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Nevermore - Massacres
Thursday, October 16, 2008 19:56
Senator Gustavo Petro's family threatened him when he said he would talk in Congress about what happened in Antioquia from 1995 to 1997. What happened at that time aroused such intimidation? Research.
The period began with leadership of the paramilitaries.
As if it were a history of cavalry Carlos Castaño announced in January 1995 his triumphal entry to Urabá. By then, he commanded the Self-Defense Forces of Córdoba (ACCU) had arrived, in his words, to control the area, which was in the hands of guerrillas.
advanced That was vital for the strategic purpose of the paramilitary groups that before that year had reduced their violent actions such as shown by the statistics.
This was due to friction within the Medellin cartel. Already without top leader, Pablo Escobar Gaviria, the organization underwent a period of disorder and the paramilitaries were in a sort of limbo, not economic or logistical support. Before that time, Escobar in partnership with José Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, 'The Mexican' had financed bands of gunmen who were the seed of paramilitary groups in the Magdalena Medio and whose model was expanded later by the rest of the country.
But since that Brown made his announcement, Antioch became a sea of \u200b\u200bblood that lasted until the end of the decade.
Politically, 1995 was a year of possessions. Alvaro Uribe became governor of Antioquia, Pedro Juan Moreno as Secretary of Government. In December, Alfonso Manosalva General Rito Alejo del Rio and became commander of the Fourth and Seventeenth Brigades, respectively. The latter is based in Urabá.
violence Times
During this period, the rise of paramilitary activities in the apartment was amazing. Arguably, 1996 was a year of preparation. Chilling testimony revealed the strong ties that began weaving between the paramilitaries and the security forces.
Simultaneously in Antioquia were put in motion that eventually Living received some criticism. "We are exporting through a misconception of public order and violence to peaceful departments such as the Coast and Chocó. We are exporting violence, through the Living, for throughout the country, "cried the August 25, 1997 on the tenth anniversary of the assassination of Héctor Abad Gómez and Leonardo Betancur, the lawyer Jesús María Valle Jaramillo.
Valle Jaramillo's voice was one of the most authoritative in its time. Lawyer, university professor, founder of the Standing Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (1979) and president of it between 1987 and 1992. He was killed in March 1998 by three gunmen who entered the full light of day to his office in Medellin and shot him.
1996, a year logistics
most recent statements the sergeant gave the magazine Semana. He said Gen. Del Rio "was called 'the father of the self' because it was he who began to standardize and give the military operation is needed."
The former mayor of Apartado Gloria Cuartas also was aware of that relationship and repeatedly denounced even before the prosecution.
According the book debt to humanity, Fournier insisted that "unity of action between the army and paramilitaries was public domain in the region" and described how "the paramilitaries entered the premises of the XVII Brigade on motorcycles and other vehicles without any obstacle. "
In the archives of the newspaper El Colombiano is a headline that reflects the situation on one of the many bloody events that occurred during this time in the department. "In Ituango bus traveling soldiers and paramilitaries," the newspaper said in its edition of November 7, 1997 to refer to a assault on a vehicle by the guerrillas.
However, the fighting at that time not only confined to the armed groups directly but civilians who lived in those scenarios. For example, for the Peace Centre of the Vice President of the Republic, during that year armed groups began implementing a new mode of operation. Was not to directly attack those they considered enemies, but his aides.
So they went against farmers who were often accused of 'helpers'. It was like a laboratory of war, in which each group showed their power by attacking others, but without hurting each other.
As part of that strategy, the paramilitaries 16 people disappeared from the district's Hope, Carmen de Viboral, in eastern Antioquia. The area was controlled by guerrillas. The fact naturally produced a profound chilling effect throughout the department. Over time, courts would be those behind such killing.
Time for confession
Indeed, prior to demobilization, Ramón Isaza told reporters responsible for the fact that it was his son, Omar Isaza but that orders were given by general Manosalva and Major David Hernandez, also of the Fourth Brigade.
In the same general and that same year also produced the slaughter of El Aro in Ituango, as recently stated Salvatore Mancuso .
Manosalva But not enough to know the outcome of his plan because he died on April 16, 1997 as a result of an aneurysm.
His position in the military unit, the Fourth Brigade, was occupied by General Carlos Alberto Ospina, who later hit the post of commanding general of the Armed Forces.
Another plan that was contemplated in 1996 was to incorporate the paramilitaries into society. The records of journalists say later that year, the president of Proantioquia, Mario Aristizabal, met with union spokesman Accu Antioquia as a facilitator of the peace commission. As a result of the meeting was a commitment to "encourage the government and Congress to create a draft law on the subject."
