Translation By: Colombia Human Rights Committee (Washington)
March 27, 2008
Arrest warrants issued for 15 members of the military for San José de Apartadó massacre
Photo: Jesús Abad Colorado _ Archive / EL TIEMPO
Eight persons died in the massacre.
Photo: Jesús Abad Colorado _ Archive / ELTIEMPO
For the Office of the Attorney General (the "Fiscalía") it is clear that the action at San José de Apartadó sought to impose fear and terror in the civilians of that community.
The decision was provoked by the testimony of Jorge Luis Salgado, a former paramilitary who accused the soldiers of assassinating, in association with the AUC, the three children and eight adults.
"The children were under the bed. The girl was very nice, 5 or 6 years old, and the little boy was also a curious little one.... We proposed to the commanders to leave them in a neighboring home, but they said that they were a threat, that they would become guerrillas in the future.... 'Cobra' grabbed the girl by the hair and ran the machete through her throat," Salgado, a native of Carepa (Antioquia), told the authorities last January 30.
The massacre in the peace community occurred on February 21, 2005.
That day, the mutilated and decapitated bodies were left in the middle of the jungle and in have-covered graves.
All the victims were members of a group that declared itself neutral in the Colombian armed conflict, and who had been zealously requesting special protection.
Though at first testimony indicated that the persons responsible for these deeds were members of the 17th Army Brigade and men under the command of Diego Murillo, 'Don Berna,' this is the first time that someone who was in the ranks of the executioners has told the story.
"None of us knew where we were arriving at, we only knew that we had to go to the hamlet La Resbalosa and go through the area accompanied by the Army," stated the former paramilitary.
Three second lieutenants involved
His testimony just precipitated several important decisions in this emblematic case that has already come before international courts. .
Twelve days ago, the Fiscalía send a communication to the commander of the Army, Gen. Mario Montoya, in which it asks him to order the appropriate persons to arrest 15 active-duty members of that armed body who in 2005 were assigned to the area where the facts unfolded.
In the letter, the Fiscalía notes that initially the members of the Army will give sworn statements.
But one of the investigators assured EL TIEMPO that their arrest was ordered "because there are sufficient indicia to presume their responsibility in the events in Apartadó."
The list that Gen. Montoya received includes three second lieutenants, four sergeants, and eight corporals.
Already in November 2007, Army Capt. Guillermo Armando Gordillo Sánchez was arrested in connection with these same facts.
The officer, mentioned several times in the record, opted to remain silent throughout the sworn statement taken from him a few months ago.
And although his defense counsel has alleged his complete innocence, the Fiscalía opted to indict him of homicide of a protected person, conspiracy to engage in criminal conduct, and terrorism, as co-perpetrator.
The radio operator of Héroes de Tolová, Adriano José Cano Arteaga, told the Fiscalía that Gordillo's group had gone out to patrol with the paramilitaries on several occasions.
'Cobra' Fell
His testimony and that of Jorge Luis Salgado David made it possible, ten days ago, for a specialized prosecutor to order the arrest of the two former paramilitary chiefs accused of active participation in the massacre.
They are Joel José Vargas Flórez and José Clímaco Falco, alias 'Cobra,' the man who allegedly beheaded five-year-old Natalia.
And while the Fiscalía defines the legal status of the Army members implicated, attorneys for the victims' next-of-kin are seeking access to the testimony of the paramilitaries on the heart-rending events of three years ago.
Salgado David, for example, recalls that the father of the beheaded girl begged on his knees for the children's lives.
In addition, he said that the girl thought she was going on an outing and prepared a change of clothes for her little brother for the trip.
"She waved goodbye with her little hand," the former paramilitary recalled.
And he added that the violence of the attack involved such extreme cruelty that when he came across the corpse of one man, allegedly a guerrilla, he almost vomited.
"He was split, destroyed at the stomach.... You could see his intestines and a white thing. I had just eaten pork, and I felt like vomiting."
Witness protection
Today, paradoxically, Jorge Salgado David, is asking for protection.
One group of demobilized paramilitaries has tried to kill him at least twice because he is refusing to go into the `Águilas Negras,' or `Black Eagles,' the emerging paramilitary group with tentacles throughout the country.
Fortunately, the authorities are already pursuing the men who want to kill him.
San José: A peace community
The massacre that occurred in 2005 in San José de Apartadó, and the situation of accusations and stigmatization that stemmed from this incident in this peace community is one of the cases that NGOs have brought before international courts to accuse the Colombian State of not working to defense human rights.
