7
24.
As a consequence of the March 11, 1995 deposition of Gonzalo Arias-Alturo in
the city of Bucaramanga, Colombia, the Commission asked the Court to request that
the Government exhume the bodies of Isidro Caballero-Delgado and María del
Carmen Santana and summon qualified experts to collaborate with those named by
the Court in order to identify their mortal remains. Likewise, it requested the
adoption of "special security measures" to avoid unlawful tampering with the graves
by those who would like to eliminate all vestiges that would lead to a clarification of
the facts. The Commission also requested "exceptional precautionary measures" to
protect the life and personal safety of Einer Pinzón, "who is the only survivor that
knows exactly where these people are buried." The Commission reiterated the
request for "precautionary measures" on behalf of Gonzalo Arias-Alturo who "has
told the Commission that the measures requested previously on his behalf have not
been adequately implemented and that his life is in imminent danger."
25.
Before acceding to the request of the previous paragraph and for the purpose
of gathering more evidence, the Secretariat, following the instructions of the
President, requested that the Government submit several documents to which the
Commission had not had access. With respect to Einer Pinzón, the Government
agreed to receive his testimony in Colombia. On April 26, 1995 the Government sent
the remaining documentation.
26.
On March 30, 1995, the Commission again requested the adoption of
provisional measures on behalf of Gonzalo Arias-Alturo because he had been
"suddenly transferred from the Model Prison of Bucaramanga to the Prison of
Armenia-Quindio," which in the Commission's judgment "does not offer guarantees
for the case, because his life and personal security . . . would be in imminent
danger." The following day the President requested information about this move
from the Government. By a communication of April 26, 1995, the Government
responded that as soon as the Office of the Attorney General of Colombia became
aware of this transfer, it immediately asked the General Office of the National
Penitentiary Institute (INPEC) "to order the immediate return of the prisoner to the
city of Bucaramanga," where he has been since that time.
27.
On April 21, 1995, the Government remitted a copy of a report from the
National Office of Public Prosecutors of Colombia concerning a judicial inspection
conducted by the department in Bucaramanga where, according to information
supplied by Gonzalo Arias-Alturo, the remains of Isidro Caballero-Delgado could be
found. The Inter-American Commission, by note of May 3, 1995, asserted that this
effort had taken place without the presence of the Commission or the
representatives of the victims and without the participation of the magistrate
commissioned by the Court.
The Government responded by means of a
communication of May 13, 1995, that the investigation had been conducted by the
Office of the Public Prosecutor "within the autonomy that characterizes it, in
accordance with constitutional and legal authority."
28.
On October 6, 1995, Colombia submitted information on the advances made
in the internal criminal investigation conducted by the Regional Office of the Public
Prosecutors of Santafé de Bogotá, in which it reported on the resolution of the legal
situation of several of those implicated and ordered preventive detention for Gonzalo
Arias-Alturo. By communications of November 30 and December 5, 1995 the
Government sent new documentation concerning other developments in the
investigation.