E/CN.4/1995/111 page 20 concerning them exaggerated propaganda, thus contradicting the civilian authorities, according to which former guerrilla combatants who had turned themselves in to the military were used as members of this group. B. Magdalena Medio 61. The region known as Magdalena Medio is composed of more than 30 municipalities within the departments of Antioquia, Caldas, Cundinamarca, Bolívar, Boyacá, Santander and Cesar. They include Barrancabermeja, Puerto Wilches, Sabana de Torres, San Vicente de Chucurí and El Carmen in the department of Santander; Yondó in the north-east of Antioquia and San Pablo in the south of Bolívar. Within this region, disputes between peasants and landowners over land rights have been the source of conflict for decades. During the 1960s, the region not only experienced agrarian conflict, but there were also labour disputes involving petroleum workers in Barrancabermeja, mainly organized by the Unión Sindical Obrera. At the same time, insurgent movements emerged, first the ELN and later the FARC, and common criminality increased. This confluence of situations prompted State intervention and it was considered necessary to restore order and eradicate violence by the use of the army. A situation characterized by the existence of a major social and political popular movement, the presence of the army and of guerrillas, and the activities of paramilitary groups, created a situation marked by new levels of violence which still persist. On the other hand, the National Plan of Rehabilitation characterized this region as socially deprived (lack of public services, high levels of unemployment, illiteracy and poor health, large slum areas where displaced people live, etc.). 62. With respect to Barrancabermeja, considered together with Urabá, the third human rights report of the Procuraduría noted that both regions have traditionally been violent and have histories of diverse types of confrontation that have adopted various forms, most of them armed. The level of impunity is extraordinarily high and the incidence of criminality above the national average. However, the institutional response has not resulted in the improvement of the situation, as the high number of complaints received about human rights violations illustrates. In fact, the situation in Barrancabermeja has even worsened, since it is the municipality that, without being the capital of the department, showed the highest number of complaints in 1992 and for 1993 this number practically doubled with respect to the previous year. It might be thought that this increase is due to greater trust in the mechanisms of control of the State over its organs. But unfortunately what it means is that a large State presence, far from improving the situation of violence, results in being one of the factors that contribute to it. Obviously, here reference is made to the State presence that goes beyond principles of law and ethics, and not to the administrative functions per se. 24/ 63. Most of the arrests in Barrancabermeja are carried out by Army and Police personnel, including their security and intelligence services. According to a report prepared by several NGOs on torture and arbitrary detention in the region, in a large number of the cases studied the detainees "were taken to the military installations of the Nueva Granada Battalion headquarters in Barrancabermeja and tortured there. Of the total number of reported