Colombia's defense minister says alleged army homicide was 'military operation'

by Adriaan Alsema October 29, 2019

Colombia defense minister on Tuesday claimed that a human rights defenders who was allegedly murdered by soldiers “died in a military operation.”

The controversy over the death of Flower Jair Trompeta in Corinto, a municipality in the southwestern Cauca province, comes days after weekly Semana revealed that a military unit in northern Colombia meticulously planned the homicide of a demobilized FARC guerrilla in April.

Defense Minister Guillermo Botero lied about the murder of FARC member Dimar Torres and contradicted locals’ claims that Trompeta was tortured and executed by soldiers in an interview with Caracol Radio on Tuesday.

Senator Roy Barreras, who filed a motion of no confidence against the minister earlier this month, said the minister is lying and that Congress would be monitoring the investigation.

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Barreras added that he talked to the FARC, the former guerrilla group that became a political party in 2017, and was informed that the victim was never a member of their organization.

More:
https://colombiareports.com/colombias-defense-minister-says-alleged-army-homicide-was-military-operation/

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Google translation:

They denounce murder of peasant leader at the hands of the Army in Cauca

- The senator of the U. Roy Barreras denounced that a young peasant leader of the municipality of Corinto, in the department of Cauca, was killed in strange circumstances in an alleged operation of the National Army.


«Community informs me from the village of La Laguna in Corinto Cauca that the young flower trumpet farmer leader was taken alive from his plot this morning army units (there are witnesses) and two hours later appears murdered and with signs of torture», says in Your parliamentary Twitter account.

He adds that he has requested a rigorous autopsy from Legal Medicine and the General Prosecutor's Office and that the congressional peace commission will follow up on the fact and on which, he affirms the Ministry of Defense has not ruled.

«We hope information will not be manipulated as in the case of Dimas Torres or inform us that it was“ an accident ”, he says.

Finally, Senator Barreras points out that after 20 hours of the community's complaint about the retention and subsequent murder of the young flower trumpet in Cauca and the first official versions according to which “he had died in combat” the Mindefense says he does not know what happened and let the Prosecutor's Office say so.

The Patriotic March movement made the same complaint and warns that the young man was tortured.

“According to the preliminary information, about 10:30 in the morning, gunfire and helicopter overflight were heard. As reported by his relatives, the young Flower Jair Trumpet Pavi is held by members of the Army, who torture him, putting his hand in a pulping machine and subsequently killing him, ”says the movement.

The young man was a member of the Association of Pro-Constitution Workers of Rural Reserve Areas of the municipality of Caloto, also located in northern Cauca. Said peasant collective be part of the Patriotic March and other social groups.

More:
http://www.radiosantafe.com/2019/10/29/denuncian-asesinato-de-lider-campesino-a-manos-del-ejercito-en-el-cauca/

Colombian Army operating exactly as it did before the "Peace Treaty."