2024-08-08 00:24:26
Three officers, four non-commissioned officers and 17 soldiers of the National Army were placed under in-prison detention while the investigation progresses.
In March 2022, a group of 24 soldiers were arrested by a judge for their alleged participation in a military operation that resulted in the death of eleven people in the Alto Remanso village of Puerto Leguízamo, Putumayo. The attempted capture of the commander of the 48th front of the border commands, identified as Bruno, resulted in a massacre perpetrated in a community bazaar populated by civilians and children.
The prosecution said the operation was carried out under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel Nestor Andres Cadena Bautista and the commander of the 3rd Anti-Narcotics Battalion deployed a tactical unit near the town of Alto Remanso. But the military team, unable to locate the target in the vicinity, launched an assault on the village wearing clothes not recognized by the national army, resulting in the deaths of eleven people, including an indigenous governor, a community leader and a child. The old man. Another five people were injured, including a pregnant minor.
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The facts
Operation Mahlon No. 5 began on March 28 at 7:13 a.m., marking the conclusion of the community bazaar that attracted approximately 300 people from nearby villages. The prosecutor in charge said a high-powered sniper began assaulting gunmen in the bazaar, triggering a two-and-a-half-hour military operation that resulted in the deaths of civilians. Troops entered the village wearing outfits suggesting they were an illegal armed group, rounded up civilians at the multi-purpose court, and allegedly disturbed the crime scene.
The Prosecutor’s Office’s Evidence Evaluation Center (Cevap) conducted investigations that included a 3D reconstruction of the scene and an analysis of the trajectory of the shots, which indicated that the operation was disproportionate and that civilians were not taken into account during the shooting. High-ranking officers participated in the operation, including Lieutenant Colonel Néstor Andrés Cadena Bautista, Captain Jorge Erney Marroquín Cadena, Lieutenant Julián Ernesto Vila Martínez and several non-commissioned officers and soldiers.
Intramural measurement
The operation was defended by the then general commander of the Army, Eduardo Zapateiro, who said that it was carried out under protocols for the use of force and assured that the dead were members of the illegal group. However, human rights organizations and the local community questioned these statements, pointing out the presence of civilians and the context of violence and drug trafficking in the region. Likewise, an alliance of national media that were present at the scene, allowed a reconstruction of the events to contribute to their clarification. The soldiers involved will remain in the detention center of the 13th Engineer Battalion in Bogotá while the investigations against them advance.
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