Massacres of civilians in Colombia: soldiers make historic confessions

First modification: 04/27/2022 – 04:31

In an unprecedented acknowledgment in front of the families of the victims, ten retired soldiers publicly admitted on Tuesday, April 26, their responsibility in the execution of more than a hundred civilians in 2007 and 2008 in Colombia, presented by the Army as guerrillas. killed in combat.

These confessions occurred during a historic hearing organized by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) in the same region of the massacre, in the department of Norte de Santander, bordering Venezuela.

A general, four colonels, five soldiers, all retired, and a civilian admitted their participation in the kidnappings and cold-blooded murders of 120 young people in the town of Ocaña (100,000 inhabitants) to later present them as members of extreme leftist guerrillas.

Some fifty relatives of the victims took their places on Tuesday at the Ocaña university theater for this two-day hearing where the ex-military are called to “explain themselves clearly, answer questions and, above all, recognize their living responsibility, in front of the victims and the country,” according to Judge Catalina Díaz.

“False positives”

This public hearing in the form of catharsis is a big step to bring to light through the JEP -a special court resulting from the historic Peace Agreement signed in 2016 with the former guerrilla of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)- one of the biggest scandals in the recent history of the Colombian Army: the responsibility of the armed forces in extrajudicial executions of civilians for political purposes, a case known as “false positives”.

Often crying, the wives, mothers and sisters of the victims confronted the former military, including Brigadier General Paulino Coronado, the highest-ranking officer who appeared.

“After years of silence and fear, the moment of truth has finally arrived to end decades of impunity,” the JEP explained in a video shown before the court made up of five magistrates.

“I acknowledge and accept my responsibility as a co-perpetrator of these war crimes,” said former Corporal Néstor Gutiérrez, the first of the soldiers to speak. “We assassinated innocent people (…) I want to stress it: those we assassinated were simple peasants,” he admitted, referring to “pressure from the high command” and their “demands for results.”

6,402 civilians were executed, according to the JEP

Another defendant, Colonel Rubén Castro, admitted the existence of a “criminal gang” among his men “created with the sole purpose of increasing” losses. He apologized for demanding the murder of “good people”.

The defendants alternatively specified the circumstances in which these men were murdered, most of whom were between 25 and 35 years old, kidnapped peasants or young men deceived with promises of work. They were then executed on a nearby farm or in the surroundings of the Ocaña barracks. A practice motivated by an “institutional policy of the Army consisting of counting the corpses” to inflate its results in the fight against the guerrillas, lashed out Judge Díaz, who is presiding over the hearing.

In exchange, the soldiers received bonuses, permits, promotions and medals, explained the magistrate.

“I ask you to rehabilitate the names of our relatives (…). They were peasants who worked honestly, not criminals or guerrillas,” said Eduvina Becerra, a companion of one of the murdered peasants. “The Army deceived us, they killed our brothers, our children,” denounced Sandra Barbosa, sister of another victim.

According to the JEP, 6,402 civilians were executed between 2002 and 2008 in the country, in exchange for material benefits for the military. To date, about twenty of them have admitted their responsibility in these crimes.

The then president and commander in chief of the Armed Forces, the right-wing Álvaro Uribe (2002-2008), has always denied systematic action, speaking of “isolated cases.”

with AFP