Former military personnel who appear before the JEP are expected to make contributions that lead to specific work for the restoration of damages caused during the armed conflict. The victims’ organizations of the department participated in the TOAR Technical Table, chaired by the Government of Huila, adopting this determination.
Diario del Huila, Report
With the purpose of strengthening the search work for nearly 1,500 missing people in the department of Huila and contributing to the construction of peace, the Search Unit for Persons Reported as Missing (UBPD) and the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) announced that those appearing before this judicial mechanism will be able to participate in the humanitarian work carried out by the UBPD as part of the Works, Works and Activities of Reparative and Restorative Content (TOAR) in the south of the country.
During the last session of the ‘Technical Table for the Promotion and Articulation of Works, Works and Activities with Reparative and Restorative Content’, led by the Government of Huila, the decision was made that both the former military personnel linked to case 03, which investigates the ‘false positives’, such as former FARC combatants, provide information and tangible manpower as part of the effort to heal the wounds left by the war.
According to Camilo Ernesto Gómez Alarcón, coordinator of the Search Unit in Huila, this initiative will focus especially on guiding activities to locate people who could be buried in cemeteries in the department. He also stressed that the implementation of what was agreed requires the collaboration of all sectors of society and joint work between institutions and organizations.
«All actors involved in the construction of collective memory must fundamentally participate. Around these TOAR for the search, it is essential that we can join forces and work together to offer answers to families in search of their loved ones.«Gómez Alarcón emphasized.
Likewise, he expressed that among the relevant initiatives approved by the departmental board, is the search for people reported missing in different contexts. “We are in the process of being able to organize this initiative, in projects, together with the victims, the people appearing to contribute in the department to the healing of everyone.”.
It is important to highlight that the victims and those appearing create the TOAR and that the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) approves them.
“There are initiatives that the Search Unit for Missing Persons cannot develop alone, much less the departmental institutions, so it is necessary to build closely, all the actors who are in society and who are weaving memory”.
Support from the JEP
The Technical Board, established by decree 355 of 2022, has the support of the JEP magistrate, Alejandro Ramelli, who highlighted that with the recent prioritization of the search, it is expected that those appearing will get involved in the TOAR projects as soon as possible.allowing them to contribute beyond providing information on the location of bodies.
«We hope that those appearing not only provide information, which is their duty, but also participate in work that contributes to the search and symbolic reparation of the victims.«underlined Judge Ramelli, who anticipated significant progress in this regard during the next truth recognition hearing scheduled for next August.
According to Ramelli, the search for people reported missing in Huila was carried out through information provided by those appearing, who recognized not only the commission of extrajudicial executions, but also, in some cases, their connection with forced disappearances. “They have given some information about some cemeteries and places where the bodies of their victims could be and that is why all this information reached the TOAR table.”.
The magistrate specified that in addition to these appearances, precautionary measures have been taken, with the purpose of protecting places where it is presumed that the bodies of people reported missing are located.
Regarding the start of this contribution project, the JEP magistrate indicated that the ideal would be as soon as possible. “These people, who are still in transit in the Jurisdiction, can be linked as soon as possible to these projects that are being structured. It would be an early sanction, not only giving information, but carrying out work that can contribute to the symbolic reparation of the victims.
The case 03
Recently, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) charged 35 retired and active soldiers from four units of the National Army that operated in Huila with war crimes and crimes against humanity for 200 murders, including 32 forced disappearances, in addition to eight attempted murders. homicide.
These are the Infantry Battalion No. 26 ‘Cacique Pigoanza’ (BIPIG), the Infantry Battalion No. 27 ‘Magdalena’ (BIMAG), the Urban Special Forces Group No. 11 (AFEUR 11) and the IX Brigade. In total, the four military units prioritized in the investigation reported 264 deaths, of which 192 were actually homicides committed against people out of combat between 2005 and 2008.
Within the framework of Case 03, which investigates murders and forced disappearances presented as combat casualties, the JEP decided to accuse three former commanders of the IX Brigade as perpetrators by omission: Major General Miguel Ernesto Pérez Guarnizo, General (r) Jaime Alfonso Lasprilla Villamizar, who became commander of the National Army and Brigadier General William Fernando Pérez Laiseca.
The Chamber stressed that the accused generals had to protect the legal rights of the population, effectively control their subordinates and, despite having reasonable measures at their disposal to do so, they failed to comply with their constitutional obligations.
The actions of the three senior officers conveyed the perception that the IX Brigade allowed the irregular launching of operations to perpetrate homicides under the modality of simulated combat and, with this, that it was possible to resort to the irregular payment of rewards to finance them. The pressures occurred in a context of strict military hierarchy, lack of effective control and the imposition of combat deaths as the only indicator of military success.
In the case of the major generals (r) Édgar Alberto Rodríguez Sánchez and Marcos Evangelista Pinto Lizarazo, along with the 30 appearing parties who served as members of the platoons, platoon and company commanders of the four prioritized units, all must respond on their own behalf. of co-authors for the crimes they are accused of.
The Chamber considers that these uniformed officers followed a common agreement, with division of criminal work and made essential contributions in the planning, execution and cover-up phases of the events.