Hands
The following year was fatal. Statistics show that in 1995 there were 328 armed actions in Antioquia. In 1996, the number rose to 394. In 1997, there were 2,482 armed actions. That is, the increase was 630 percent.
And is that since the beginning was bloody. On February 27, paramilitaries and soldiers played a football game that cited the town's inhabitants Cacarica Bijao. The fact in itself surprised by the relationship between the two sides, according to the records of press time.
According to human rights organizations, what was frightening was that the ball was the head of Marino López, a resident the town who had recently killed a guerrilla blaming. For the Human Rights Committee of Antioquia at the time, the fact was made as part of Operation Genesis, with which General Del Rio wanted to finish the front 57 of the FARC in Urabá.
with similar facts, the paramilitary groups multiplied in the overnight. In 1997, in Antioch were the ACCU, the AUC of Magdalena Medio, the Northeast Anti-Terrorism, Colombia Without Guerrillas, Death to Communists and Guerrillas in the Northeast, the Urban Commando paramilitary Medellin, Paramilitary Urban Network, the two commands Autodefensas Neighborhood, the group's Metro and the group Death to Trade Unionists (Mas).
They, along with other groups in the country, met on May 15, 1997 in Turbo, Antioquia. Formed the Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) and planned to expand throughout the country.
To achieve this, established as a center of operations in the departments of Antioquia, Chocó and Córdoba. From there they should conquer the whole of Colombia. Execute that strategy involved appropriating the whole of northern Antioquia, where the confluence of the three departments, in the Nudo de Paramillo.
In this area, are strategic Urabá region and the municipality of Ituango. Urabá, because it has a natural harbor that allows the drug to Central and North America and the entry of inputs for them, of goods and arms smuggling. Hence the triumphant announcement of Brown when he conquered the land.
the time of the formation of the AUC, the guerrillas did not have much power in the Urabá, because the territory dominated by paramilitaries.
Ituango keep missing, a corridor that allows the movement from Cordoba to Urabá and then to Chocó. That is, is a focal point that unites the departments that made up the trading platform for self-defense would expand across the country.
A telling slaughter
So bloody massacres were perpetrated in the municipality. An example is El Aro, between 25 and 26 October 1997, the same who had planned and General Manosalva Mancuso as Paramilitary leader's testimony at its public hearing recently.
This fact, which killed 11 people, has been discussed many times by the media and has been the subject of many analysis because it is of crucial importance for the history of the current violence in Colombia.
The reasons are several. First, because, in effect, the nascent AUC gained control of the municipality to develop its growth strategy. Second, because it accounts for the close relationship between paramilitaries and soldiers. On this there are several reports of human rights organizations and the confessions of the military and paramilitaries who have testified before the Office of the alliance on both sides.
An example is the testimony of former paramilitary Francisco Villalba, citing a report by Human Rights Watch. The veteran told the prosecutor who witnessed the encounter between Mancuso and an army lieutenant prior to slaughter. He also said that after a while, "a helicopter came and dropped us medical supplies and ammunition."
The third reason is suspicious of the government response. Then-President Human Rights Committee of Antioquia, Jesus Maria Valle, learned from various sources the history of military involvement in these and many other deaths.
Such events would not let him sleep. Its status as a defender of human rights made him The close ties at various times. He did it to the Governor of Antioquia and in the military leadership of the department. But all we got were accusations of 'guerrilla'.
Finally, as cited previously, killed with his mouth sealed with tape in his office in Medellín on 27 February 1998.
Rigts According to Human Watch, a prosecutor said he "received credible information indicating that the Mayor Hernandez was paid to La Terraza (a band of gunmen in Medellín) an amount equal to seven thousand dollars for Valle's life. "
The fourth reason is that ultimately proved the guilt of the state and the military in the slaughter. American Court of Human Rights concluded that "it has been demonstrated participation and acquiescence Colombian Army members in the paramilitary incursion in El Aro and determination of a curfew in order to facilitate the ownership of livestock. Also, there is evidence that state agents were cattle stolen from the hands of the carriers. "
According to the Court, the State must pay compensation close to $ 426 000 million to the families of the victims.
Now when Sen. Gustavo Petro announced that it will reveal what happened at that time I am sure many will remember these stories and their characters have the opportunity to tell their version of one of the darkest ages of Antioquia in human rights.
Published Semana.com
Ricardo Espinosa Ferrer http://Testigoysobreviviente.blogspot.com ferrerespinosa.ricardo @ Gmail.com 
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