Inter-american court of human rights
Background to Operations “Genesis” and “Cacarica”
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- “Operation Genesis” and “Operation Cacarica”
Background to Operations “Genesis” and “Cacarica”Uncontested facts According to the Ombudsman’s Office, “as of mid-1996, rumors began to circulate that the paramilitaries intended to take control of Riosucio.”135 In the context of this paramilitary advance, on October 6 that year, the ACCU had murdered several peasants in the community of Brisas de la Virgen, located between the departments of Chocó and Antioquia. During the attack, the paramilitaries indicated that they would soon take control of Riosucio.136 In addition, the evidence reveals, that in the context of the events, paramilitary groups imposed an economic and food blockade on the region, affecting its inhabitants.137 With the increase in the threat of a paramilitary attack, the FARC guerrillas who were active in the region established two control points on the Atrato River. One was in the community of Puente América, to the north of Riosucio, and the other to the south of Riosucio, in Domingodó, were the guerrilla confiscated food and fuel.138 As indicated by the Ombudsman’s Office, the Secretary of Government of Riosucio was shot and killed in November 1996, while the Treasury Secretary disappeared without any explanation. In addition, in December 1996, there were confrontations between paramilitaries and the guerrilla very near Riosucio. Then, bit by bit, it became known that an armed group had entered the town and taken several public officials, including the Municipal Treasurer, without any knowledge of their whereabouts even today.139 Also, the evidence shows that, on December 20, 1996, a paramilitary group had entered Riosucio and had announced that it would continue on into the area of Salaquí.140 It is clear from the evidence141 and from some expert opinions that the FARC 57th Front was present in the area of the Caño Seco village and the banks of the Salaquí River, as well as in the general area of the district of Bajirá. Specifically, the expert witness offered by the State, Colonel María Paulina Leguizamón Zarate, indicated, without this being challenged by the representatives or the Commission, that the criminal actions of this FARC front “affected the inhabitants of the region, because it perpetrated kidnappings, murders, and other types of activities […] against the civilian population and members of the Armed Forces.”142 In addition, there was information that, on January 16, 1997, 10 marines were kidnapped when their patrol was attacked in the place knows as El Rota;143 and also that, on January 9, 1997, the municipality of Riosucio was seized by the guerrilla.144 Furthermore, there was also information that, around the same time, the Armed Forces were present in the area in which the events of the instant case occurred, mainly in the region of Urabá, with Units of the Navy, the Urabá Police Command, and the Army’s 17th Brigade, headquartered in Carepa, Antioquia;145 the latter under the command of General Rito Alejo del Río Rojas.146 Disputed facts According to an initial version of the facts, based on evidence in the case file provided by State institutions and other sources, “towards the end of 1996, the Armed Forces […] launched, together with […] the AUC, a campaign to eradicate the guerrilla forces from the region of Bajo Atrato,” in order “to regain control of the territory where the guerrilla were present in the Cacarica river basin,”147 and this campaign tried to prevent the guerrilla forces from obtaining support from the civilian population, especially that of the communities that lived near the tributaries of the Atrato River, areas where, traditionally, the FARC maintained a strong presence. According to that version of the events, the Army had initially placed controls on the Atrato River imposing strict limits on the quantity of products that the residents of these communities could transport. The economic blockade lasted several months and had been followed by a series of joint operations by the Army and the paramilitaries, which resulted in the massive displacement of many communities of the municipality of Riosucio, in the region of Bajo Atrato.148 Regarding the background to Operation Genesis, the State has explained that it was a mechanism to combat and neutralize the FARC 57th Front, which had committed a series of crimes at the start of 1997; in particular, the attack on the inhabitants of Riosucio on January 9,149 the kidnapping of 10 marines on January 16,150 the kidnapping of four foreigners on February 7,151 and the kidnapping of some children.152 “Operation Genesis” and “Operation Cacarica”Undisputed facts As indicated, the counterinsurgency operation known as “Operation Genesis” was planned to take place between February 24 and 27, 1997.153 According to Operations Order No. 004 Genesis of the Military Forces of Colombia, the Army, 17th Brigade, its purpose was to attack the guerrilla in the general area of the Salaquí and the Truandó Rivers, in order to capture and/or neutralize the members of the José María Córdoba Bloc and the FARC 57th Front and to liberate the 10 kidnapped marines154 (supra para. 97). Based on this goal, eight objectives were established with their respective coordinates.155 The intelligence report attached to Operations Order No. 004 Genesis of the Military Forces of Colombia, the Army, 17th Brigade,156 indicates: Objective 1: Tamboral;157 Objective 2: La Loma (de Salaquí) and Playa Bonita;158 Objective 3: Regadero;159 Objective 4: Caño Seco and Bocas de Guineo;160 Objective 5: Teguerre;161 Objective 6: Puente América;162 Objective 7: La Nueva,163 and Objective 8: Clavellino.164 In addition, as part of the operation, orders were given to organize control posts and blockades at the mouths of the Salaquí, Truandó and Domingodó Rivers.165 The foregoing would be executed in three stages with the support of