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125(94) On February 6, 2004, the disciplinary ruling (infra para. 125(98) and
125(100)) against Army Lieutenant Everardo Bolaños Galindo and First Corporal
Germán Antonio Alzate Cardona, for collaboration and omission in relation to the
events in El Aro, was transferred to the criminal investigation. On December 16,
2004, these individuals were summoned by the criminal proceedings. On January 11,
2005, it was declared that the First Corporal could not be found. On March 1, 2005,
an arrest warrant was issued against them. The Army Lieutenant is imprisoned in the
Cómbita maximum security prison.
125(95) Witnesses, lawyers and prosecutors involved in the investigations into the
events of El Aro have had to abandon the zone or the country for safety reasons.
vi) Disciplinary proceedings
125(96) On December 7 and 11, 1998, since the alleged facts had not been
committed by members of the Army, but by a paramilitary group, the Caucasia
Provincial Attorney’s Office decided to close several disciplinary proceedings related
to the following facts in El Aro: (1) the theft of several head of cattle from the farm
of Bernardo Jiménez, between October 20 and 28, 1997; (2) the death of Omar Iván
Gutiérrez Nohavá, on October 23, 1997, and (3) the theft of livestock from the farm
of the García Lopera brothers, on October 25, 1997.
125(97) On August 10, 2001, the Attorney General’s Office decided to close
disciplinary proceedings related to the alleged responsibility of Major General Carlos
Ospina Ovalle “and other members of the Army,” for “the events that took place at
the end of October 1997 in Aro.” The Attorney General’s Office considered that there
was insufficient evidence to accuse the Army of responsibility for the alleged
omissions in relation to these events.
125(98) On July 30, 2001, owing to the many complaints filed since 1997 based on
the events in El Aro, the Office of the Delegate Attorney for the Defense of Human
Rights ordered the opening of a disciplinary investigation against Lieutenant Captain
Germán Morantes Hernández, Lieutenant Everardo Bolaños Galindo and First
Corporal Germán Antonio Alzate Cardona.
125(99) On January 28, 2002, the Office of the Delegate Attorney for the Defense of
Human Rights disqualified itself from continuing the disciplinary procedure against
Lieutenant Captain Germán Morantes Hernández and decided to bring disciplinary
charges against Lieutenant Everardo Bolaños Galindo and Captain Germán Antonio
Alzate Cardona.
125(100) On September 30, 2002, the Office of the Delegate Attorney for the
Defense of Human Rights decided to sanction Lieutenant Everardo Bolaños Galindo
and First Corporal Germán Antonio Alzate Cardona, alias “Rambo,” dismissing them
from their functions as public officials because it found that they were responsible for
collaborating with the paramilitary incursion in El Aro and the theft of livestock and
facilitating it with criminal intent. On November 1, 2002, following an appeal filed by
the said individuals, this ruling was confirmed in second instance by the Disciplinary
Chamber of the Attorney General’s Office.
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