To help the country to cement a lasting peace, the creation of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, a court dedicated to judging crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the internal conflict, which left at least 450,000 dead, has been fundamental.
American aid – through USAID and the State Department – represents about 10 percent of the court’s external support, as those responsible explained.
The US government provided technical and logistical support in three of the large -scale cases of the court – each of which represented thousands of victims – about sexual crimes, crimes against black and indigenous people and the systematic murder of left -wing politicians. He also provided research tools, such as DNA test kits, to identify the bodies found in common graves.
The loss of American aid will slow down the court’s work, those responsible said, which is worrying because it has a period of 15 years to reach verdicts and sentences in cases that affect tens of thousands of victims and accused living in rural areas and difficult to access, Judge Alejandro Ramelli, president of the court, said.
