January 28, 2010
Miami’s El Nuevo Herald and Spain’s Público have run stories in the past two days about a shocking find in La Macarena, about 200 miles south of Bogotá.
Residents say that after it entered the strongly guerrilla-controlled zone in the mid-2000s, Colombia’s Army began dumping unidentified bodies in a mass grave near a local cemetery. The grave may contain as many as 2,000 bodies.
---
Público reports:
"Since 2005 the Army, whose elite units are deployed in the surrounding area, has been depositing behind the local cemetery hundreds of cadavers with the order that they be buried without names. …
"Jurist Jairo Ramírez, the secretary of the Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Colombia, accompanied a delegation of British legislators to the site several weeks ago, when the magnitude of the La Macarena grave began to be discovered. 'What we saw was chilling,' he told Público. 'An infinity of bodies, and on the surface hundreds of white wooden plaques with the inscription NN
"Ramírez adds: 'The Army commander told us that they were guerrillas killed in combat, but the people in the region told us of a multitude of social leaders, campesinos and community human rights defenders who disappeared without a trace.'"
http://www.publico.es/internacional/288773/aparece/colo...
---
El Nuevo Herald reports:
"A spokesman of the Prosecutor-General’s Office (Fiscalía) in Bogotá revealed to El Nuevo Herald that a mission from that institution’s Technical Investigations Corps (CTI) has already gone to the cemetery and confirmed the existence of 'a large number' of cadavers in the grave, though it only made a few excavations.
“'We became the site for the depositing of the war dead,' declared Eliécer Vargas Moreno, mayor of the municipality. …
"Residents of La Macarena interviewed over the phone by El Nuevo Herald, under the promise that their identities would not be revealed, expressed their suspicion that among the bodies are relatives who disappeared during the last four years. They denied that the bodies are those of guerrillas and asked for the chance to prove it.
http://www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/america-latina/co...
---
Colombia’s Prosecutor-General’s Office will make its first excavations at the site in mid-March. While we are not jumping to conclusions, we will be watching this case closely.
La Macarena, the site of the grave, has been a very important site of U.S.-aided military operations since the mid-2000s. In this area, the U.S. government supported and advised the Colombian Army’s 2004-2006 “Plan Patriota” military offensive, and since 2007 (the U.S.) has supported the “Plan for the Integral Consolidation of La Macarena” or PCIM, part of the new “Integrated Action” framework (LINK) that is now guiding much U.S. assistance.
http://www.cipcol.org/?p=1303
A 200 kilometers from Bogotahttp://www.nuevodiarioweb.com.ar/nota/153861/Mundo/Colo...
Found mass grave with 2 thousand bodies
Saturday January 30, 2010 | At La Macarena, area of operations against the guerrillas, the army buried people.
Bogota. Just 200 miles south of Bogota, in a jungle hamlet called La Macarena (Meta department), the Army of Colombia since 2005 could be creating the largest mass grave in Latin America.
According to the residents themselves, in testimony corroborated by human rights organizations, in an open area between the base and the airport, some 2,000 bodies buried without identification. The military say they are all "guerrillas killed in combat." But in La Macarena believe that the grave could hold the hundreds of disappearances that have the town, located in hot runner in the war against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Jairo Ramirez's attorney, secretary of the Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, joined in early December last year to La Macarena to a mission of British MEPs interested in the situation of people living in war zones. The visit promises to be rich in information because the town is in the area of operations of Task Force Omega, who at 21 thousand men chasing Jorge Briceno, alias "Mono Jojoy", military leader of the FARC. MEPs did not leave disappointed. "The villagers told us that many farmers, trade unionists and social leaders have gone," Ramirez told. The mayor of La Macarena, Eliecer Vargas Moreno, estimates that in the mass grave could have between 1,500 and 2,000 corpses and report that her people "became the site of the disposal of war dead.
Excess bodies per square meter is polluting the water they supply to La Macarena, according to complaints received by the Ombudsman.
A grave containing FOUND TWO THOUSAND CORPSES IN THE JUNGLE TO THE SOUTH OF BOGOTAhttp://criticadigital.com/index.php?secc=nota&nid=36745
NN Tombs in the heart of Colombia
At La Macarena, area of operations against the FARC, the army buried unidentified peasants and social leaders.
By Federico Rivas Molina29/01/2010
Nameless dead. Confirmed the number of corpses in La Macarena,
the pit will be the largest in Latin America.
______
Just 200 miles south of Bogota, in a jungle hamlet called La Macarena (Meta department), the Army of Colombia since 2005 could be creating the largest mass grave in Latin America. According to the residents themselves, in testimony corroborated by human rights organizations, in an open area between the base and the airport, some 2,000 bodies buried without identification. The military say they are all "guerrillas killed in combat." But in La Macarena believe that the grave could hold the hundreds of disappearances that have the town, located in hot runner in the war against the Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Jairo Ramirez's attorney, secretary of the Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, joined in early December last year to La Macarena to a mission of British MEPs interested in the situation of people living in war zones. The visit promises to be rich in information because the town is in the area of operations of Task Force Omega, who at 21 thousand men chasing Jorge Briceno, alias "Mono Jojoy", military leader of the FARC. MEPs did not leave disappointed.
"The villagers told us that many farmers, trade unionists and social leaders have disappeared, but when we place the army chief told us they had no knowledge of missing persons. The community then took us to a cemetery that is between the base and the airport and there we find that in the back there were hundreds and hundreds of white wooden plaques with numbers supposedly belonging to NN, "Ramirez told a Critique Argentina.
The mayor of La Macarena, Eliecer Vargas Moreno, estimates that in the mass grave could have between 1,500 and 2,000 corpses and report that her people "became the site of the disposal of war dead. Excess bodies per square meter is polluting the water they supply to La Macarena, according to complaints received by the Ombudsman.
"We're talking about an unthinkable number of deaths," said Ramirez. Across Colombia, there are about 3,500 graves with 52 thousand missing from 80, but each no more than 15 or 20 bodies. So far an area not known to house 2,000 bodies. The main concern of the jurist is that "many of those bodies arrived here during 2009" and could be cases of "false positives", ie bodies of innocent people who passed through the Army guerrillas to meet the goals of efficiency imposes a policy of "democratic security" of the government of Álvaro Uribe.
Prosecutors in Colombia and was informed of the existence of the mass grave, but exhumations conducted "between 9 and 21 March," past the elections. Meanwhile, the Army insists that the bodies are buried in La Macarena guerrillas killed in combat. General Javier Florez, commander of the Rapid Deployment Force, attached to the Omega Force, said even his men "do no lifting" of corpses, but leave that task to the Judicial Police (DIJIN).
However, the Army's version does not match the story he heard Ramirez manager of burying the dead in La Macarena. "The gravedigger told us that military helicopters arrive with dead bodies deposited in a box next to the grave. Two or three days after the bodies rot and he has to bury them and place them a number. "
No comments:
Post a Comment