Colombia: Activists Ask Reopening of Forced Disappearance Cases

On Friday, the Orlando Fals Borda (OFB) Collective published a report denouncing 8,288 cases of forced disappearance between 1958 and 2016 in the Meta, Guaviare, and Casanare departments.

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The report showed that the decade with the highest rates of forced disappearances in these three departments occurred between 2000 and 2009 with 92 cases and 101 victims totalizing 70 percent of victimization.

The Meta department is the second in the country with the highest number of forced disappearance victims at 5,280 people. It is followed by the Guaviare department with 1,794 cases and Casanare with 1,215 people.

The document highlighted that only three victims out of 145 people have been delivered to their families, a figure which corresponds to 98 percent of cases that continue in the search process without further progress.

OFB Collective called on the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) to open a macro-case for this area with an emphasis on the alleged responsibility of State agents and paramilitary groups.

Military units attached to the Joint Task Force (FUTCO), more than six battalions, and paramilitary groups, mainly with the Centauros Blocks of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia and the Casanare's Rural Self-Defense Forces are allegedly implicated in the disappearances.

"We are hopeful that the Search Unit can find our relatives because it is a path that we have taken in the report, with the intention of knowing where our relatives are," activist and victim Eulalia Luango said.