A Try at Justice? Colombian Military finally charged with massacre of Nobel Prize-nominated Peace Community Members

So much to say...it is hard to know where to start. The news that I have translated below, however, takes precedence over all interesting Janice life vignettes for now. To me, it is the most step forward that has been taken in regard to the Peace Community in years, and is a reason to have hope that things can get better in Colombia. Although it is completely uncertain where this investigation and judicial process will lead, that the investigation of the Peace Community massacre has gone forward at all, and on top of that that the Fiscalia (Prosecutor's office) has put itself on the line by accusing the Army of this massacre is hugely significant. I'll keep talking about this case in the future, but wanted to give you the facts first. The stones pictured have the names of some of the 180 peace community members that have been killed since its inception ten years ago.

This article draws heavily from, and at times directly translates, an article from the well-known Colombian weekly news magazine, Semana. http://www.semana.com/wf_InfoArticulo.aspx?idArt=101167

A Try at Justice? Colombian Military finally charged with massacre of Nobel Prize-nominated Peace Community Members

It was announced today that 69 members of the Colombian Army are being formally accused of the February 2005 massacre of eight Peace Community of San José de Apartadó residents, including the community leader Luis Eduardo Guerra, 4 other adults and 3 children ages 1, 6 and 11. Among those being accused by the Fiscalía (roughly the equivalent of the US Attorney General) are two military high-ranking officials, nine sub-officials and 58 professional soldiers. The eight community members were killed with machetes, some were dismembered, and placed in two communal, unmarked graves.

This is one of the most serious accusations against the Army in its history, according to the well-known weekly news magazine, Semana. The accusations are made even more serious by the fact that the Colombian government had been ordered to provide special protection to the Peace Community by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights.

The government, from the Army to President Uribe, has denied responsibility for the massacre for the past two years. Despite being in the first stage of prosecution, the action taken by the Fiscal today clearly indicates that the version of events the Army gave at the time of the massacre, in which they accused the leftist FARC guerrillas of being responsible, is false.

President Alvaro Uribe appeared on television shortly after the massacre and rather than condemning the massacre, he focused on his assertion that the Peace Community was infiltrated by the guerrillas saying “In this community there are good people, but some of its leaders, supporters, and defenders are seriously accused of assisting the FARC and of using the [Peace] Community to protect this terrorist organization.” Now, with the measure taken by the Fiscalía, it appears that the reality is, in fact, quite different.

The Fiscalía clarified today that there are not 56 soldiers, as was initially reported, but 69 soldiers that are accused of the crimes of “homicide against a protected person” and “terrorism” for the massacre in San José de Apartadó. This news comes just one day after the two-year anniversary of this massacre, and a month before the ten-year anniversary of the peace community.

Soldiers are charged with the crimes of homicide against a protected person and terrorism, along with the February 21st, 2005 murders of Luis Eduardo Guerra, a representative of the peace community; his partner, Deyanyra Areiza Guzmán; 10-year-old Deiner Andrés Guerra; Alfonso Tuberquia Graciano; Sandra Muñoz Pozo, y her children one-year-old Santiago, six-year-old Natalia.

The Peace Community was nominated for the Nobel Prize earlier this month by the American Friends Service Committee, and has been recognized internationally for its efforts to forge a peaceful path amidst a war-torn region.