Colombian military assume their horrors

On the second day of the public hearing organized by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), 12 Colombian soldiers -belonging to the La Popa battalion- continued with the confession of cruel stories in which they manifest their responsibility in 127 murders of people innocents who pretended to be casualties in combat.

First Sergeant Efraín Andrade Perea, one of the 12 soldiers who appeared, stated that when Lieutenant Colonel Hernán Mejía Gutiérrez arrived at La Popa, “unfortunately there was a change.” “The popular cooperating law of former President Álvaro Uribe begins,” he explained.

“Today before the magistrates, the victims, before the world and before my country, I recognize and accept my responsibility for my essential contribution to the macrocriminal plan that some members of the La Popa battalion carried out,” Perea acknowledged, who wanted to confess to the relatives of the victims who were peasants who died unjustly and not guerrillas.

For his part, Lieutenant Andrés Lora Cabrales, former commander of the special group Trueno Lora, confessed that he participated in the murder of civilians for the first time in March 2003 and recounted how he participated in the simulation of a combat.

“When we arrive at the battalion there is a kind of entertainment, a barbecue and they congratulate me (…) That’s where my murder career begins,” said Lora.

He confessed how he murdered several innocent people, such as Mr. Juan Daza, who “was not a guerrilla. He had just taught his children how to work in the fields,” he said.

Another of those appearing, Major Guillermo Gutiérrez Riveros, confessed that due to the pressure to obtain results, “we encouraged them to continue with this barbarism and to produce those operational results that brought us disastrous consequences.”

And he apologized to the victims, “to the indigenous communities for having caused damage to their territory, their beliefs and their customs. I promise to do what the JEP decides. His La Popa battalion, of the time, failed them. We did not comply with our mission.”

During the event, the victims were also heard, such as Neila Arias, daughter of Enrique Arias, an indigenous Kankuamo murdered in June 2004.

“I am indigenous Kankuama, we were not guerrillas, we were persecuted for the sole fact of being indigenous,” said the woman.

As well as Abelardo Daza, a Kankuamo indigenous person, who recounted how they detained his father and accused him of being a guerrilla: “He did not bring weapons, he simply brought a backpack and two lemons.”

“We couldn’t talk. The surnames Arias, Oñate, Daza were like the bad guys in town, because we were singled out.” “I want the appearing party Lora to clarify and say that my father was not a guerrilla and that he gave the order to take his life,” he added.

Those identified by the JEP as responsible are Alex José Mercado Sierra, Carlos Andrés Lora Cabrales, Eduart Gustavo Álvarez Mejía, Heber Hernán Gómez Naranjo, José de Jesús Rueda Quintero, Efraín Andrade Perea, Elkin Leonardo Burgos Suárez, Elkin Rojas, Guillermo Gutiérrez Riveros, Juan Carlos Soto Sepúlveda, Manuel Valentín Padilla and Yeris Andrés Gómez Coronel.

During the first day of hearingcarried out on Monday, those appearing and the victims of the indigenous communities were also heard.

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