Article by PBI-Canada
On January 26, the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation tweeted: “The legal team of the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation has identified the need to promote the search for the cases of disappeared [in the department of] Casanare.”
Their Facebook post adds: “Following demands made of Sandra Herrera, the coordinator of the group for the search, identification and delivery group of missing persons, the Attorney General’s Office has managed to set up a work table to promote the search for the missing in Casanare belonging to [the Families Colombia – Founding Line] ‘for the forcibly disappeared’ and the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation.”
PBI-Colombia has previously explained: “The ‘Nydia Erika Bautista’ Foundation for Human Rights (FNEB) is an organization of relatives of the victims of forced disappearance from five regions around the country (Bogota, Valle del Cauca, Meta, Casanare and Putumayo) and an interdisciplinary group of lawyers, social workers and experts in social archives and communication, who accompany people who have suffered the disappearance of one or several loved ones.”
Yanette Bautista has been fighting against forced disappearances in Colombia since the disappearance of her 32-year-old sister Nydia Erika on August 30, 1987. Members of the Battalion of Intelligence and Counterintelligence (BINCI) of the Colombian National Army have been named as responsible for the disappearance of Nydia Erika.
In 1999, Yanette, while in exile for her own safety, founded the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation which is dedicated to the fight against forced disappearances.
The United Victims Registry (RUV), the government body in charge of registering war victims, has registered 150,000 forced disappearances between 1986 and 2017.
Peace Brigades has accompanied FNEB occasionally from 2007 and signed a full accompaniment agreement with them in 2016.
Yanette has previously commented on the significance of PBI accompaniment: “We felt very important, when we began to arrive at meetings with authorities alongside PBI, with their green vests, the authorities started to look at us differently.”
To see a 2-minute PBI-Colombia 25th anniversary video featuring Yanette, please click here.