Indeed, since 2002, this community of Urabá, in the department of Antioquia, had provisional measures issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of the Organization of American States.
The international organization has demanded that the Colombian government adopt measures to safeguard the life and integrity of the members of the peace community.
Today, more than three years after the facts, this case and that of another 170 assassinations committed since 1997 in San José de Apartadó, is before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington .
The case should then go before the Inter-American Court , based in Costa Rica , which will then have to decide the matter.
In addition, reports on some of these crimes have been sent to the International Criminal Court, the European Parliament, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights, and other international organizations.
The members of the Army for whom arrest warrants were issued
In the letter sent to Gen. Mario Montoya, the Fiscalía asks for the immediate arrest of second lieutenants Alejandro Jaramillo Giraldo, Jorge Humberto Milanés Vega, and Édgar García Estupiñán.
Also included are second sergeants Ángel María Padilla Petro, Henry Guasmayán Ortega, Darío José Brango Agamez, and Óscar Jaime González, and corporals Sabaraín Cruz Reina, Ricardo Bastidas Candia, Héctor Londoño Ramírez, Luis Gutiérrez Echeverría, Jesús David Cardona Casas, Yuber Carranza Rodríguez, Ramón Mican Guativa, and José Carmona.
Extra-officially it was learned that five have already been arrested.
Already in November 2007 Capt. Guillermo Armando Gordillo Sánchez had been arrested in connection with these same facts.
He was the commander of the Bolívar Company, part of the Vélez de Carepa Battalion (Antioquia), who carried out Operation 'Fénix' during the days on which the massacre occurred.
For the investigative agency, "his presence at the time and place is clear and undeniable."
Therefore, he was denied pre-trial release, and has been behind bars since last November.
Several witnesses have testified against him, indicating that the officer agreed to carry out joint patrols with the paramilitaries from the unit known as Bloque 'Héroes de Tolová', which demobilized as part of the peace process with the Government.
One of the witnesses is Adriano José Cano, who was the radio operator of that paramilitary faction, who told the Fiscalía that after the massacre, the captain reproached the paramilitaries for what they had done.
"He told them that it was a major blunder," he said, adding that the members of the military did nothing to prevent the crime or to pursue those responsible.
The now former paramilitary said that the members of the AUC were the Army's guides, but when they reached the campesinos' homes "they entered the houses, intimidated, tortured, and killed" using machetes and firearms.
Cases in which members of the military forces or National Police have been involved
JAMUNDÍ
Last February 18 Col. Byron Carvajal, former commander of High Mountain Battalion No. 3 (Batallón de Alta Montaña No. 3), and 14 of his men were convicted by a judge in Cali for the murder of 10 police officers and one informant in the rural part of Jamundí (Valle del Cauca).
The sentence will be handed down on April 21, but it is thought that it will not be less than 25 years. In the colonel's case, he having apparently planned the attack, a penalty of 40 to 60 years is not out of the question.
RETAKING OF THE PALACIO DE JUSTICIA
The Fiscalía ordered the arrest of (ret.) Col. Alfonso Plazas Vega, in mid-July 2007, in relation to the disappearance of Carlos Rodríguez and Cristina Guarín, who were employees in the cafeteria of the Palacio de Justicia, and Irma Franco, a member of the M_19 guerrilla organization.
As part of the proceeding into these two disappearances, (retired) sergeants Antonio Jiménez and Ferney Causalla were arrested; at the time that had been part of Army intelligence (B2 del Ejército), which participated in retaking the Palacio.
MAPIRIPÁN MASSACRE
Col. Lino Sánchez was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the massacre, which took place from July 15 to 20, 1997, in the municipality of Mapiripán , Meta , which resulted in the deaths of more than 49 persons. The same sentence was imposed, as indirect co-perpetrators, on sergeants Juan Carlos Gamarra Polo and José Miller Urueña Díaz,
In 2003, the Fiscalía indicted Gen. Jaime Alberto Uscátegui, but he was acquitted in November 2007 by a judge in Bogotá.
u.investigativa@eltiempo.com.co
Killed in the massacre were Luis Guerra, his wife Beyanira Areiza, and their son Deyner Guerra. In addition, Alfonso Bolívar, his wife Sandra Graciano, their children Natalia and Santiago , and Alejandro Pérez. Jesús Abad Colorado _ Archive / EL TIEMPO
For the Fiscalía it is clear that the action in San José de Apartadó sought to impose fear and terror among the civilians in that community. Jesús Abad Colorado _ Archive / ELTIEMPO
March 27, 2008
Arrest warrants issued for 15 members of the military for San José de Apartadó massacre
Photo: Jesús Abad Colorado _ Archive / EL TIEMPO
Eight persons died in the massacre.
