This is how political alliances advance in relation to the motion of censure against Minister Diego Molano

Congressmen and different opposition sectors have advanced a motion of censure in the House of Representatives against Defense Minister Diego Molano, due to the recent operation that took place in Putumayo on April 28, which left eleven dead, allegedly several of them civilians belonging to the Alto Remanso community.

This was stated in a triune by Congressman Katherine Miranda, pointing to the operation of a human rights violation: “It is absolutely necessary that all political sectors come together to hold Minister Diego Molano and the senior army commanders to account... we are seriously considering calling for a motion of censure in against the minister”.

One of the elected Senators, Martha Peralta, also felt the great discontent regarding this military action and listed the irregularities and scandals in which Molano has been involved, noting that it was time for the MinDefensa to resign: “Incredible that the minister is still in office despite: He bombs children and calls them 'machines of war', makes false pot assembly in Pereira, civilians are murdered in Putumayo to make them pass as guerrillas. It's time for you to resign.”

For its part, the Democratic Center party, in the spokesperson for House Representative Edward Rodríguez, highlighted the role of the military forces: “We must remember that our Public Force is not there to harm society but, on the contrary, it is to protect the property, life and honor of Colombians, and of course respect the human rights. We have to investigate thoroughly.”

But this fact has been widely questioned by various sectors, so the highest commanders of the Army, president and minister emphasized that the only casualties were members of armed organizations. Different journalistic investigations such as Voragine, Cambio and even Caracol have identified civilians from the Alto Remanso community as fatalities of this operation.

For her part, House Representative María Pizarro stressed the importance of giving relevance to journalistic investigations that have shown beyond the official versions of the operation provided by the Government and Army. He also noted mistrust when it comes to investigations carried out by the supervisory bodies of the operation. Since it points to a lack of independence in the powers by having close ties, as is the case of the Attorney General and the chief of the armed forces President Duque.

“This is something that we have been questioning and it is precisely the lack of autonomy between the powers. We are talking about people in the watchdogs close to the Presidency of the Republics and there are no guarantees that these investigations will work,” said Representative Pizarro.

Another figure who also wants to discuss is the questioned commander of the National Army, General Eduardo Zapateiro, who said verbatim referring to possible civilian casualties in the Putumayo operation: “This is not the first operation where pregnant women and minors are combatants fall.”

Regarding this statement made by General Zapateiro, Congressman Katherine Miranda replied: “At least five principles were violated, how is it possible that they have a lightness, as if people were objects or animals, saying that unfortunately pregnant women or children always fall, where is the sense of humanity and distinction ?” .

Karen Abudinen and Guillermo Botero were two Ministers summoned to a motion of censure but who previously resigned from office in the Duque Government.

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