The Unit for the Search for Persons Deemed Disappeared -UBPD- and the Special Jurisdiction for Peace -JEP- delivered the body of Mr. Isaac Tuberquia with dignity in the municipality of Carmen del Darién, Chocó. Thus ended the 26-year wait for the Tuberquia family and the community where Don Isaac exercised important community leadership.
The dignified surrender, burial, and ceremony in memory of Mr. Tuberquia, assassinated on August 24, 1997, in events related to the armed conflict, was achieved thanks to the coordinated work of the Comprehensive System for Peace -SIP-. The UBPD coordinated and directed the search, prospecting and drive to identify Mr. Tuberquia’s body.
The humanitarian and extrajudicial articulation of this case is part of the Bajo Atrato Regional Search Plan (PBR), designed by the UBPD, which is under construction and of which the municipalities of Riosucio, Carmen del Darién and Belén de Bajirá are part. , in Chocó; and Murindó, in Antioquia.
Through this plan, a preliminary universe of 855 people reported missing in the period between 1982 and 2016 has been established. These victims have been reported, preliminarily, through the exercise of contrasting information from different judicial sources, such as reports of victims’ organizations and the contributions to the truth of the appearing parties given in voluntary hearings in the framework of Case 04. The contrasting exercise has yielded matches in 176 search requests received by the UBPD, which has calculated a universe of more of 7,000 disappeared people in Urabá, Bajo Atrato and the Darién Chocoano.
The case of Mr. Tuberquia is part of the line of investigation of disappeared persons in the context of the operations: taking over Riosucio, ‘Operation Cacarica’ and ‘Operation Genesis’.
Mr. Isaac Tuberquia lost his life along with his friend Julio Mendoza on August 24, 1997 in Curbaradó, in events related to the armed conflict.
At that time, the bodies had to be hastily buried by the community in the same place where they were killed to avoid reprisals from the armed actors. Meanwhile, the Tuberquia family, like other inhabitants, left the region displaced without being able to keep information on the exact place where they were buried. The foregoing, due to the radical transformation of the territory that generated the cultivation of palm, banana and livestock. The companies built roads and boundaries that were different from the known ones, so its inhabitants lost reference points and any possibility of locating themselves.
Mr. Isaac Tuberquia was a born leader in Curbaradó. With his management and service, he helped create the Community Action Board, he was also decisive in the construction of the corregimiento school.
Mr. Isaac loved animals. His passion and his empirical knowledge of veterinary issues were qualities that the community admired about him. He helped the neighbors attend to the births of the cows and cure the diseases of the pigs and chickens.
Don Isaac was a farmer who knew what the land was for. He grew corn, rice, cassava and yams.
Uriel Tuberquia, his son, one of the people who led the search for Don Isaac, stressed that the dignified delivery and burial of his father means relief not only for the other members of the family, but also for the community. He said that this is the most important way to feel repaired, while he reflected on the need to forgive in order to contribute to peace building scenarios.
“Although today we have cried, we are very happy. We appreciate the work of the Search Unit, the JEP and all the institutions that participated in this process. I have no way to describe this moment, we are too happy with my brothers. I am happy and resting. There is also the call to do something more, we have to continue building good things”, said Mr. Uriel Tuberquia.