“The one who shot me was dressed in civilian clothes”: soldier who was injured in the questioned Putumayo operation

The Minister of Defense, Diego Molano, shared on his social networks the testimony of soldier Rebinson Beleño, who was part of the operation of the National Army in the municipality of Puerto Leguizamo, department of Putumayo, in which 11 alleged dissidents of the demobilized FARC guerrilla were killed, in which the community assures that they were civilians and community leaders.

On his Twitter account, the head of the Defense portfolio shared the video of the uniformed man in response to the opposition leader and presidential candidate of Colombia for the Historical Pact, Gustavo Petro, who assured that this questioned operation, which has been denounced by social organizations as a case of “false positives”, had been a “war crime” in which unarmed peasants and indigenous peoples, including children, were “killed”.

“A 'helpless peasant' wounds a soldier with a rifle,” the minister said ironically in response to the allegations made by the left-wing senator, attaching a video of soldier Beleño, who is currently in the Military Hospital after being hit by a shell in the middle of this operation in which they died the chairman of the Community Action Board, Divier Hernández Rojas, his wife, a 16-year-old teenager and indigenous governor Pablo Panduro Coquinche.

“I was in my position and when the fight started I advanced approximately ten meters. At that moment I met up front with a bandit dressed in civilian clothes, initially I see the character of civilian and that is why he hurts me, because I trusted myself. When was it that I took out a fisile and it shocked me and I had to apply the techniques. After being undercover, I spilled a lot of blood and my teammates also helped me while he kept shooting at me,” the uniformed man told the media from the room in the hospital where he recovers from his injuries.

He also told the commander of the Army, General Enrique Zapateiro, who visited him in the capital's medical center, that after being hit he reached one of his companions, who helped him put on a tourniquet to control the wound in his right arm, which caused injuries to his arteries, and two hemorrhages.

For his part, the President of Colombia, Iván Duque, referred to the questions that have arisen in relation to this operation, which has been denounced by the community and organizations such as the Putumayo Human Rights Network and the Organization of the Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon (Opiac) as an attack against civilians, assuring that criminals had been found to be present at this location.

“The information that we have first is clear from the Army, since it has been explaining point by point, first the planning of the operation, second there has already been evidence of armed personnel, of drugs and beyond that are the seizures, and apart from that we have some of our men injured,” said the president .

At the same time, he indicated that it was important to emphasize that action had been taken “with all the protocols of the force”, which was why urgent investigations by the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Nation should be carried out and the Office of the Procurator and the Office of the Ombudsman, bodies that have requested clarity on this operation that has has been described as an alleged massacre committed by members of the security forces.

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