48
160. The Court observes that the Office of the Attorney General received various
statements that point to the participation of senior military leaders and other State agents
in the events surrounding the Rochela Massacre. These included the statements made from
1995 to 1998148 by the well-known member of the paramilitary forces, Alonso de Jesús
Baquero Agudelo, who was convicted for the homicide of the judicial officials in 1990 (supra
154.b). In a resolution of September 12, 1997, the Office of the Delegate Regional
Prosecutor of the National Human Rights Unit summarized the pertinent parts of these
statements, in which the witness described “not only the motives for this atrocious act, but
also the creation and evolution of the criminal organization to which the hired assassins or
material authors belonged, and also named the intermediaries, sponsors, decision-makers
and intellectual authors.”149 The Office of the Attorney General emphasized that:
These statements not only describe the facts that gave rise to the presence of the Judicial
Commission that was massacred (that is, with regard to the tradesmen), but also relate how this
criminal organization was created; identified its center of operations in Puerto Boyacá under the
front of the ASSOCIATION OF FARMERS AND RANCHERS OF THE MAGDALENA MEDIO
(ACDEGAM); […] the initial collection of quotas to support it from farmers and livestock owners,
and the subsequent alliances with drug traffickers; the direct intervention and support of the
commanders of the Second Division Brigades and Battalions of the National Army, as in the case
of Generals FARUK YANINE DIAZ, CARLOS GIL COLORADO, VACA PERILLA, SALCEDO LORA and
MANUEL MURILLO, Colonels FAJARDO CIFUENTES, DAVILA, BOHORQUEZ, LONDOÑO, VERGARA
and NAVAS RUBIO, and Major OSCAR DE JESÚS ECHANDÍA SANCHEZ; the military training
academies where courses are given by foreign mercenaries […and] the massacres and executions
that were planned by the leaders of the groups of hired assassins […].
161. In addition to the testimony of Alonso Baquero Agudelo, two other statements150 and
a public complaint151 tied General Farouk Yanine to the perpetration of the massacre, and a
still another statement alluded to the possible responsibility of a Navy intelligence
network.152 Likewise, the relationship between the ACDEGAM paramilitary group and senior
148
Cf. expansion of the interrogatory declaration of August 3, 1995 (record of evidences to the brief
containing pleadings and motions, volume VI, evidence 47); expansion of the interrogatory declaration of
November 29, 1995 (record of evidences to the brief containing pleadings and motions, volume VI, evidence 49);
expansion of the interrogatory declaration of February 12, 1996 (record of evidences to the brief containing
pleadings and motions, volume VI, evidence 50); statement made on August 30, 1996 (record of evidences to the
application, volume I, evidence A9); expansion of interrogatory statement of July 21, 1997 (record of evidences to
the application, evidence A17). These statements are summarized in several resolutions of the prosecutor’s office,
particularly in the resolution of January 7, 1999, issued by the Terrorism Unit of the Office of the Regional
Prosecutor of Bogotá (record of evidences to the application, volume I, evidence A30, pages 327 to 331).
149
Cf. indictment dated September 12, 1997, issued by the Office of the Delegate Regional Prosecutor of the
National Human Rights Unit (record of evidences to the application, evidence A27, pages 273 to 275).
150
Cf. testimony of Efren Galeano López, cited in the indictment of September 12, 1997, issued by the Office
of the Delegate Regional Prosecutor of the National Human Rights Unit of the Prosecutor General’s Office (record of
evidences to the application, evidence A27, pages 277) and in the resolution of January 7, 1999, issued by the
Terrorism Unit of the Office of the Regional Prosecutor of Bogotá (record of evidences to the application, evidence
A30, page 334); expansion of interrogatory statement of Gonzalo Arias Alturo of January 30, 1998 (record of
evidences to the application, evidence A21, pages 223-225).
151
Cf. Criminal complaint by the National Coordinator of the Patriotic Union [Union Patriótica] submitted to
the Delegated Procurator for the Armed Forces [Procuraduría Delegada para las Fuerzas Militares] on February 9,
1989; and criminal complaint by the Patriotic Union of Santander, the National Coordinator of the Patriotic Union
[Coordinadora Nacional de la Unión Patriótica], and the Farmers’ Coordinator of Magdalena Medio [Coordinadora
Campesina del Magdalena Medio] submitted to the Procurator General of the Nation on February 15, 1989 (record
of evidences to the brief containing pleadings and motions, volume VII, evidence 60, pages 3669 and 3670).
152
Cf. interrogatory statement of Jimmy Alberto Robledo of December 19, 1996 before the National Human
Rights Unit (record of evidences to the application, volume I, evidence A11, pages 134 to 143)
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