dignity of Mr. Elio Gelves Carrillo; iii) the rights to life, personal integrity and personal liberty of Mr. Carlos
Uva Velandia; iv) the rights to life, personal integrity and personal liberty of Messrs. Wilfredo Quiñónez, José
Gregorio Romero Reyes and Albeiro Ramírez Jorge; v) the rights to judicial guarantees and judicial protection
of the next of kin of Mr. Gustavo Giraldo Villamizar Durán; vi) the rights to judicial guarantees and judicial
protection of the next of kin of Mr. Elio Gelves Carrillo; vii) the rights to judicial guarantees and judicial
protection of the next of kin of Carlos Arturo Uva Velandia; viii) the rights to judicial guarantees and judicial
protection of Messrs. Wilfredo Quiñónez, José Gregorio Romero Reyes and Albeiro Ramírez Jorge; and ix) the
rights to personal integrity of their next of kin. Within each of these classifications, the Commission will
describe the facts it considers proven and will assess them in light of the relevant dispositions of the
Convention.
A.
The modus operandi of the “false positives” as a pattern of extrajudicial executions in
Colombia for the period of the facts
38.
In its Second and Third Reports on the Situation of Human Rights in Colombia, the Commission
analyzed the impact on the human rights during the 1990s of the armed conflict between the Armed Forces,
guerrilla groups –such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (“Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de
Colombia” – FARC), the Ejército Popular de Liberación (EPL) and the Movimiento 19 de abril (M-19)- and
various paramiliary groups. 12
39.
The Commission received information showing that between 1981 and 1991, 14,150
murders occurred allegedly for political motives and 1,588 disappearances too place, with an average of 78
murders per day. 13 The Commission noted that the right to life “is the right most often violated” and that the
number of violations to this right reached “atrocious levels.” 14 With regard to the reported executions, the
Commission expressed its concern because the available information demonstrated that several occurred in
acts unrelated to combat. 15 Meanwhile, UN Special Rapporteurs jointed noted that according to official
statistics in the 15 years prior to 1995 the figures for homicides increased from approximately 10,000
homicides in 1980 to 20,000 in 1988, and were close to 30,000 in 1994.16
40.
According to data received by the UN Rapporteurs, during the Government of President
César Gaviria, between June 1990 and June 1994, a total of 9,497 persons were killed for political or
ideological reasons. Between January 1993 and March 1994, almost 70% of the alleged extrajudicial
executions, summary or arbitrary, were attributed to members of the security forces of the State (50.28%)
12 IACHR, Second Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Colombia, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.84, Chapter VII. The Right to Life, 14
October 1993. Available at: http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/Colombia93eng/toc.htm; See also, IACHR, Third Report on the Human
Rights Situation in Colombia, Chapter IV. Violence and Violations of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law,
OEA/Sr.L/V/II.102, 26 February 1999, para. 166.
13IACHR, Second Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Colombia, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.84, Chapter VII. The Right to Life, 14
October 1993. Available at: http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/Colombia93eng/toc.htm
14IACHR, Second Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Colombia, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.84, Chapter VII. The Right to Life, 14
October 1993. Available at: http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/Colombia93eng/toc.htm
15 In 1997, noted that according to information received, in 1995, state agents would have murdered or disappeared
approximately 154 persons outside of acts of combat; in 1996, 126 persons; and in 1997, 59. IACHR, Third Report on the Human Rights
Situation in Colombia, Chapter IV. Violence and Violations of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, OEA/Sr.L/V/II.102, 26
February 1999, para. 166.
16 Economic and Social Council, Joint report of the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture, Mr. Nigel S. Rodley, and the
Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Mr. Bacre Waly Ndiaye, submitted pursuant to Commission on
Human Rights resolutions 1994/37 and 1994/82, E/CN.4/1995/111, 16 January 1995, para. 20. Available at: http://daccess-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G95/101/73/PDF/G9510173.pdf?OpenElement