On May 13, 2021, our organizations received sensitive accounts of absolutely horrific police conduct and practices which, if true, must be shocking to anyone with a human conscience. These accounts show that when there is a mentality at the highest levels of government that defines young demonstrators as “terrorist vandals” and issues the corresponding orders against them, they become targets and victims of criminal designs, with the gravest consequences imaginable.
Starting on May 14, accounts began filtering in of the existence of mass graves in rural parts of the towns of Buga and Yumbo, where it appears that the bodies of many young residents of Cali have been taken.
Just days ago, a new and more specific source conveyed further sensitive information to the effect that on Sunday, May 2, the Municipal Administrative Center (CAM) was used as a center for covert operations. Some youths were taken to basements and then, hours later, carried away in vans with tinted windows.
Two later sources reported on the comings and goings of vans that appear to belong to the police’s fleet. These sources report that young people were taken in the middle of the night to the sector known as Mulaló in the town of Yumbo, 30 minutes from Cali. There, at a previously prepared site, they dumped the bodies of young people from working-class barrios who had participated in the demonstrations and were reported as disappeared.
The sources further indicate that other detainees, some reported as disappeared by their friends or families, are alleged to have been “eliminated” in the village of Guacarí near the town of Buga, 45 minutes from Cali. Some of the survivors of this extrajudicial activity showed up with firearm injuries at health centers in a state of terror and have now gone into hiding.
Today, May 23, an even more sensitive and disturbing version of the operations of the armed civilian groups that enjoy police protection was learned: a “chop-up house” (casa de pique), where bodies are dismembered before being disposed of, is said to have been set up in the exclusive Cali neighborhood of Ciudad Jardín.
Family members shared with our organization the names of some young people who were detained and taken to a police facility in Meléndez, after which their whereabouts became unknown.
The repressive practices used by the authorities have become more sophisticated over the last three and a half weeks, in an attempt to cover the tracks leading to police responsibility for criminal paramilitary operations. Given the absence of guarantees of fundamental rights, we call on the government entities in charge of investigation and protection, and in particular the Disappeared Persons Search Unit, to do their duty based on this breaking news.
Given the manifest lack of impartiality exhibited by the Attorney General’s office throughout the general strike, special oversight is critical in order ensure the legality and efficacy of the ongoing investigations.
What with the well-founded fear expressed by the witnesses for their lives, bodily integrity, and freedom, forensic measures must be adopted that are commensurate with the scale of the required judicial investigation.
The witnesses fear that the police could apply strategies of pressure and intimidation, and that they may attempt to cover their tracks by killing more young people and/or their families.
Based on these accounts, which provide reasonable grounds to assert the existence of sophisticated criminal designs in which the National Police may be participating, and given how the regular police forces have operated since April 28—as well as General Zapateiro’s statements to the effect that he will uphold the government’s military response to the demonstrations—we wish to leave a public record here of the information received.
In view of the duty to guarantee citizens’ fundamental rights, including the right to the truth, the Colombian government must act effectively and efficiently to investigate the hypotheses derived from the factual basis presented here, beyond the rhetoric of “exhaustive investigations” and court testimony as the sole basis for investigation.
We reiterate that the Colombian government must, based on this public historical record, immediately involve experts from the Forensic Medicine Institute and the Disappeared Persons Search Unit and allow for the participation of observers from domestic and international humanitarian organizations. Furthermore, it must take immediate measures to ensure that there is an effective, independent investigation that either corroborates or refutes the witnesses’ accounts.
This is the list of persons reported as disappeared, as compiled by the Universidad del Valle from April 28 to today:
Alejandro Castro
- Alejandro Duque González
- Alejandro Hoyos Salgado
- Alexander Martínez
- Andrés Arango
- Andrés Felipe Gómez Rivadeneira
- Angie Amaya
- Antony Jaramillo
- Antony López Brando Molina
- Brando Stiven Blandón Pérez
- Brayan Cavadias
- Brayan Steven Rayo
- Bryan Steven Mesa
- Bryan Varela
- Camila Jaramillo
- Carlos Alberto Vásquez Usma
- Carlos Andrés Benavides
- Carlos Castillo
- Carlos Mayorc
- Claudia Ospina
- Cristian Andrés Ocampo
- Cristian Camilo Duque
- Cristian Estiven Rentería Valencia
- Cristian Zúñiga
- Cristopher Rodriguez
- Daniel Becerra
- Daniel Steven Bonilla
- Daniel Zuluaga García
- Devi Alezander Ovalle Cabrera
- Deivy Alexis Gómez
- Devin Alegría Camacho
- Deyvi Farley Orozco
- Diana Cruz
- Diana Marcela Betancour Rodriguez
- Diana Ruiz Diego Botero
- Eduardo Galeano
- Edwin Santiago Martínez Garcés
- Elberth Orozco
- Esteban Rodríguez
- Estiven Jaramillo
- Estiven Marulanda
- Fabier Londoño Medina
- Felipe Arias Felipe Ruiz
- Francisco Durán
- Francisco Javier García
- Héctor Valencia
- Heilen Bravo
- Isabella Martinez
- Jesús David Lozano
- Jhon Alexander Aguirre
- Jhonatan Lenis
- Joan Francisco Herrera
- Joan Stiven Vélez
- Job Alejandro Moreno
- Johan Esteban Torres Urbano
- Jorge Alexander Lozano Perez
- Jose David Hurtado Moreno
- Jose Esteban C Angulo
- Juan Camilo Maiman
- Juan Camilo Pérez
- Juan Camilo Sánchez
- Juan Carlos Gironza Hoyos
- Juan Carlos Peña Meneses
- Juan Diego Ulloa
- Juan Esteban Alvarez
- Juan Pablo Gutiérrez
- Juan Pablo Guzman Rodríguez
- Karol López
- Kelvin Josué Plaza Castillo
- Kevin Aguilar
- Kevin Alexis Bedoya
- Kevin Jiménez
- Kevin Perea
- Kevin Stiven Rodiguez Motavita
- Leonardo Andrés Villegas Arana
- Lizeth Arévalo
- Lizeth Valencia
- Luis Dayan Montes Betancourt
- Luis Fernando Chávez
- Luis Mario Maicol
- Andrés Medina Ortiz
- Manuela Ruiz Taborda
- Marcela Valencia
- Marco Andrés Arango
- María Angélica Cano
- María del Carmen Carabai Barrera
- Mario Alberto Arcila Martínez
- Marvin Santiago Trejos
- Mauricio Cáceres
- Michele Arteaga
- Michell Torres
- Miguel Angel Escobar
- Miguel Ángel Henao
- Miguel Bolaños
- Mónica Mosquera
- Nicolás Flórez
- Nicolas Suarez
- Oscar Eduardo Arroyo
- Ramiro Parmenio
- Robert Steven Londoño Ospina
- Santiago Muñoz Quiroga
- Santiago Cruz
- Santiago Posada
- Santiago Arce
- Sebastián Arce
- Sebastián Cortés
- Sebastián Escobar
- Sebastián Ospina
- Sofia del Mar Gaviria
- Steven Riveros
- Valentina Campos
- Valentina Marin Quintero
- Valentina Ramirez Sánchez
- Valeria Serna Vanessa Navia
- Verónica Valencia
- Víctor Manuel Agudelo
- Wilson Loaiza
- Afro-Colombian female, adolescent, age 13
- Person arbitrarily detained at Meléndez, 08.05.21
- Person arbitrarily detained at Meléndez, 08.05.21