Paramilitaries warn victims representative that next video to upset Colombia will be of her son

by Adriaan Alsema July 2, 2019

One of Colombia’s most prominent victim representatives has been told that the next child who will be crying over his mother’s dead body will be hers.

Yirley Velasco, who survived the 2000 Massacre of El Salado, on Saturday received her latest death threat in a white envelop tied with a black ribbon that was signed by the AUC, the paramilitary organization whose members raped her.

When I was 14, my life was destroyed. The paramilitaries entered my village. The took us all to the football field. They kept us there for an entire day and killed at least 66 people. They gave each people a number and if they picked a certain number, that person was murdered. They played a song after every death. The massacre took the entire day while we were lying down on the football field. The guys were walking around drunk and stoned, and were killing people everywhere. Well, during that massacre they raped me. Four guys grabbed me, they beat me and they raped me. They told me to get on my knees and beg for my life, but I wouldn’t kneel. I told them I only knelt for God. They struck my knees, but weren’t able to take me down. The only thing I have left is the dignity of not kneeling for them, that the only way they could make me kneel was when I was already unconscious. After that massacre, we all left the village.

Victims representative Yirley Velasco

In the threat, Velasco was told that “you’re a rat, a guerrilla” and that “we will do the same or worse as what they did to Maria del Pilar Hurtado,” the community leader whose assassination triggered national indignation earlier this month.

. . .

“The police are our allies. They are the ones keeping us informed about you,” the death threat made clear.

More:
https://colombiareports.com/paramilitaries-warn-massacre-survivor-that-next-video-to-upset-colombia-will-be-of-her-son/