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WORD COUNT
596
MAY 28, 2008
A MASSACRE’S STAIN
REACHES WASHINGTON – by Jess Hunter-Brown
On a bright morning
three years ago deep in the Colombian countryside, a small village was
terrorized. Only today is the sad truth of what happened that day coming
to light—with the aftershocks felt in Washington.
On February 21, 2005,
armed men descended on San José de Apartadó, which years earlier
declared itself a neutral peace community in that war-torn country.
Before they left, eight people were dead, including community leader
Luis Eduardo Guerra and three children under 11.
While the community
uncovered the shallow graves of their neighbors, human rights groups
reported that the U.S.-backed Colombian Army’s notorious 17th
Brigade was responsible for the massacre. Colombian President Alvaro
Uribe and the military’s high command quickly sought to shift the blame.
Army and government officials claimed their investigations indicated a
guerrilla massacre. President Uribe and others suggested some peace
community members were in fact guerrillas themselves. “There are some
leaders, backers and defenders…belonging to the FARC, who want to use
the community to protect this terrorist organization,” said Uribe.
All the while, the
State Department faithfully stood by our key regional ally in the War on
Terror, repeatedly certifying the Colombian military’s human right
performance to keep the congressional tap open on millions of dollars in
military aid.
Human rights groups
and the peace community continued to pressure for an investigation into
the military’s role in the killings. Finally a break came two months ago
when Jorge Salgado—a right-wing paramilitary fighter—confessed.
“The children were
under the bed,” Salgado told investigators as he described horrors
carried out by Colombian Army and the U.S.-designated terrorist
paramilitary groups. “The girl was very nice, about 5 or 6, and the boy
was interesting…We asked the commanders to leave them in a neighboring
house, but they said they were a threat—that they would grow up to be
guerrillas…‘Cobra’ took the girl by the hair and cut her throat.”
Salgado’s confession
led to the biggest break in the case yet. In mid-May, Colombian Army
Capitan Guillermo Gordillo surprisingly asked to speak to investigators.
What he had to say rippled throughout the Colombian government and into
Washington. Capitan Gordillo explained that on the fateful day at least
100 troops from the 17th Brigade—including Gordillo
himself—made their way to the peace community accompanied by 50
paramilitary fighters under the command of “Don Berna.” He testified
that the massacre had been planned “for a while, by superiors” and gave
the names of a general, a colonel and a major who were involved in the
planning.
The revelation of the
truth behind this horrific massacre could not be more damning for the
Colombian and U.S. governments. Not only did the highest levels of the
Colombian Army plan the brutal massacre of civilians in a peace
community—including a child under 2—but they also carried out the
killings with right-wing paramilitaries, labeled as terrorists by the
U.S. government. In fact, the head of the paramilitary unit implicated
in the massacre was recently extradited to the United States to face
charges.
As policymakers in
Washington try to improve the tarnished image of the United States
abroad, a clear message must be sent to Colombia that such behavior will
not be tolerated. The State Department’s response—simply blocking aid to
the 17th Brigade—is not only insufficient; it is insulting to
the victims. Washington must withhold all military aid to Colombia until
all guilty parties are removed from service, punished for their crimes
and reparations are provided to the victims. The blood on the hands of
the Colombian military has stained Washington’s image in the region.
--
Jess Hunter-Bowman is
Andean Regional Director for Witness for Peace, a nonprofit organization
with 25 years of experience monitoring U.S. policy in Latin America.
www.witnessforpeace.org
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