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News > Colombia

Colombia: Uribe Denies Liability in Extrajudicial Killings

  • Former President Alvaro Uribe, Antioquia, Colombia, Aug.16, 2021.

    Former President Alvaro Uribe, Antioquia, Colombia, Aug.16, 2021. | Photo: Twitter/ @EIExpedienteCol

Published 18 August 2021
Opinion

The ex-President claimed that he never gave economic incentives to members of the Armed Forces for their results in the fight against the guerrillas.

On Monday, Colombia's former President Alvaro Uribe denied responsibility for the extrajudicial killings by the military during his government's crackdown on guerrillas.

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"No soldier or policeman can say that I set a bad example through words or actions," Uribe said and stressed that his administration never gave economic incentives to members of the Armed Forces for their results in the fight against the guerrillas.

During the Uribe administration (2002-2010), Colombian Army members killed 6,402 civilians to present them as combat casualties and receive rewards and permits from their superiors, according to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP).

The former President claimed to be deceived by the military about the extrajudicial killings. "I visited Cajamarca, where innocent civilians were murdered, and the soldiers told me that they were casualties of a combat with the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC)," he justified.

Uribe, whom the Supreme Court also investigates for witness tampering, stressed that his administration demobilized 53,000 paramilitary groups and removed 27 military commanders involved in war crimes. 

He made these statements before Jesuit priest Francisco de Roux, the president of the Truth Commission, an organization that emerged from the 2016 Peace Agreement between the Colombian State and FARC. His words, however, cannot be considered official statements since Uribe does not recognize the legitimacy of the institutions that emerged from the peace process. 

Nevertheless, De Roux assured that his organization would consider what Uribe said and make no distinctions. "For us, the argument of authority is not worth it. We seek justice. We will find the truth at any cost," the priest assured.

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