Indigenous Peoples Call on the Army to End “False Positives” in Puerto Leguizamo, Putumayo

The National Organization of the Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon (OPIAC) called on the National Army to murder civilians in the form of “false positives”. The statements came after the Ministry of Defense confirmed the neutralization of 11 alleged members of the FARC dissidents and the capture of four others in the municipality of Puerto Leguizamo, Putumayo.

The facts were presented on March 28 and were confirmed by the Minister of Defense, Diego Molano. “Thanks to offensive operations by the public forces, which continue to be developed, against FARC dissidents, we neutralized 9 criminals — a figure that later rose to 11 — and captured 4 more in Puerto Leguizamo, Putumayo,” the official wrote on Twitter.

The National Army, for its part, assured that of the four alleged members who were captured there was a woman in a state of pregnancy who was transferred to a health care center. While the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation is carrying out the judicial proceedings of the four prisoners.

While this was the official communication from the authorities, OPIAC considers that the information provided “does not match reality”.

In the document presented by the organization, they quote the media outlet Andrés Prensa, in which they interviewed relatives of the deceased: “They indicate that the Army arrived at the village where some inhabitants of the area were holding a bazaar in a communal booth, adjacent to a football field used by neighbors. That this activity was to collect funds to meet the needs of the same village”, the complaint reads.

They also indicated that among the people killed is the indigenous authority and governor of the Kitcwhwa People, Pablo Panduro Coquinche. “As can be seen, among the victims of the unlawful conduct of the security forces, there are also parents an active Indigenous Governor,” they added.

For this reason, the Human Rights Coordination of the National Organization of the Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon (OPIAC) made a list of requests to different national and international entities.

The National Army asked the immediate cessation of “homicide through the modality of false positives of the civilian population of the municipality”, especially those against the indigenous population and their authorities. Meanwhile, he asked the Ministry of Defense to retract the statements given last Monday and to “clarify that the people killed were not guerrillas but civilians.”

Regarding Molano's claims, indigenous peoples called on the Attorney General's Office to initiate a disciplinary investigation of all officials who participated in the events, including the Minister of Defense.

On the other hand, OPIAC asked the Attorney General's Office to investigate “the real conditions in which the massacre perpetrated by the national army occurred.” In turn, he called on the Technical Investigation Corps (CTI) to “guarantee an objective investigation and guarantor of the right,” the organization wrote. That the chain of custody be protected and the alteration of the scene by the security forces is not allowed.”

Finally, he requested the help of International Agencies and Human Rights organizations to include the events challenged in the denunciation of reports on the situation in Colombia in DD. HH. They also called for “issuing requests to State institutions to investigate the facts” and thus find those responsible.

It should be recalled that the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) counts more than 6402 cases of false positives that occurred during the conflict up to 2016.

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