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September 21, 2005
Unconsidered evidence
The State Department’s semi-annual human-rights certification process – in which some military aid to Colombia is held up until State affirms that five conditions have been met – is necessary and important, but it is frustrating for all involved.
Confronted with abundant evidence that the Colombian military’s human-rights performance is not improving – especially where impunity is concerned – U.S. diplomats have tended to delay their certification decision for months. Ultimately, though, pressures to keep the military aid flowing have forced them to yield in exchange for very minimal concessions, such as arrests of a few privates or sergeants in two or three serious cases of abuse. The Colombian military ends up benefiting the most from the whole process: it refuses for months to take steps to punish violators, then, in exchange for taking a couple of very small steps, it gets a document bearing the Secretary of State’s signature conferring a U.S. “seal of approval” of its human-rights performance.
Many of Colombia’s national human-rights groups have nonetheless taken this process seriously. They meet with U.S. embassy officials and offer documentation of cases in which military involvement in abuse appears likely, but the Colombian government has failed to investigate or prosecute those believed to be responsible.
The Colombian groups have expressed frustration that most of the evidence they present to the State Department does not appear to be considered when the certification decisions get made. “Though we supply information and cases about serious human rights abuses in which government security forces are involved, these are not taken into account at the moment in which certifications are considered,” reads a lengthy document [PDF format] produced by seven Colombian organizations in July 2005.
This document, which the Colombian groups produced specifically to inform the State Department’s last certification decision (made at the beginning of August) summarizes over forty cases of actual or probable Colombian military involvement in human rights abuse. It is not an exhaustive list of all allegations against the Colombian military; those listed in the July document are intended to be “benchmark” cases in which evidence is most compelling and government efforts to investigate and prosecute have been most lacking.
In August, the State Department issued a justification document explaining its decision to certify. This document also cites cases where State officials claim to have seen progress. Comparing the cases listed in the Colombian groups’ document with those mentioned in the State Department justification shows plainly that the Colombian groups have a point: the vast majority of the cases they present are not mentioned in the U.S. certification document.
The table below lists most of the “benchmark” cases presented in the Colombian human-rights groups’ document. (Consult the groups' document to read more details about each case.) Of these, only nine are mentioned in the State Department’s justification, and only four of these mentions refer to criminal investigations or prosecutions – the rest are administrative investigations or dismissals, the dropping of cases, or the writing of a “risk report.”
Presenting the information in this format shows starkly how much alarming information the State Department had to overlook in order to issue its August certification decision. Before certifying again, State must take these other cases into account. At the very least, the department’s justification document must recognize these cases’ existence, and explain specifically why it chose to leave them out of its decision-making process. A lot of good work by brave human-rights investigators is being ignored.
(Many thanks to CIP Intern Robin Rahe for her help in compiling this table.)
| Name | Location | Year | Mention in State Department Certification Justification |
| 1. Santo Domingo Massacre | Tame, Arauca | 1998 | State Department suspended assistance to Combat Air Command 1 of Colombian Air Force; trials for Air Force Captain César Romero Pradilla, Lieutenant Johan Jiménez Valencia & Technician Mario Hernández Acosta continue |
| 2. Extrajudicial executions in Las Palmeras | Mocoa, Putumayo | 1991 | (none) |
| 3. Forced disappearance & execution of Nidya Erika Bautista | Bogotá | 1987 | (none) |
| 4. Illegal wiretapping of NGOs | Medellín, Antioquia | 1997 | Dismissal of Colonel Mauricio Santoya Velasco |
| 5. Extrajudicial execution of Uberney Giraldo Castro and Jose Evelio Gallo | La Galleta, Antioquia | 2000 | Army Corporals Humberto Jesús Blandon Vargas and Sandro Fernando Barerro dismissed from Army on Nov 8, 2004 |
| 6. 370 Crimes in peace community of San Jose de Apartadó | San Jose de Apartadó, Antioquia | 1997-present | Administrative charges filed by Inspector-General (Procuraduría) against retired Generals Carlos Enrique Vargas Forero and Pablo Alberto Rodriguez Laverde, and Colonels Guillermo Arturo Suárez Forero and Javier Vicente Hernández Acosta for 2000-2001 killings; no assistance to 17th Brigade |
