Colombia: President Gustavo Petro apologizes for massacres committed in the 1990s
At the start of his speech, President Petro (our photo) read out the names of the nineteen people killed in the attacks of 1996 and 1997. © REUTERS - VANNESSA JIMENEZ
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Colombian President Gustavo Petro apologized on Wednesday, November 30 to the victims of two massacres perpetrated by paramilitaries in the late 1990s, we learned from official sources.
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"
As a representative of the Colombian State today, I must apologize to all the families of the victims and to the victims who can no longer accompany us, because they were murdered by the State itself, a murderous state
,” Petro said at a public event in the northwestern city of Medellin.
About 100 kilometers away, in the municipality of Ituango, far-right paramilitaries massacred defenseless civilians in the villages of El Aro and La Granja in 1996 and 1997.
nineteen killed
At the beginning of his speech, the president read the names of the nineteen people killed during these attacks, for which the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) had held - in 2006 - the Colombian State responsible.
The two massacres took place over several days with "
the consent and collaboration of members of the security forces
", according to the Court.
In the locality of El Aro, the paramilitaries had accused the villagers of collaborating with the far-left guerrillas, and tortured several people in public.
They had also burned down most of the houses and forced several survivors to transport stolen cattle, according to the court ruling.
A court which had also ordered the payment of compensation of 10,000 dollars to the families of the victims and an act of public recognition, among other reparations.
While the Colombian state made a written "
partial acknowledgment of responsibility
" in court and compensated the victims years ago, until now it had never publicly acknowledged its responsibility for the massacres.
“
Planned extermination
”
“
I want to thank you, Mr. President.
Because after 25 years, until now there has not been a president who has paid attention to the victims
, ”said, during the ceremony this Wednesday, Maria Oliva Calle, widow of Omar de Jesús Ortiz, killed in El Aro.
President Gustavo Petro, who took office in August to become the first left-wing head of state in Colombia's history, has been tireless in speaking out in recent years while in the opposition, the atrocities committed by paramilitaries, often allied with security forces, local leaders, and even members of Congress.
This was a "
planned extermination to eliminate enemies, because they considered the peasant as an enemy
," said President Petro in his speech, about the two massacres of El Aro and La Granja.
(
with AFP
)
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Colombia
Gustavo Petro
Crime
Terrorism