Colombia says violent expulsion of illegal miners on the HR
05:01 PM Colombia .- Some 425 people working in an illegal gold mine in Venezuela, including Brazilians and Colombians were repatriated from neighboring nation, in a measure being challenged severely by the Colombian authorities.

Defense Minister Gabriel Silva said Monday that while there may be legal reasons for removal and repatriation of the group, was a decision "unacceptable''because it violates the human rights, AP reported.

"There may be any number of reasons legal, institutional and territorial decision-making, but we agree that these decisions are implemented by force, expelling people from work, driving American compatriots that all they are doing is styling a future for their families,''said Silva.

It is "a violation of human rights, the right to liberty, the right to work, the right to life, decisions are unacceptable," the minister said in a brief speech at a coliseum here, where they were staying part of the returnees.

Colombian officials initially confirmed the repatriation of a group of 380 people, but after taking a census between Sunday and Monday indicated that it was 425, including 45 Brazilian and 380 Colombians.

The group was in a town illegally working in a gold mine that was closed porfuncionarios National Guard, according to officials from Colombia. Venezuela has not ruled on the case.

The returnees arrived early Saturday from the border to the remote village of Inírida in Guainia department, about 700 miles southeast of Bogota. Illegal mining is prevalent in those areas bordering Venezuela and Brazil.

"What happened to us was that we arrived and mistreated, they said they were from the National Guard, told his Brazilian passport showing Leonilda Pereira do Carmo, 40, told reporters in Inírida. The Ministry of Defense transported to the area to a group of reporters and photographers, including AP.

The man said he was in Venezuela ten years.

Silva said the Brazilian group could stay in Colombia "as long as required.''

"Our colleagues in Brazil we want to say: this is their home and be with us all the time that is required because they are our brothers," he said. "You're going to continue mining in Colombia. We'll deal with all the cordiality, with all humanitarian law, here you have a future."

In a press conference in Bogota, Diego Molano, director of Social Action or the government's attention to vulnerable populations, confirmed that the group had been evacuated from illegal gold mine in the neighboring country.

Molano and Foreign Ministry officials said that although initially Venezuela expelled some Colombians, whose numbers are explained later Colombians and Brazilians themselves decided to leave the territory of the neighboring country before any major legal problems or other incidents.

http://www.eluniversal.com/2009/11/30/pol_ava_colombia-dice-que-ex_30A3135133.shtml