Mapiripán massacre explained

Mapiripán massacre
Location:Mapiripán, Meta
Colombia
Target:Civilians
Date:July 15-July 20, 1997
Type:Shooting, mass murder, massacre
Fatalities:30[1]
Perps: AUC
Weapons:Chainsaws[2]

The Mapiripán massacre was a massacre of civilians that took place in Mapiripán, Meta Department, Colombia. The massacre was carried out from July 15-20, 1997, by the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), an outlawed right-wing paramilitary group.

On July 12, 1997, two planes containing paramilitary members arrived at the airport of San José del Guaviare, which also served as a base for the anti-narcotics police. The group then travelled through territories where the Colombian National Army operated checkpoints.

On July 15, 1997, the paramilitaries arrived at Mapiripán, where they used chainsaws and machetes to murder, behead, dismember, and disembowel civilians. Because the bodies were thrown into a river, it is unknown exactly how many people died but the United States Department of State stated in 2003 that at least 30 civilians were killed.[3] [4]

In proceedings before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the government of Colombia admitted that members of its military forces also played a role in the massacre, through omission.[5] General Jaime Uscátegui allegedly ordered local troops under his command to stay away from the area in which the murders were taking place until the paramilitaries finished the massacre and left. After retirement, Uscátegui was later prosecuted, put on trial, and subsequently acquitted.[6] [7] On November 25, 2009, the Superior Tribunal of Bogotá revoked the previous sentence, and sentenced Uscátegui to 40 years in prison.[8]

Convictions

Jaime Humberto Uscategui, a former army general who had ignored calls for help during the massacre, was arrested in 1999. His trial took place in a military court and he was given forty months in prison for "omission" in 2001.[9]

On November 25, 2009,[9] the Bogotá superior tribunal announced in a ruling of ninety pages that it had passed a forty-year prison sentence on 61-year-old General Uscategui.[10] [11] [12] It was the longest sentence that had ever been given to an army officer in Colombia's history.[10] Uscategui was found guilty of kidnapping, murder, and falsifying public documents.[10] He declared his innocence, saying "I have the tranquillity of innocence and I also have the tranquillity of proof".[13]

Colonel Hernán Orozco, the battalion commander accused of failing to stop the massacre, was also given a forty-year sentence for murder in 2007.[13]

Carecuchillo surrender

One of the paramilitary leaders allegedly responsible for the massacre, Dumas de Jesús Castillo Guerrero, a.k.a. "Carecuchillo", surrendered to authorities on May 20, 2008, after having been considered dead for half a year.[14]

See also

External links

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Notes and References

  1. [Uppsala Conflict Data Program]
  2. Web site: Colombia. .
  3. National Security Archive, August 1, 2003, Robert P. Jackson, Director of Office for Promotion of Human Rights and Democracy, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, http://nsarchive.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/20030801.pdf
  4. Web site: Document Friday: The Mapiripán Massacre "Cover-up". Evans. Michael. 2012-07-13. UNREDACTED. en. 2019-08-20.
  5. Web site: StackPath.
  6. Web site: Comunicado sentencia violacion derechos humanos Uscategui Colombia . 2007-01-23 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070203031242/http://bogota.usembassy.gov/wwwsdhju.shtml . 2007-02-03 .
  7. http://www.alternet.org/rights/75239/ Human Rights Atrocities Still go Unpunished in Colombia | Rights and Liberties | AlterNet
  8. http://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/justicia/40-anos-de-carcel-por-masacre-de-mapiripan-pagara-el-general-retirado-jaime-uscategui_6675668-1|40 años de cárcel por masacre de Mapiripán pagará el general retirado Jaime Uscátegui
  9. News: Libardo Cardona. Court convicts ex-general in Colombia massacre. 2009-11-25. 2009-11-27. The Miami Herald.
  10. News: Colombia jails death squad general over massacre. 2009-11-26. 2009-11-27. BBC.
  11. Web site: Ex general colombiano condenado a 40 años . 2009-11-27 . . es . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20091129115653/http://www.rnw.nl/es/espa%C3%B1ol/article/ex-general-colombiano-condenado-40-a%C3%B1os . November 29, 2009 .
  12. News: General gets 40 years over massacre. 2009-11-27. 2009-11-27. The Scotsman.
  13. News: Former Colombian general jailed for role in Mapiripán massacre. 2009-11-26. 2009-11-27. The Guardian.
  14. News: Mapiripán massacre suspect surrenders. May 20, 2008. Colombia Reports. 2008-05-20.