JEP closes the doors to Carlos Pizarro's escort after not making contributions to the truth

In the second instance, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) left firm the decision not to accept the petition for submission of Jaime Ernesto Gómez Muñoz, indicted for the murder of former presidential candidate Carlos Pizarro on April 26, 1990.

In 2017, the Attorney General's Office accused Gómez Muñoz, a former DAS agent, who was part of the official protection scheme of the former M-19 guerrilla fighter, of being the co-author of the assassination within the framework of a criminal alliance with other actors. This decision by the JEP is final and confirmed the ruling of September 7, 2021, stating that its contribution to the truth has been “ambiguous and incomplete”.

In the determination known by La W, the magistrates indicate that it is not admissible, that before the JEP, Gómez Muñoz went so far as to plead his innocence without supporting his claims with evidence, although he has not yet been convicted in the ordinary courts. “The door cannot be opened to the former DAS escort, because his plan to contribute to the truth was precarious,” states the document known to the media.

The 26th of April will mark the 32nd anniversary of the assassination of the political and guerrilla leader and impunity continues to haunt his case. His daughter María José Pizarro, current and re-elected congressman from Colombia, recalled in an interview with the Spanish media Efe, what it was like the day before her father's murder:

With the decision of the JEP, the trial of Jaime Ernesto Gómez Muñoz will be sent back immediately to the Eighth Specialized Court of Bogotá. The same jurisdiction stated in its communiqué that the defendant “did not show a willingness to adjust; on the contrary, the victims were not mentioned in his brief, which denotes a lack of commitment to the full contribution to the truth to which he is obliged”.

The ordinary justice investigation states that on the day of Pizarro's murder, Gómez Muñoz, executed alias Jerry (Pizarro's hit man). The agent was part of a complex criminal structure that used the resources of the late DAS to monitor Carlos Pizarro's movements, promote his murder and cover up the crime.

In its determination, the JEP accused a setback in the investigation as Gómez Muñoz argued that it never had any connection with paramilitary structures involved in the homicide. For transitional justice, there are judicial decisions that have pointed to the participation of DAS escorts in the hitman organization that murdered several leftist leaders, including Pizarro.

Finally, the judges considered the attitudes, statements and contributions of Gómez Muñoz to be revictimizing, suggesting that the victims themselves, Pizarro's relatives, are the most “reluctant” to know the truth of the assassination. This is how they express them in the document known to La W:

“The statements contained in the statement of challenge, which suggest that the persons affected by the murder of Mr. Pizarro Leongómez who intervened during the proceedings are reluctant to fully clarify the facts and seek to position a single version of the events, have no meaning and constitute an affront to their dignity”, concluded the Section.

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