The facts of the case relate to the incursion on January 14, 1990 in the small town of Pueblo Bello, Turbo province, Antioquia region, of the paramilitary group “Los Tangueros,” under the order of Fidel Castaño. The paramilitaries looted some of the dwellings and moved an undetermined number of men by force to the town’s square, where they were forced to lie face down. From a list of these men 43 farmers were selected, 3 of whom were minors. The people were tied, forced to get into two trucks and taken to a farm where a paramilitary chief met them. There, the farmers were interrogated and tortured. Of the 43 victims, 37 disappeared and 6 were extrajudicially executed.

The events of the case occurred in the context of the Colombian armed conflict and particularly in the framework of expansion and territorial control by paramilitary groups, as a reaction to the guerrilla insurgency in the Urabá Antioqueño region.

The IA Court developed standards regarding the State’s responsibility for the breach of duties of prevention and protection of the region’s inhabitants from the acts of paramilitary groups, which had been declared a zone of emergency and military operations. Additionally it established that the events of the case and the violation of access to justice remained in impunity.