Photo: Jesús Abad Colorado _ Archive / ELTIEMPO
For the Office of the Attorney General (the "Fiscalía") it is clear that the action at San José de Apartadó sought to impose fear and terror in the civilians of that community.
The decision was provoked by the testimony of Jorge Luis Salgado, a former paramilitary who accused the soldiers of assassinating, in association with the AUC, the three children and eight adults.
"The children were under the bed. The girl was very nice, 5 or 6 years old, and the little boy was also a curious little one.... We proposed to the commanders to leave them in a neighboring home, but they said that they were a threat, that they would become guerrillas in the future.... 'Cobra' grabbed the girl by the hair and ran the machete through her throat," Salgado, a native of Carepa (Antioquia), told the authorities last January 30.
The massacre in the peace community occurred on February 21, 2005.
That day, the mutilated and decapitated bodies were left in the middle of the jungle and in have-covered graves.
All the victims were members of a group that declared itself neutral in the Colombian armed conflict, and who had been zealously requesting special protection.
Though at first testimony indicated that the persons responsible for these deeds were members of the 17th Army Brigade and men under the command of Diego Murillo, 'Don Berna,' this is the first time that someone who was in the ranks of the executioners has told the story.
"None of us knew where we were arriving at, we only knew that we had to go to the hamlet La Resbalosa and go through the area accompanied by the Army," stated the former paramilitary.
Three second lieutenants involved
His testimony just precipitated several important decisions in this emblematic case that has already come before international courts. .
Twelve days ago, the Fiscalía send a communication to the commander of the Army, Gen. Mario Montoya, in which it asks him to order the appropriate persons to arrest 15 active-duty members of that armed body who in 2005 were assigned to the area where the facts unfolded.
In the letter, the Fiscalía notes that initially the members of the Army will give sworn statements.
But one of the investigators assured EL TIEMPO that their arrest was ordered "because there are sufficient indicia to presume their responsibility in the events in Apartadó."
The list that Gen. Montoya received includes three second lieutenants, four sergeants, and eight corporals.
Already in November 2007, Army Capt. Guillermo Armando Gordillo Sánchez was arrested in connection with these same facts.
The officer, mentioned several times in the record, opted to remain silent throughout the sworn statement taken from him a few months ago.
And although his defense counsel has alleged his complete innocence, the Fiscalía opted to indict him of homicide of a protected person, conspiracy to engage in criminal conduct, and terrorism, as co-perpetrator.
The radio operator of Héroes de Tolová, Adriano José Cano Arteaga, told the Fiscalía that Gordillo's group had gone out to patrol with the paramilitaries on several occasions.
'Cobra' Fell
His testimony and that of Jorge Luis Salgado David made it possible, ten days ago, for a specialized prosecutor to order the arrest of the two former paramilitary chiefs accused of active participation in the massacre.
They are Joel José Vargas Flórez and José Clímaco Falco, alias 'Cobra,' the man who allegedly beheaded five-year-old Natalia.
And while the Fiscalía defines the legal status of the Army members implicated, attorneys for the victims' next-of-kin are seeking access to the testimony of the paramilitaries on the heart-rending events of three years ago.
Salgado David, for example, recalls that the father of the beheaded girl begged on his knees for the children's lives.
In addition, he said that the girl thought she was going on an outing and prepared a change of clothes for her little brother for the trip.
"She waved goodbye with her little hand," the former paramilitary recalled.
And he added that the violence of the attack involved such extreme cruelty that when he came across the corpse of one man, allegedly a guerrilla, he almost vomited.
"He was split, destroyed at the stomach.... You could see his intestines and a white thing. I had just eaten pork, and I felt like vomiting."
Witness protection
Today, paradoxically, Jorge Salgado David, is asking for protection.
One group of demobilized paramilitaries has tried to kill him at least twice because he is refusing to go into the `Águilas Negras,' or `Black Eagles,' the emerging paramilitary group with tentacles throughout the country.
Fortunately, the authorities are already pursuing the men who want to kill him.
San José: A peace community
The massacre that occurred in 2005 in San José de Apartadó, and the situation of accusations and stigmatization that stemmed from this incident in this peace community is one of the cases that NGOs have brought before international courts to accuse the Colombian State of not working to defense human rights.
