An official of the defunct Administrative Department of Security (DAS), 21 retired military officers, and two civilians have confessed to massacring about 300 innocent people in the Casanare department of Colombia, then framing them to government authorities as left-wing guerrilla fighters killed in combat during counterinsurgency operations in the 2000s. This type of extrajudicial executions are known as “false positives” in the country. During the far-right government of former President Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010), such killings were rewarded with cash prizes, promotions, and vacations, among other benefits.
The admissions were made during public hearings organized by the Recognition of Truth Body of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) in the Yopal municipality between September 18 and 20. The hearings were part of case 03 that investigates false positives in the department. They were attended by the family members of more than 120 victims of extrajudicial murders and forced disappearances committed between January 2005 and December 2008.
The representatives of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Mission to Support the Peace Process (MAPP) of the Organization of American States (OAS) also joined the hearings, among other international organizations,
“I had the power to stop the atrocities and I didn’t do it”
On September 18, during the first day of hearing, retired lieutenant Edwin Leonardo Toro admitted to having the most responsibility for false positives in the Casanare department. “I came from Antioquia, where it all began…I brought that bad knowledge to Casanare,” he said, explaining how former soldiers kidnapped innocent peasants to kill them and later equipped their dead bodies with weapons, ammunition, and clothing to pass them off as combatants.
Retired second sergeant Fáiber Alberto Amaya also acknowledged his responsibility in war crimes and crimes against humanity.
On September 19, retired Major General Henry William Torres Escalante, former commander of the 16th Brigade of the National Army, accepted his maximum level of responsibility in the extrajudicial crimes committed between 2005 and 2008, and became the first highest-ranking military officer to accept responsibility for “false positives.”
“I shamefully assume the position of the person most responsible for and direct perpetrator of the murders of vulnerable and protected people, and war crimes, kidnapping, forced disappearance,” he said. “I had the power to have stopped the atrocities and I didn’t do it…On the contrary, I facilitated, rewarded and encouraged their continued commission,” he said, apologizing to the victims and their families.
“My recognition and responsibility, as I have expressed, is based on the permanent pressure that I placed on my subordinates, giving priority to deaths in combat over captures…The constant pressure came from Army Commander Mario Montoya and General Guillermo Quiñonez of the Fourth Division and myself. These demands influenced some members of the Brigade to lead us and direct us to achieve operational objectives at all costs without measuring the consequences of our actions,” said Torres Escalante.
Retired first corporal Gélver Pérez García also pleaded guilty to participating in war crimes. “I murdered, I tortured. I adapted to a systematic practice of murders,” he said.
Retired lieutenant Jhon Alexander Suancha admitted responsibility for committing atrocities, stating “I was groomed as a war machine. It changed that mentality I had from a normal person to a cold person.”
On September 20, retired Major Jorge Edwin Gordillo also recognized that soldiers committed massacres of innocent civilians and presented them as “combat casualties.” “We committed a massacre, I committed a massacre of the Casanareño people, because that was how it was, there were more than 80 murders committed by members of the Infantry Battalion No. 44 Ramón Nonato Pérez (BIRNO),” said Gordillo.
Wilson Rodríguez, one of the civilians who falsely recruited young peasants to hand them over to the army to be assassinated, accepted his accountability and claimed that false positives were “a system of extrajudicial executions implemented by the then central government.”
In July 2022, the JEP determined that the members of the 16th Brigade killed 303 innocent people between 2005 and 2008 in the Casanare department. During the three days of hearings, of the 26 defendants, 24 publicly pleaded guilty of the crimes that they were accused of. The remaining two will be investigated by the Investigation and Accusation Unit (UIA) of the JEP.
“Stop covering up and lying about details of the events”
Relatives of the victims reproached the military officers for concealing vital information and demanded that the soldiers tell “the whole truth” and give away the names of those “who gave the order.”
Carolina Castro, wife of late William Salamanca Cruz, urged the appearing officials on behalf of relatives of other victims to reveal “an exhaustive and useful truth, not a half-truth.” She called on them to “stop covering up and lying about details of the events.”
Likewise, Margarita Arteaga, sister of Kemel Arteaga, requested the soldiers to answer a series of questions that are still valid and need clear explanation. She also insisted on the importance of clearing the names of the victims. She demanded that the authorities remove the names of all victims from the crime records of State entities. In addition, she reiterated the request for precautionary measures on cemeteries to find the missing.
“Not even in the worst military dictatorships in Latin America did they reach this point”
The acknowledgements made during the hearings moved a vast majority of Colombians to repudiate the state crimes and vow to never let them be repeated, and to continue moving toward social reconciliation.
On September 21, Colombia’s first leftist President Gustavo Petro took to social media network X to express his disapproval. “For the first time in Colombia, a general of the republic confesses that crimes against humanity were committed in past governments, systematically murdering thousands of innocent young people. Not even in the worst military dictatorships in Latin America did they reach this point and such a volume of murders,” wrote Petro.
The head of state stressed that “truth and reconciliation have a historical process ahead. The guarantees of non-repetition are achieved not only with institutional changes, but with transformations of society itself, with full and current guarantees of the fundamental rights of people, individual and collective.”
In this regard, he pointed out that the reforms that his government has presented to Congress “to achieve guarantees of universal rights in spheres of work, education, health and public services” are aimed at rebuilding the society. “It is also the objective that a great National Agreement must have,” he added.
Uribe continues to deny crimes
Former President Uribe also took to social media on September 21 to admit that he was demanding results during his terms, but that he was never “passive in the face of complaints of Human Rights violations in the actions of the Armed Forces.”
“Torres Escalante and others declare themselves responsible for human rights violations. They allege as justification that results were required. They expressed that I was very demanding because, in addition, the residents made complaints to me,” said Uribe in a video message.
He added that he always preferred demobilizations over “captures and casualties” and that his demand was due to the situation that the country faced in terms of public order due to the influence of drug trafficking and guerrilla groups in various areas of the country.
Uribe also questioned the authenticity of the confession of Torres Escalante, and declared that his confession was fabricated. The former president also criticized the design of the JEP.
“The design of the JEP encourages, for the sake of freedom, to recognize crimes not even committed. This design also makes it easier to present those who were committing crimes as innocent, even if their families did not know. There are very clear cases of members of criminal groups who appear as innocent victims,” he said.
In a different post, Uribe declared that he cannot recognize the JEP, saying that it was “imposed by Farc, Cuba and Venezuela, [and] rejected in the Plebiscite.”
The JEP is a transitional justice system created in November 2016 under the peace agreements signed between the government of former President Juan Manuel Santos and the now-demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group in Havana, Cuba. The JEP established a court to investigate, judge, and sentence all those considered responsible for the crimes committed during the five-decade war between the guerrilla group and the national security forces. It occasionally mandates alternative punishments in exchange for full disclosure of incidents that took place during the internal armed conflict.
In 2021, the JEP found that the Colombian military carried out at least 6,402 of these extrajudicial killings between 2002 and 2008. Human rights groups and the families of victims have said the real number could be much higher.
