of Juan José for the families of the communities of Santa Rosa, Flecha, Jagua, Bocas de Río Sucio, Illusion, Santa Bárbara and the Embera and Zenú indigenous families, in compliance with the request made by the Government of Córdoba.
The Unit also delivered 350 kits of habitat composed of sheets, screens, blankets, mats, towels, dishes and kitchen kits.
Regarding the accommodation of families, it was located in several points of the town center of Juan Jose township, among which are communal houses, the church and territories of indigenous communities, from there, the municipal administration of Puerto Libertador, the Victims Unit, the World Food Program and other organizations maintained a schedule for the delivery of food.
For the attention in the component of health and basic sanitation, the municipal administration had a doctor and an auxiliary nurse to diagnose the families and the Ministry of Health committed to install 1000 mosquitoes and make a treatment for malaria.
Likewise, the Government of Córdoba sent a brigade with 8 technicians who fumigated the relevant places for the prevention of vectors (insects or microorganisms that transmit diseases).
The Infrastructure Ministry of the municipality, with the support of a private company and the Norwegian Council, entered to prepare the temporary shelters with excreta disposal systems.
In relation to education and good use of free time, the Government of Cordoba managed with the Educational Institution Juan José the habilitation of four classrooms for the care of 200 displaced children and the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare arrived with 04 Mobile Units that they provide psychosocial support, restore rights and deliver ‘Bienestarina’ liquid.
Previous actions
In the framework of urgent prevention, the Victims’ Unit is carrying out previous actions with the territorial entities that allow them to identify and analyze risks and strengthen their capacity to respond to the occurrence of humanitarian emergencies, in this sense, on February 20, participated in a Municipal Committee of Alerts for Rapid Reaction, with the objective of meeting the recommendations of the Ombudsman’s Office.
On March 5, the entity provided advice to the municipalities of Puerto Libertador and Montelíbano, to update the municipal contingency plans and deliver humanitarian aid in the event of any humanitarian emergencies that may arise.
On March 14, the Unit undertook a risk verification mission for violation of Human Rights in the townships of Juan José, Río Verde and San Juan, according to the agreements previously assumed for the municipality of Puerto Libertador.
The Unit for Integral Attention and Reparation for Victims maintains the follow-up and accompaniment to the families, coordinates the interventions in favor of the same and monitors the conditions of public order.
