Seven former commanders of the defunct FARC guerrillas acknowledged this Monday (27) their responsibility for the “heinous crime” that killed nine councilors from Rivera, in the department of Huila, in southern Colombia, which is turning 17 years old.
“Today, the signatories of the Peace Agreement, the former Secretariat and the now-disappeared Bloc del Sur, acknowledge responsibility for the massacre of Rivera councillors,” said seven of the members of the last FARC secretariat, which includes its last leader, Rodrigo Londoño. known in partisan times as Timochenko.
On February 27, 2006, members of the mobile column Teófilo Forero, from the South Bloc of the FARC, invaded a hotel where the Council of Rivera was meeting, opening fire on the 11 councilors who were there, nine of whom were killed. The other two were injured.
The former FARC leaders now recognize that it was “a premeditated plan”, in which they gathered information about the location of the massacre and determined “the guerrillas who would execute it”.
“We recognize the irreparable damage caused to their families, especially their wives, sons and daughters, who lost their economic support and, above all, the love and company of a loved one”, says the open letter published by the former guerrillas.
The acknowledgment of responsibility is a first action of reparation by the former FARC high command, which they had already done with other massacres perpetrated and which is usually followed by a request for forgiveness from the victims and their families.
In this case, Londoño, together with Julián Gallo, Pablo Catatumbo, Pastor Alape, Milton de Jesús Toncel, Rodrigo Granda and Jaime Alberto Parra assure that they have started a “process of clarification and recognition of the facts”, but recognize that their “contributions (really) were not satisfactory”.
“We want to reiterate our desire to restore the process of recognition of responsibility, to offer you the results of our investigation that will answer so many questions and contribute to the truth that you, victims, need”, they said.
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