| 7. Torture and assassination of Wilfredo Quiñones Bárcenas | La Floresta de Barrancabermeja (Bucaramanga) | 1995 | (none) |
| 8. Mapiripán Massacre | Mapiripán, Meta | 1997 | Case against General Jaime Uscátegui moved from Villavicencio to Bogotá; on February 17 Colombian government acknowledged some responsibility for death of 22 civilians; Army Colonel Lino Sánchez sentenced to 40 years |
| 9. Assassination of Carlos Manuel Prada and Evelio Bolaño Castro |
| 1993 | (none) |
| 10. Assassination of three unionists | Saravena, Arauca | 2004 | Charges of aggravated homicide against 4 soldiers;,Army Soldier Oscár Saúl Cuta Hernández Suárez indicted |
| 11. Extrajudicial execution of Isnardo León Mendoza | Tame, Arauca | 2005 | (none) |
| 12. Operation Dragón (plot against union activists) | Cali, Valle del Cauca | 2004 | (none) |
| 13. Forced disappearances of Ángel Quintero and Claudia Patricia Monsalve | Medellín, Antioquia | 2000 | (none) |
| 14. Execution of farmers | Cajamarca, Tolima | 2004 | Preventive detention against 7 soldiers of Army's 6th Brigade |
| 15. Execution of Francisco Guerrero Guerrero and sexual assault of Inocencia Pineda Pavón | Arauquita, Arauca | 2002 | (none) |
| 16. Execution of Geiny Jaimes Pinzón (committed by Brigades 18 and 21 of Natl Army) | Tame, Arauca | 2001 | (none) |
| 17. Los Tupes Massacre | San Diego, Cesar | 2001 | (none) |
| 18. Kankuamo indigenous group | Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta | 1986-present | “The Government of Colombia established a regional risk report for the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region” |
| 19. Chengue Massacre | Ovejas, Sucre | 2001 | Prosecutor General's Office closed case against Rear Admiral Rodrigo Quiñónez |
| 20. Assassination of Gina Paola Acosta | Cumaribo, Vichada | 2002 | (none) |
| 21. Murder of Aida Cecilia Lasso & Sindy Paola Rondon | San Alberto, Cesar | 2000 | (none) |
| 22. Attack against Rita Alicia Riveros de Ospina |
| 2000 | (none) |
| 23. Assassination of Oscar Orlando Zetuain Delgado | Bogotá | 1997 | (none) |
| 24. Mondoñedo Massacre | Cundinamarca | 1996 | (none) |
| 25. Extrajudicial execution and torture of Beidin Buitrago | La Virginia, Risaralda | 2001 | (none) |
| 26. Murder of Pedro Hernando Barrera Suancha and Guillermo Gómez Suancha | Mosquera, Cundinamarca | 2001 | (none) |
| 27. Murder of Héctor Harvey Valencia | La Unión Peneya, Montañita, Caquetá | 2004 | (none) |
| 28. Murder of José Albeiro Aguirre | Puerto Matilde, Antioquia | 2004 | (none) |
| 29. Murder of Arlinson Duque Flórez | La Laguna, Cartagena del Chairá, Caquetá | 2004 | (none) |
| 30. Wounding of minors | El Billar, Cartagena del Chairá, Caquetá | 2004 | (none) |
| 31. Woundings from attack in school | Lejanías, Meta | 2004 | (none) |
| 32. Extrajudicial execution of Elkin Arbey Ortiz and Jose Rodríguez Villamizar | Medellín, Antioquia | 2002 | (none) |
| 33. Torture of Gladys Rocio Cardenas Sanchez |
| 2003 | (none) |
| 34. Detention and death of Telso Barrera Acosta | Botalón, Saravena, Arauca | 2004 | (none) |
| 35. Extrajudicial execution of Fredy Humberto Gutiérrez Cruz and Rafael Antonio Triviño | Mesetas, Meta | 2002 | (none) |
| 36. Extrajudicial execution of Marco Antonio Rodríguez Moreno & Ricardo Espejo Galindo | Cajamarca, Tolima | 2003 | (none) |
| 37. Extrajudicial execution of Mileidy Dayana David Tuberquía | San Jose de Apartadó, Antioquia | 2003 | (none) |
| 38. Extrajudicial execution in Páramo del Sumapaz | Bogotá | 2005 | (none) |
| 39. Wounding of Joselín Carreño Jejen |
|
| (none) |
| 40. Extrajudicial execution of Javier Correa Arias and torture of Nini Johana Oviedo Lozano | Buga, Valle del Cauca | 2004 | (none) |
| 41. Forced disappearance of Olga Lucía Ladino & María Graciela Rivera | San José del Guaviare | 2000 | (none) |
| 42. Military operation with paramilitary assistance | Remedios and Yondó, Antioquia | 2005 | (none) |
Posted by isacson at September 21, 2005 07:08 AM
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Comments
It all goes back to mainly the same point: The U.S. government, overall, believes that sending constant military aid to Colombia has enough positives to outweigh the benefits and costs of "sticking to the letter" of the human rights certification conditions, which under current standards would have meant that no human rights certification would be possible.
Still, it must be said that given that Colombia's justice system is incredibly full of red tape, loop holes and appalingly slow, while impunity for all crimes (including ones with no government or military participation, importantly) continues to be as high as it's usually been (even though recent modifications have had some benefits, they've also brought some problems, and they aren't even applicable nationwide yet), it's more than a matter of having or not having the willpower to prosecute abuses (though that factor is certainly involved, it's not the only one that plays a role).
Posted by: jcg at September 21, 2005 11:57 AM
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