One of the investigators of the Truth Commission in Colombia, Eduardo Andrés Celis, has received threats for his work; which led him to speak with several of the antagonists of the long and bloody war in the Andean country. Now that the entity, a product of the Peace Agreements with the FARC, is coming to an end, the safety of those who worked there to clarify what happened during the conflict raises several questions.
As an investigator for the Truth Commission, the entity in charge of clarifying what happened during the more than 50 years of armed conflict in Colombia, Celis has interviewed former paramilitaries, former guerrillas, drug traffickers, and even guerrillas and active combatants.
His work, together with commissioner Alejandro Valencia, led him to speak, among many others, with alias ‘Otoniel’, former leader of the Clan del Golfo criminal gang, who had agreed to offer information about the armed group’s relations with the Public Force before of being extradited to the United States, in a criticized decision of the Colombian government.
Days after the interviews with ‘Otoniel’, in which the Commission’s investigators denounced obstacles on the part of the security forces to carry out the dialogues in February, the entity denounced that unidentified persons entered Celis’s apartment and stole computers , cell phones and other devices with information.
Five months later, the investigations by the Prosecutor’s Office have not yielded further results, while the investigator denounces that he has received repeated intimidating calls. In an interview with France 24, Celis commented on how these four years were at the heart of the Truth Commission, what has happened to his case and why the need to guarantee the safety of those who have worked hard to clarify what happened in nearly six decades of armed conflict.
France 24: What has your work at the Truth Commission consisted of in recent years?
Eduardo Andres Celis: Since I joined the Truth Commission, I have worked with Commissioner Alejandro Valencia Villa’s team, above all conducting interviews with the heads of the armed conflict in Colombia. Among them, state agents, former members of paramilitary groups, former members of the guerrillas, active combatants today and two or three drug traffickers.
France 24: What was the purpose of these interviews?
EAC: We concentrate on clarifying the practices and facts that constituted serious violations of human rights; the collective responsibilities that both the State and the guerrilla groups or paramilitary groups had; the impact the conflict had on those who participated in it; also the phenomenon of paramilitarism: the origins and impact of the actions of paramilitary structures. And, in particular, the relationship between drug trafficking and the armed conflict: what the rural economic dynamics of the populations were like, how drug trafficking ended up involved with political power and the State model, and how it became a counterinsurgent actor.
France 24: What do you think are the main contributions made by the Truth Commission to the country?
EAC: One of the most revealing data that the Commission has found is that more than 450,000 people died in the armed conflict between 1985 and 2018. Of every ten people who died, only two were combatants. Another of the main contributions is the truth of exile (… ) a fundamental contribution about the people who had to leave because of the conflict.
France 24: Is it within this framework of investigations that the interviews with ‘Otoniel’ begin?
EAC: Yes, in the development and compliance with the Truth Commission was that this entity spoke with all the actors that were part of the conflict. Among them, the groups of today, such as the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Clan del Golfo), which is currently the main exporter of cocaine in the country. In this context, we began the interviews with Dairo Antonio Úsuga, as the highest commander of this narco-paramilitary structure.
France 24: Did they only focus on your role as leader of the Gulf Clan?
EAC: It must be remembered that he is a man with more than 50 years in the war, who started in the ranks of the EPL (Popular Liberation Army) guerrillas, then went through the Peasant Self-Defense Forces of Córdoba and Urabá (paramilitaries) and later was Commander of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. After that, he set up the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. Sometimes the name of Dairo is usually only associated with this last stage or facet of his military life, however, the journey is quite long.
France 24: During the interviews with Dairo Antonio Úsuga, the Commission denounced pressure…
EAC: Before the robbery in my house, the statement issued by the DIJIN (Directorate of Judicial Investigation) was also known. They interrupted our interview and took us out of the cell. They didn’t tell us why they were pulling us out. Later, they issued a statement saying that that day, at that time when we were developing the interview, there was going to be a rescue plan by the Clan del Golfo towards him. This series of obstacles that put us in the way of the development of the interview are proof of this.
France 24: Was there the same pressure with other interviewees?
EAC: No, and there were other interviews that had the same or perhaps greater scope or importance. The Truth Commission also spoke with Carlos Antonio Moreno Tuberquia, who was second in command of this organization (Clan del Golfo). We talked to him for more than two years and there was never this kind of pressure.
