In a statement this Wednesday, April 13, the ombudsman, Carlos Camargo, assured that since March 29, the Ombudsman's Office has been present in the municipality of Puerto Leguizamo (Putumayo) with humanitarian missions, following the operation carried out in the Alto Remanso village, by the National Army.
The official stressed that these missions have been strengthened since April 1, thanks to the work of officials of the entity's National Department of Attention and Handling of Complaints.
In its statement, the Office of the Ombudsman stressed that “it is imperative that the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, in exercise of their preferential power, and the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation carry out a thorough, prompt and ex officio investigation with due diligence to obtain clear information about what happened.”
On the conduct of the operation carried out on 28 March, the Ombudsman warns of the obligation to respect the rules of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) as regards the principles of precaution, distinction and proportionality, “the above-mentioned authorities are called to seek the truth about the development of the military operation in the village of El Alto Remanso in Puerto Leguizamo”.
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It should be noted that this same entity confirmed the deaths of civilians during the military operation, “it is essential to determine if in addition to the victims already identified, there are other victims. This is because some people in the community say that there were those who fell into the river or tried to escape the risk by jumping into it,” said Carlos Camargo.
In addition, the Office of the Ombudsman found that during the clashes there was damage to civilian property essential to the community, and that there is widespread fear of reprisals by armed groups that are present in the area.
“We reiterate the importance of rigorous implementation of IHL. And we also take this opportunity to emphatically call on illegal armed groups to respect the principle of distinction that prohibits the involvement of civilians in armed confrontation, hiding or using them as a shield,” added the Ombudsman.
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Finally, it is worth emphasizing that, for the Office of the Ombudsman, the purpose of early warnings is “fundamentally comprehensive humanitarian prevention, to protect and prevent the eventual occurrence of violations of human rights of the civilian population, and its recommendations are not based solely on the security approach. part of the security forces.
“That is why we require national and territorial authorities to take all steps to adequately meet the needs of the community and protect it from the risks noted,” Carlos Camargo urged.
Among other things, the official indicated that “operations would have started with Army personnel wearing uniforms other than camouflaged ones, eleven people were killed in exchange of fire,” said defender Camargo.
Since the day of the official announcement, the Colombian Army has maintained that “the military operation carried out was legal, legitimate and complied with all the protocols and guidelines stipulated in military doctrine for the development of offensive actions against criminal structures, safeguarding human rights and abiding by the provisions of international humanitarian law”.
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