Indeed, since 2002, this community of Urabá, in the department of Antioquia, had provisional measures issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of the Organization of American States.
The international organization has demanded that the Colombian government adopt measures to safeguard the life and integrity of the members of the peace community.
Today, more than three years after the facts, this case and that of another 170 assassinations committed since 1997 in San José de Apartadó, is before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington .
The case should then go before the Inter-American Court , based in Costa Rica , which will then have to decide the matter.
In addition, reports on some of these crimes have been sent to the International Criminal Court, the European Parliament, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights, and other international organizations.
The members of the Army for whom arrest warrants were issued
In the letter sent to Gen. Mario Montoya, the Fiscalía asks for the immediate arrest of second lieutenants Alejandro Jaramillo Giraldo, Jorge Humberto Milanés Vega, and Édgar García Estupiñán.
Also included are second sergeants Ángel María Padilla Petro, Henry Guasmayán Ortega, Darío José Brango Agamez, and Óscar Jaime González, and corporals Sabaraín Cruz Reina, Ricardo Bastidas Candia, Héctor Londoño Ramírez, Luis Gutiérrez Echeverría, Jesús David Cardona Casas, Yuber Carranza Rodríguez, Ramón Mican Guativa, and José Carmona.
Extra-officially it was learned that five have already been arrested.
Already in November 2007 Capt. Guillermo Armando Gordillo Sánchez had been arrested in connection with these same facts.
He was the commander of the Bolívar Company, part of the Vélez de Carepa Battalion (Antioquia), who carried out Operation 'Fénix' during the days on which the massacre occurred.
For the investigative agency, "his presence at the time and place is clear and undeniable."
Therefore, he was denied pre-trial release, and has been behind bars since last November.
Several witnesses have testified against him, indicating that the officer agreed to carry out joint patrols with the paramilitaries from the unit known as Bloque 'Héroes de Tolová', which demobilized as part of the peace process with the Government.
One of the witnesses is Adriano José Cano, who was the radio operator of that paramilitary faction, who told the Fiscalía that after the massacre, the captain reproached the paramilitaries for what they had done.
"He told them that it was a major blunder," he said, adding that the members of the military did nothing to prevent the crime or to pursue those responsible.
The now former paramilitary said that the members of the AUC were the Army's guides, but when they reached the campesinos' homes "they entered the houses, intimidated, tortured, and killed" using machetes and firearms.
Cases in which members of the military forces or National Police have been involved
JAMUNDÍ
Last February 18 Col. Byron Carvajal, former commander of High Mountain Battalion No. 3 (Batallón de Alta Montaña No. 3), and 14 of his men were convicted by a judge in Cali for the murder of 10 police officers and one informant in the rural part of Jamundí (Valle del Cauca).
The sentence will be handed down on April 21, but it is thought that it will not be less than 25 years. In the colonel's case, he having apparently planned the attack, a penalty of 40 to 60 years is not out of the question.
RETAKING OF THE PALACIO DE JUSTICIA
The Fiscalía ordered the arrest of (ret.) Col. Alfonso Plazas Vega, in mid-July 2007, in relation to the disappearance of Carlos Rodríguez and Cristina Guarín, who were employees in the cafeteria of the Palacio de Justicia, and Irma Franco, a member of the M_19 guerrilla organization.
As part of the proceeding into these two disappearances, (retired) sergeants Antonio Jiménez and Ferney Causalla were arrested; at the time that had been part of Army intelligence (B2 del Ejército), which participated in retaking the Palacio.
MAPIRIPÁN MASSACRE
Col. Lino Sánchez was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the massacre, which took place from July 15 to 20, 1997, in the municipality of Mapiripán , Meta , which resulted in the deaths of more than 49 persons. The same sentence was imposed, as indirect co-perpetrators, on sergeants Juan Carlos Gamarra Polo and José Miller Urueña Díaz,
In 2003, the Fiscalía indicted Gen. Jaime Alberto Uscátegui, but he was acquitted in November 2007 by a judge in Bogotá.
u.investigativa@eltiempo.com.co
Killed in the massacre were Luis Guerra, his wife Beyanira Areiza, and their son Deyner Guerra. In addition, Alfonso Bolívar, his wife Sandra Graciano, their children Natalia and Santiago , and Alejandro Pérez. Jesús Abad Colorado _ Archive / EL TIEMPO
For the Fiscalía it is clear that the action in San José de Apartadó sought to impose fear and terror among the civilians in that community. Jesús Abad Colorado _ Archive / ELTIEMPO
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