Colombia’s state council condemns army’s complacency in 1998 massacre .

Colombia’s state council condemns army’s complacency in 1998 massacre .
Friday, 01 March 2013 12:17 Rob Edmond

Colombia's state council condemned the inaction of the armed forces in preventing a paramilitary-led massacre of 20 people in the central Colombian department of Meta in May of 1998.


The massacre in Caño Jabon, a small town in central Colombia, resulted in the looting and burning of the entire town before 20 civilians were selected to be tortured, decapitated, and burned in the town center. Orchestrated by the now-defunct paramilitary group, the AUC, the attack was seen as a method to drive the remaining population away from the area.

The third section of the State Council noted that the Colombian army, who had a base within 45 miles of the site, failed to uphold their constitutional duty to protect the civilians. The Council also noted that the army, and by extension, the government, failed to respond to three prior complaints made by the residents of Caño Jabon who supposedly warned authorities that an attack was imminent. The armed forces' reluctance to act was blamed on the assumption that the townsfolk were being “managed and manipulated” by Colombia’s largest left-wing guerrilla group, the FARC.

Throughout the investigation, the council pointed out that the state "left the public in the hands of murderers who have sown death, especially in remote regions of the country...The state did not meet its obligations, it allowed these people to be viciously murdered."

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/28354-colombias-state-council-condemns-armys-complacency-in-1998-massacre.html