IACHR condemns Colombia for “extermination” of the Patriotic Union political party

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights IACHR condemned the Colombian State on Monday in a hearing broadcast over the internet for the “extermination” of the Patriotic Union political party and its militants.

The IACHR declared that “Colombia is responsible for the human rights violations committed to the detriment of more than 6,000 members and militants of the Patriotic Union party beginning in 1984 and for more than 20 years as a consequence of an extermination plan directed against the party and its members,” said Judge Ricardo C. Pérez, president of the Court.

The Patriotic Union (UP) was established as a political organization in 1985 after a peace dialogue between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) that opened the door for them to legally engage in politics.

However, to counteract the political rise of the UP, an alliance emerged between paramilitary groups, sectors of traditional politics, businessmen and the public force, which led to acts of violence, the Court added.

Violations were committed to the rights to life, honor, integrity, freedom of expression, and to know the truth of what happened to the victims, among others, according to the sentence.

“These acts constituted a form of systematic extermination against the UP political party, its members and militants, and had the participation of state agents, as well as the tolerance and acquiescence of the authorities,” the Court said in a summary of the sentence. .

There were 3,170 extrajudicial executions, 1,596 forced displacements, 521 forced disappearances, and 285 victims of attacks or attempted homicides, the Court noted.

“This is the day of justice for the UP, because for the first time a court has ruled that the extermination was caused by the State. It is a very big step, ”he told Associated Press Senator Aída Avella of the Patriotic Union, who survived a bazooka attack in 1996 and lived in exile for 17 years.

Avella regretted that many of the relatives of those murdered and disappeared died before seeing the sentence, after 29 years of initiating the lawsuit before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

“There are children who did not resist the death of their parents,” he said.

President Gustavo Petro wrote on Twitter that his government will support “national and international justice against impunity” and rejected “a murderous State that should not return anymore, a privileged society that murders rather than allowing change.”

remedial measures

The State must make reparation to the victims, through the implementation of a commission to verify the identity and relationship of the victims. It also ordered Colombia to initiate, reopen, continue and conclude “within a reasonable time” the investigations to determine criminal responsibilities.

It must also rigorously search for the disappeared victims and provide them with medical, psychological, psychiatric or psychosocial treatment.

The State must also publicly acknowledge international responsibility, establish a national day to commemorate the victims of the UP, and build a monument.

The FARC only laid down their weapons in 2016, after a peace agreement with the State that is still being implemented in Colombia.

[Con información de AP]

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