The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation has initiated an investigation against six retired National Army generals for their alleged responsibility in extrajudicial executions.
According to the information gathered, these officers would have been involved in a plan to increase the so-called “combat casualties” in the regions of La Guajira, Cesar and Magdalena, presenting as dead in confrontations people who had no relationship with criminal organizations.
The investigations are carried out by prosecutors delegated to the Supreme Court of Justice, who have compiled evidence that suggests that the generals, while they were in command of different units in the north of the country, would have promoted a “stimulus plan” to encourage an increase in “combat casualties”. In exchange for presenting results in terms of reported deaths, congratulations, furloughs, licenses and vacations were offered to the military.
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Between 2004 and 2008, the first cases involving tactical and operational groups attached to the Tenth and Second Brigades of the National Army, with jurisdiction in Cesar and La Guajira, were registered. According to the evidence, five of the senior officers investigated would have exerted pressure on their subordinates so that only “combat casualties” would be considered valid. As a result, peasants, indigenous people and residents of marginal neighborhoods came forward as dead in confrontations.
The victims, in most cases, were deceived with false job offers, transferred to remote and uninhabited places, handed over to the uniformed officers and executed with rifle shots at close range, in circumstances that did not reflect an armed confrontation. However, in the official reports they were registered as members of criminal structures that had attacked the forces of the National Army.
Consequently, the following retired officers will be summoned to testify as possible responsible for the crime of homicide against a protected person:
Brigadier General (r) Fabricio Cabrera Ortiz, for events that occurred between July 13, 2006 and January 31, 2008, when he served as commander of the Tenth Armored Brigade of the First Division of the National Army, and which resulted in 95 victims of extrajudicial executions.
Major General (r) Hernán Giraldo Restrepo, for events that occurred between December 24, 2004 and July 1, 2006, when he commanded the Tenth Armored Brigade of the First Division of the National Army, and that involved 33 victims of extrajudicial executions.
Major General (r) Jorge Enrique Navarrete Jadeth, for 15 victims of extrajudicial executions. These people died on January 16, 2006, in Urumita (La Guajira). This case is attributed to the No. 2 Mechanized Cavalry Battalion, whose commander was being investigated today.
Brigadier General (r) Raúl Antonio Rodríguez Arévalo, for two events perpetrated in Manaure and Codazzi y (Cesar), in February and September 2006, in which seven men died who were subsequently presented as ‘combat casualties’. At the time, the officer was the commander of the Artillery Battalion No. 2 La Popa.
Brigadier General (r) Luis Felipe Paredes Cadena for an extrajudicial execution event that left a victim in the Mingueo corregimiento, in Dibulla (La Guajira), on November 18, 2006. At the time, the officer was in charge of the Second Brigade of the National Army.