H-212 and H-500 helicopters and attacks by soldiers brought in by helicopter166 and would include Alfa, Beta and Charlie support missions. “Alfa” missions consist in machine-gunning; “Beta” missions consist in launching bombs, and “Charlie” missions consist in launching guided rockets.167 As described, on February 24, 1997, the Air Force, together with troops of the Army’s 17th Brigade, began the military operation.168 Although the operation was originally planned to take place only during the last week of February, the maneuvers to occupy and secure the area, as well as the pursuit of and confrontation with subversive groups continued after that time.169 The facts presented by the State with regard to the operation that are not disputed are: (i) that all the objectives, except for No. 6 Puente América, were attacked by the armed forces;170 (ii) that it was executed jointly by the Colombian Army, the Navy, which controlled the river and maritime part of the area,171 and Air Force (hereinafter also “FAC”), including also the Special Rural Forces, which provided air support to the mission; (iii) that the Operation culminated in the liberation of two of the kidnapped foreigners, and with the recovery of the bodies of two kidnapped foreigners, 172 and (iv) that, during the operation, the Armed Forces was able to gather intelligence information, they had neutralized “the corridor” used by FARC towards the border with Panama, and had been able to “recover the area” occupied by the 57th Front along the Salaquí River. The latter was affirmed by the State’s expert witness, Luis E. Cardoso, and was not disputed.173 It is an undisputed fact that, with the excuse of carrying out a “cleansing operation” that would guarantee the elimination of the presence of FARC guerrillas in the area, as of February 26, 1997, members of the AUC of the Chocó Bloc, among others, entered the settlements of Bijao, Limón and Puente América and, using different means, such as bullets, grenades, and arson, forced the inhabitants to evacuate these areas.174 Disputed facts With regard to the other events related to Operation Genesis, the Court notes that the documentation and the evidence given in the testimonies in the case file reveal that there are two versions of what happened. According to one version, the Colombian Air Force bombed the communities of the Salaquí and Cacarica river valleys,175 which resulted in the displacement of peasants from the Cacarica, Jiguamiandó, Curbaradó, Domingodó, Truandó and Salaquí river valleys, among others.176 According to this version, the paramilitaries participated in the operation, entered the area through Cacarica and carried out joint or coordinated actions with the Army.177 Consequently, in parallel to Operation Genesis, at the end of February 1997, a group of paramilitaries composed of members of the Chocó Group and the Pedro Ponte Group had advanced from the Los Katios National Park along the Cacarica River, passing through Bijao and other communities located in the basin of that river, to finally arrive at the Salaquí and Truandó Rivers, at exactly the same time as Operation Genesis was being executed. That operation is known as “Operation Cacarica.”178 According to this version of the events, during “Operation Cacarica” and, as mentioned, the paramilitaries entered the settlement of Puente América179 where they set up a road block where they searched the people and then “sent them” to Turbo, telling them that, once there, “they would be received by the Police and taken to the Turbo Sports Arena, and that is what happened.”180 Both the ACCU members and Major Salomón told the leaders of the Afro-descendant communities that they had to evacuate and go to Turbo, because there everything would be coordinated, and the leaders returned to their communities.181 According to the testimony of the community leaders, they went to talk to the armed agents and had to pass through three security cordons: the first set up by the ACCU, the second by soldiers from the 17th Brigade, and a third consisting of members of the Self-Defense Forces and the 17th Brigade.182 In addition, some of the evidence provided indicates that the execution of “Operation Genesis” was simultaneous,183 in “collaboration with,”184 and coordinated with the action of the “Chocó Bloc” paramilitary group.185 However, the State has presented a second version, according to which, during Operation Genesis, the Armed Forces only attacked seven of the eight objectives named above (supra para. 101), which were located in the Salaquí area.186 On this basis, it indicated that the distance between the Cacarica river basin (where the paramilitary were and where Marino López Mena was murdered) and the Salaquí River, “is approximately 40 kilometers of virgin forest, with numerous geographical faults (including water courses, mountains, thick vegetation, swamps and flooding) [and that] it would require approximately six days for men carrying weapons and equipment to cover this distance.”187 Thus, the State maintains that the Armed Forces never entered the Cacarica river basin,188 because the Commander gave the order not to attack Objective No. 6 “Puente América” as, at that time, he did not have the capacity to do so satisfactorily and the other objectives were more relevant for the operation’s purposes.189 The foregoing, allows the State to affirm that the Armed Forces did not have the collaboration and support of the paramilitary groups and, above all, that they did not act in coordination with them during the execution of Operation Genesis.190 Directory: docs -> casos -> articulos docs -> Observational Assessment of Teaching Practices Teaching Assessment Initiative Proposal Submitted to The Teachers for a New Era project docs -> Traditional British values docs -> From Warfighters to Crimefighters: The Origins of Domestic Police Militarization docs -> Borzoi Club of America Register of Merit Program I. 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