April 14th 2011 This urgent action from the Latin American Working Group asks you to take action to protect the communities in resistance accompanied by PASC and Justicia y Paz. Afro-Colombian and mestizo communities in Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó living in “Humanitarian Zones”–or areas where the peaceful civilians who declared themselves neutral in the conflict could be clearly differentiated from combatants–have come under great threat during this past week. National and international courts have ordered the Colombian government to protect these communities from violence and until recently the Colombian Army had been providing some important protection around the outside of the humanitarian zones. But last week the Army retreated from several of their established and agreed upon protection posts. Around the time that the Army pulled back, a group of 20 paramilitaries armed with assault weapons was reported to be near the humanitarian zone of Andalucia-Caño Claro. Within days, paramilitaries armed with machetes tried to stab a community member, who narrowly escaped by running off into a field. And now the communities fear that an attack is imminent. To send a message to several important offices in the Colombian government asking them to protect these communities and investigate the attacks against them , visit the page of the Latin Americain Working Group