“Victims must travel to another municipality to give their testimony”: new allegations of irregularities in the Army operation in Putumayo

The military operation that took place on March 28 in Puerto Leguizamo, Putumayo, still leaves doubts and becomes an unclear case. Both national and international organizations have opposed the diligence of the State, since it has championed the argument that the operation was legitimate, protected by law and that all those killed were guerrillas. In the context of these events, the Indigenous leader of the Koreguaje people and OPIAC Human Rights Coordinator, Óscar Daza, denounced that irregularities continue to occur in the conduct of the investigation of the case.

Daza pointed out that both the Prosecutor's Office and the National Army were present at the scene, five days after the operation, the leader assures that this could permeate the scene, failing to protect the evidence and classifying it as a “fateful impossibility”. It is important to bear in mind that the community had also reported that it was intimidated at the time when the evidence was being collected, since the Army was present at the scene, considering that it is identified as one of the alleged perpetrators of this regrettable event.

Likewise, the coordinator presents a worrying situation for the provision of testimonies to the authorities, since according to him, the Attorney General's Office has not taken its officials directly to Puerto Leguizamo, but instead installed them in the municipality of Puerto Asís, a situation that limits the investigation process taking into account said that the circumstances of time and economy make it impossible for witnesses to travel to the other municipality and to advance the process.

It should be noted that, despite being within the same department, the distance between Puerto Leguizamo and Puerto Asís is wide, as there is no road connection that allows easy travel, taking into account that, due to geographical conditions and different circumstances, a main road has not been built in this place. To get from one side to the other, it is necessary to do it by air and in many cases, making a connection with Bogotá, while the other option is the river movement along the Putumayo River, which can take up to three hours and crosses the borders with Peru and Ecuador.

The testimonies will be received between 20 and 22 April, as Oscar Daza explained, another factor of concern is the security conditions that the complainants would have, until now, would be null and void. In addition, the proceedings are being carried out in Puerto Asís with others who are not directly linked to the events.

In view of these conditions, the Indigenous leader of the Koreguaje people requests that the Prosecutor's Office make a direct presence in the Alto Remando village, where the incidents were committed, and that is where the victims can give their testimony. At the same time, Daza stressed: “that within the framework of its constitutional obligations guarantee the safety of persons who will give testimony”.

Finally, this leader and human rights coordinator of the National Organization of the Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon (OPIAC), requests that victims be treated in a timely manner and that their rights be guaranteed, since security measures so far are not clear, despite the seriousness of the matter discussed.

It is important to bear in mind that for these events he was summoned to the debate on political control and the motion of censure, Defense Minister Diego Molano, in turn, has also questioned various officials; among them is General Eduardo Zapateiro, commander of the Army, who justified the operation and said that it is not new that this type of fact falls minors and women in a state of gestation.

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