The Colombian Government withdraws the decorations from the general who led the retaking of the Palace of Justice

Gone are the days of glory for Jesús Armando Arias Cabrales, who as commander of the Thirteenth Brigade of the Colombian Army led the operation to retake the Palace of Justice, on November 6 and 7, 1985. The military reaction to The takeover of the judicial facilities by the M-19 guerrilla was initially interpreted as a military victory. But the four medals that were given to Arias Cabrales in the following years faded as new details became known: evidence, testimonies and videos showed that some of the people presumed dead had left the Palace alive and never appeared. Arias Cabrales was no longer considered a hero, and this Wednesday the Government of Gustavo Petro ordered the withdrawal of his decorations.

A decree from the Ministry of Defense establishes that the decision is due to the fact that the retired general was convicted of intentional crimes – committed with the intention of causing harm. In 2011, a judge sentenced Arias to 35 years in prison for the forced disappearance of five people, a decision that was later ratified by the Court of Bogotá and the Supreme Court of Justice. The document establishes that, because the crime of forced disappearance constitutes a serious violation of human rights, it implies “a clear obligation of the State to adopt, immediately, all measures to guarantee the victims' rights to the truth, justice and reparation.”

In 2014, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights declared the Colombian State responsible for the arbitrary deprivation of liberty and torture committed against four people, and for the forced disappearance of 11 others, one of whom was the former assistant magistrate of the Council of State, Carlos Horacio Urán Rojas, who was also found to have been extrajudicially executed. His daughter, Helena Urán Bidegain, who was 10 years old at the time of her death, was one of the three people—along with journalists Diana López Zuleta, a collaborator of this medium, and Gonzalo Guillén—who presented a right to petition, in January 2023, before the Minister of Defense, Iván Velásquez, to “immediately, officially and publicly withdraw the Distinguished Services in Public Order Medal from retired General Jesús Armando Arias Cabrales, and all other recognitions that he has received as a military member after of the retaking of the Palace of Justice in 1985.

“It is not revenge,” Urán clarifies to this newspaper after the decree was known. For the author of the book My life and the Palace, in which he tells how this episode impacted his life and that of his family, this is a “historic decision,” because it comes from the State, “which always denied it before.” It is, rather, “an issue typical of a democracy, something that must continue to happen in Colombia and anywhere in the world when the Public Force abuses its power or commits war crimes or crimes against humanity, and it is clearly a measure of non-repetition and democratization of the country. And I can only think of my father and all those who died due to the actions or orders of this man.”

López, who also promoted the withdrawal of medals from the former governor of La Guajira Kiko Gómez, responsible for the murder of his father in other circumstances, assures that these types of decisions are “restorative measures”, since it was “an affront to the victims and to the same institutionality that Arias Cabrales has been granted official decorations, even after the takeover of the Palace of Justice. The withdrawal of the medals, furthermore, is a message to the entire country: recognition cannot be granted to those who have abused their power and committed crimes under the cover of their official positions.”

The decree stripping him of his military recognitions, however, was signed by the Minister of Justice, Néstor Osuna, who was appointed by President Petro as Minister of Defense. ad hoc to resolve this specific right to petition, after Velásquez declares himself prevented from having acted as a lawyer for Helena Urán in the past.

Last chance before the JEP

Just a year ago, in January 2023, the victims of the disappearances from the Palace of Justice, who are still seeking to know what happened in those 48 hours, why they never saw their relatives who came out alive again, and who gave the order After disappearing, they found themselves face to face with Arias Cabrales, now 87 years old. They did so at the request of the same retired general, who had requested to benefit from the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), the transitional court born from the peace agreement between the Government and the FARC, which grants more favorable sentences to those responsible for crimes. committed within the framework of the conflict instead of making contributions to the truth.

The victims in the room hoped that Arias would clarify what happened. But during the two days of hearings, the soldier did not say anything new: he repeated what other defendants had said or reiterated old accusations. “I don't have the evidence,” “I didn't know,” “I don't know,” “I found out.” a posteriori”were some of his statements. He maintained that, despite having commanded the operation, he had no direct knowledge because it was his subordinates who were in the Palace. Finally, he said that he also considered himself a victim.

On March 16, 2023, finding that Arias had not made an extraordinary contribution to the truth, the JEP decided to expel him from the transitional justice mechanism. Thus, he lost the temporary freedom that he had obtained since 2020 and the victims were left without knowing what happened. They assure that there is a “pact of silence” among the military and ask the JEP to declassify and allow them access to the intelligence, counterintelligence and reserved expenses files of the defunct Administrative Department of Security (DAS), which remain protected by that jurisdiction. . For her part, Helena Urán has requested President Petro to ask the United States Government to release the classified files on what happened on November 6 and 7, 1985.

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