Military must acknowledge responsibility for false positives in Catatumbo

On April 26 and 27, General Paulino Coronado Gámez, four colonels and five other officers and non-commissioned officers of the National Army, must acknowledge their responsibility in cases of false positives that occurred in Catatumbo, Norte de Santander. This recognition of responsibilities will take place in Ocaña, within the framework of a recognition hearing before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP).

The decision, which was adopted by the JEP Reconnaissance Chamber, is due to the request of the victims accredited in case 03, entitled “Murders and enforced disappearances presented as combat casualties by agents of the State”.

During the hearing, the 10 members of the security forces who were found to be most responsible, must move from written recognition to public recognition before the courts, victims and the country. “Ocaña “is the only place where they could symbolically feel that the holding of such a hearing makes sense for them,” warns the jurisdiction of peace in order 036.

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The soldiers who must acknowledge their responsibility are Brigadier General Paulino Coronado Gámez, who was the commander of the 30th Brigade; Colonels Santiago Herrera Fajardo and Rubén Darío Castro Gómez, former commanders of the 15th Mobile Brigade; Lieutenant Colonel Álvaro Diego Tamayo Hoyos, former commander of the 15th Mobile Brigade; Infantry Battalion No. 15 'General Francisco de Paula Santander' (BISAN) of Ocaña; Lieutenant Colonel Gabriel de Jesús Rincón Amado, former BRIM15 Operations Officer and Major Juan Carlos Chaparro, former BISAN commander.

In the event of recognition, full, detailed and exhaustive truth on the part of those appearing, the Chamber shall produce, after three months, at the latest, the respective resolution of conclusions before the Recognition of Truth and Accountability Section of the Peace Tribunal.

It is important to note that on December 11, 2021, through a document provided by his lawyers, General (r) Coronado Gámez, clarified that his recognition of false positives was by way of omission.

“As I have said to the magistrates, who contrasted it, I never ordered, planned or instigated the death of any of the victims caused by members of the Army; but, as an obligation to my family, the victims and the country, I have decided to accept responsibility by way of omission in such acts,” the General (r) explained in the document of that date.

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At the end of the document, the general (r) reiterated that if his departure from the Army (in October 2008) served to stop this “nefarious and abominable practice”, he would assume the call to qualify service and the statements. “My recognition of responsibility is a call to leaders and those who have held positions of command and power in our country, to reflect on what they have stopped doing, what they have missed by endorsing, probably in good faith, those unfortunate actions that are now fully known and accepted by the material authors,” he added.

This reconnaissance hearing will also be attended by former intelligence officers from the Central Intelligence Centre of Ocaña (CIOCA): Captain Daladier Rivera Jácome and Second Sergeant Rafael Antonio Urbano Muñoz; as well as Second Sergeant Sandro Mauricio Pérez Contreras, who was head of the intelligence of BISAN, first corporal Nestor Guillermo Gutiérrez Salazar, former squad commander at BRIM15 and third civilian Alexander Carretero Díaz, who worked as a collaborator of the two military structures.

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