Top Colombian officials called to testify about massacre
Top Colombian officials called to testify about massacre
Monday, 27 February 2012 16:29
Christan Leonard
Three top Colombian officials, among them the country's former Defense Minister, were called to testify on Monday about the 2005 massacre in the San Jose de Apartado Peace Community.
Former Colombian Minister of Defense Jorge Alberto Uribe, former Commander of the Army General Reinaldo Castellanos, and former army commander Carlos Alberto Ospina Ovalle were all called to testify before the Prosecutor General.
The massacre which left three children and eight adults dead, was carried about by paramilitaries allegedly in conjuntion with the 17th Brigade of the Army.
The officials are being asked to testify in the trials of former commander of the 17th Brigade General Hector Jaime Fandino and Colonel Nestor Ivan Duque Lopez.
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/22466-top-colombian-officials-called-to-testify-about-massacre.html
Of the more than 8 bn. dollars taken from U.S. taxpayers and pumped into Colombia since 2000, most of it has gone to Colombia's military, which has often worked closely with the narcotrafficking death squads.
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San José Massacre
Once again, the trail of blood leads to the SOA:
"We have always said, and in that we are clear, that until this very day we are resisting. And our work is to continue resisting and defending our rights. We don't know until when, because the truth we've lived in our story is this: today we are here talking; tomorrow we may be dead. Today we are here in San Jose de Apartado; tomorrow the majority of people here could be displaced because of a massacre." -- Luis Eduardo Guerra, in an interview on January 15 of this year, 37 days before he was assassinated by the Colombian military
On February 21-22, 2005, eight members of the San Jose de Apartado Peace Community in Uraba, Colombia -including three young children, were brutally massacred. Witnesses identified the killers as members of the Colombian military, and peace community members saw the army's 17th and 11th Brigades in the area around the time of the murders.
Among those killed was Luis Eduardo Guerra, an internationally recognized peace activist and a co-founder of the Peace Community. In November 2002, Luis travelled from Colombia to Fort Benning, Georgia to speak out against the School of the Americas and to give a first hand testimony about the brutal impact that SOA training and US foreign policy have on the dire situation in Colombia.
General Hector Jaime Fandino Rincon is the commander of the 17th Brigade of the Colombian army. Like Luis Eduardo, Fandino Rincon also travelled to the School of the Americas -- not to speak out for justice and peace like Luis, but to attend the "Small-Unit Infantry Tactics" course in order to become "familiar with small-unit operational concepts and principles at the squad and platoon level, [to] receive training in planning and conducting small-unit tactical operations." Fandino Rincon is a 1976 graduate of the notorious School of the Americas. In December of 2004 he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General.
More:
http://www.soaw.org/about-the-soawhinsec/victims-and-survivors/colombia/san-jose