The death of Marino López

The death of Marino López

107. 
     On February 26, 1997, approximately 60 paramilitaries from the ACCU “Chocó” Bloc entered the settlement of Bijao,¹⁹¹ located in basin of the Cacarica River, Chocó department, Colombia. According to the evidence, they fired their rifles and launched grenades at the roofs of the houses, and sacked the homes, including that of Marino López. Following these acts, the paramilitaries assembled the inhabitants and ordered them to abandon the settlement.¹⁹²
     
108. 
     Similarly, it is an undisputed fact that Marino López was executed on February 27, 1997, in the settlement of Bijao¹⁹³ by members of the Chocó Bloc paramilitary group, who accused him of being a member of the guerrilla.¹⁹⁴ Specifically, the evidence reveals that aliases “Manito” and “Diablito” obliged him to get some coconuts down from a palm tree in order to drink the coconut water, and then kicked him. After pushing him to the bank of the river, one of the paramilitaries swung his machete at Marino López’s neck, but hit his shoulder. Injured, Marino López threw himself into the river to escape, but the men told him that “it would be worse for him if he went,” and he therefore tried to return. However, while he was on the river’s edge, “Manito” decapitated him with his machete.¹⁹⁵ The State indicated that it did not seek to question this fact, because “there was no doubt that Marino López had been murdered by paramilitaries.”¹⁹⁶
     
109. 
     Some of the testimonies indicate, and the State has not contested this, that after killing him, the authors proceeded to dismember his body. They also indicated that the paramilitaries played with his head as if it had been a football,¹⁹⁷ although the domestic courts have not given this total credence,¹⁹⁸ and several paramilitaries deny this last act.¹⁹⁹
     
110. 
     Furthermore, the evidence reveals that these acts took place in the presence of members of the community.²⁰⁰ The remains of Marino López were found in the Cacarica River days later, but were only identified in February 2007, when it was possible to register his death officially.²⁰¹ Lastly, the probative elements, as well as the findings of the Eighth Criminal Court of the Bogota Special Circuit, show that military personnel were not involved in the events that occurred in Bijao and that resulted in the death of Marino López.²⁰²
     

5. The facts relating to the alleged forced displacement

E.1. The alleged forced displacement

111. 
     It is an undisputed fact that, at the time of the events, various inhabitants of the Cacarica river valley, and of the Bajo Atrato in general,²⁰³ had to displace. As alleged by the Commission, and confirmed by the State, around 3,500 people were displaced and, of these, approximately 2,300 settled provisionally in the municipality of Turbo and in Bocas del Atrato, both in the department of Antioquia, Colombia, around 200 crossed the border into Panama, and the others went to other parts of Colombia.²⁰⁴
     

112. 
     Regarding the causes of the forced displacement, the Court notes that there are numerous versions of what happened. On the one hand, some probative elements indicate that the acts of violence that occurred in the context of Operation Genesis and the so-called Operation Cacarica, both the bombing²⁰⁵ and the death of Marino López,²⁰⁶ were what produced the forced displacement of the inhabitants of the Cacarica river basin.²⁰⁷
     
113. 
     According to this same version, other probative elements indicate that the displacement was premeditated and, in particular, that the members of the Army and the paramilitary groups perpetrated different acts of violence against the population,²⁰⁸ ordering the communities to leave their territory.²⁰⁹ Documents provided by the Ombudsman’s Office record that the Riosucio spokesperson informed the Apartadó Sectional Office that “since […] February 24, the inhabitants of these communities have been wandering around the hills seeking a way out to a safe place and that he had asked the Armed Forces to provide them with protection, and the Commander of the Operation had advised him […] that he would organize a support group, and that the situation of the peasants would be transitory, because shortly, in around five days, they would recover the areas and the peasants could return safely.”²¹⁰
     
114. 
     Based on this first hypothesis, and as the Eighth Criminal Court of the Bogota Special Circuit indicated, the forced displacement of the inhabitants of Bijao, and the murder of Marino López, were not isolated acts, but formed part of a strategy to consolidate the paramilitary groups, to occupy territories, and to conquer a common enemy, owing to the way in which Marino López was “used” as a means or instrument to achieve a goal; and how it was executed in a predetermined context and with a specific objective: to cause terror in order to forcibly evict the non-combatant civilian population.²¹¹
     
115. 
     However, a second version of what happened, supported by other documents and testimony, indicates that, contrary to what was indicated by the Commission and the representatives, the displacement of the inhabitants of the Cacarica river valley had been taking place since 1996 and continued during 1997 as a result of the action of the FARC.²¹² Regarding the guerrilla presence in the region, there is evidence that, after the FARC had taken Riosucio (supra para. 97), “launches and pangas that were travelling from Turbo to Riosucio were intercepted, and fuel, foodstuffs, and even drugs were stolen during several months […] by the FARC 57th Front.”²¹³
     
116. 
     Also, as indicated by the State and by some of the probative documents, during the days in which Operation Genesis was conducted, there had been fighting involving the FARC guerrilla beside the Cacarica River on the western bank of the Atrato River.²¹⁴ The representatives and the Commission did not contest this information.