Army operation in Putumayo could be described as “false positive” confirmed humanitarian commission that visited the area

After the operation carried out by the National Army on March 28, in Puerto Leguizamo, Putumayo, a Verification Mission went to the area of interference to investigate the incident. After collecting the data obtained, they concluded that this intervention was an extrajudicial execution, in this case, both operational and posterity, it left open doubts in relation to this case, although the main justification of the Ministry of Defense is that they sought to deal a heavy blow to the armed structures of the known as Segunda Marquetalia, the evidence found by the Mission demonstrates the opposite.

Although this delegation acknowledges the possible presence of illegal actors in the area, they emphasize that this does not justify the armed incursion that left the population in the middle of the fire, in addition to the human rights violations that they may suffer, in the statement, the Mission stated: “This extrajudicial execution against the population of El Remanso and neighboring communities participating in the bazaar, was also directed against human groups highly protected by international humanitarian law such as indigenous peoples, social leaders and minors, who were killed in the event, it should be noted that, these practices are of great concern to the Mission, taking into account that they are systematic and correspond to the same patterns of behavior already investigated at other times in the territory”.

Similarly, it was emphasized that this operation wanted to be presented by the Defence portfolio, as an action against legitimate targets, in turn, the Mission asked the Ministry of Defense and the National Government to rectify the claims made against the community, taking into account that, according to them, their dignity is seen in addition, indigenous peoples and the various communities that have been involved in this extermination demand the appropriate protection, marking it as a crime against humanity and considering the need for disciplinary measures to be taken against the military involved.

The Prosecutor's Office is also required to conduct investigations in an impartial manner and not seek to favor any of the parties involved, in addition to this, it is requested that the National Army not be present in the area, at the time when the testimonies are being collected, bearing in mind that this is assumed as a measure intimidating.

Similarly, the Mission explains that, since its peacebuilding, it seeks the international community to accompany this population and allows changes to be made in the humanitarian crisis they are experiencing, calling for the development of a Humanitarian Agreement that seeks to end violence against Afro-descendant and indigenous communities, in addition to eliminate all kinds of gaps that generate stigmatization against the inhabitants of their territories.

According to Noticias Uno, the Coordinator of the Putumayo Human Rights Network, Yuri Quintero, explained that doubts arise as to how the community is approached, since it was surrounded and directly accused of belonging to an illegal armed group by the State, a situation that shows the desire for justification of the community. operational.

In turn, Diana Sánchez, Director of the Organization Minga and Spokesperson Plataforma Colombia - Europe - USA, explained to the aforementioned media that the Army sought to manipulate this information through legal protection, since in this case, it indicated that the entire population involved in the place had to do with crime and was considered as military objective, since according to information from the Ministry of Defense, those killed belonged directly to the armed group Segunda Marquetalia and were not peasants, as stated in different versions, stating: “The Army is trying to turn it around and create a legal manipulation of IHL, to justify what happened, to say that all the population that was there were narco-coca growers, all guerrillas and had to be killed.”

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