France 24: Why do you think there was so much pressure in this particular case?
EAC: His hearings in the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) began to leak, especially when he began to talk about the relations that the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia maintained with part of the military leadership. And when he begins to reveal some of the names in the press and in the hearings in the Jurisdiction, that’s when the pressure started.
France 24: How did the assault on your house take place and under what conditions?
EAC: The development of the interviews was the week of February 13 to 18, 2022. At dawn on Saturday, February 19, the person entered my house. At 4:25 he walks through the front of the building to my apartment. I was inside the house. The person was inside for an hour and 32 minutes. The great unknown remains as to whether they put us to sleep with something or they put an aerosol to put us to sleep because due to the state of the house, the person had to make a lot of noise and we did not feel anything.
France 24: What was stolen during the robbery of your home?
EAC: Two tape recorders that contained the last interview with ‘Otoniel’, a folder with work documents, personal documents, the work cell phone, a laptop, two photography books of the armed conflict, a painting and other electronic elements.
France 24: How have the investigations progressed?
EAC: The only meeting we had with the Prosecutor’s Office was on April 7, where they gave us information collected from the security cameras. Other than that there has been no progress.
France 24: Almost all the material from the ‘Otoniel’ interviews had copies and was therefore able to be preserved. What could be used for the process of clarifying the conflict?
EAC: One of the most relevant findings was the relationship between drug trafficking and the armed conflict. How drug trafficking became a political power and a model of the State and how it exacerbated violence. On the other hand, in the investigation of the paramilitary phenomenon, we find how this phenomenon was transformed over time. Also terror tactics used (the paramilitaries) and the relations they had with the Public Force and the way in which the phenomenon of paramilitarism took over national and regional politics.
France 24: After the interviews and the robbery in your home, you have received several intimidating calls… What do these calls consist of?
EAC: There have been nine calls. They have all had the same pattern: they don’t last more than a minute and in all of them they have said that they know who I am, what I have done and that they take care of me. Followed by a number of grievances against me.
France 24: Do you think these threats are related to the interviews with ‘Otoniel’?
EAC: You have to look at what my work has been in the Commission. We spoke with ex-paramilitaries, ex-guerrillas, seeking to determine those most responsible for executions, we entered prisons… I wouldn’t rule it out, that may be the focus of attention, but I can’t say if it was because of that. There are other profiles (of interviewees) that although they do not have the relevance that ‘Otoniel’ had at the time, they do have the same profile. They have been people who spent more than 50 years in the war as combatants or as agents of the State.
France 24: After the complaint about the robbery in your house and the calls, have you received protection measures from the Government?
EAC: I do not have any protection scheme. At the moment the authorities have not said much, the only thing was the meeting last April. With the Commission we are looking at more self-care measures and a few days ago I held a meeting at the United Nations Human Rights office. The whole case was exposed to them and we are going to start the process to see if a contextual risk study can be carried out by the National Protection Unit. But it is not that there has been an institutional response; we are doing it, as a Commission.
France 24: Could other people who are working to clarify the truth be at risk?
EAC: We must raise the alert about what could happen to the researchers in the regions, where the conflict continues on a day-to-day basis. The Truth Commission of Colombia had a peculiarity and that is that it carried out its functions in a country that is still at war, unlike other commissions that were created when the countries were in transition.
France 24: At the end of August the Commission will disappear, having fulfilled its functions. Who will guarantee your safety and that of your colleagues when the institution is dissolved?
EAC: That’s the big question. Between now and the end of the Commission, the entity must leave that resolved. Since there is a monitoring committee, it should ensure the safety of people who are at risk in the region and that committee should generate psychosocial tools for people who require it. One would suppose that the people who were at risk in terms of security should have the guarantees that allow us to continue with our professional practice.
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In its four years of work, the Truth Commission carried out a titanic task, interviewing more than 30,000 people inside and outside the country. Its final report, presented on June 28, apart from investigating the causes of the violence that has haunted the country for almost six decades, seeks to make recommendations to prevent war and its consequences in the nation. Among these challenges, there is now also the care of all those who worked to clarify what happened in a country whose conflict is still latent.
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