14 explained in the General Report of Memory and Conflict (Informe General de Memoria y Conflicto), this group was aided by the Army, which provided it with firearms, ammunition, training and support for its operations.12 Even so, during this time period, said group was of a “marginal nature (...) within the counterinsurgency strategy of the Military Forces.”13 In the late 1980s, the self-defense groups, including the Self-Defense Forces of Magdalena Medio, “mutated swiftly into paramilitary groups.“14 It is noted that they were financially supported by groups with vested economic interests in the areas where the subversive groups operated, such as drug traffickers, ranchers, large landowners, trucking business owners and merchants.15 66. The paramilitary project of the Self-Defense Forces of Magdalena Medio encompassed a theater of operations of more than 4,000 square kilometers and covered, among other municipalities, Cocorná and El Carmen de Viboral, where the village of Vereda La Esperanza is located. 16 Its members were equipped with short and long range firearms, communication systems17 and a wide-ranging transportation infrastructure.18 Based on intelligence reports, said group operated under a hierarchical command structure and was allegedly made up of “former soldiers, former policemen, former guerrillas, paid mercenaries and active-duty guides of the National Army,” who received compensation in the form of money and were “paid a bonus for each guerrilla member they killed.”19 In an interview of Ramón Isaza in September 1997, he stated that his group operated under the following order: “if it’s a guerrilla member take him out, if it’s a collaborator take him out.”20 He also claimed that “in places where the guerrillas were in control (…) all of them (…) are enemies (…) of the Army, they are enemies of the selfdefense forces.” He added that consequently “you have to (…) go in and mow them down all the same 12 Annex 2. General Report of the Historical Memory Group ¡Basta ya! Colombia: Memorias de guerra y dignidad. [‘Enough already! Colombia: Memories of war and dignity.] Imprenta Nacional [Government Printing Office]. 2013, pg. 134. 13 Annex 1. Report No. 032. Sectional Directorate of the Technical Investigation Corps of the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic. Intelligence Report on self-defense groups, dated June 28, 1996. Annex to petitioners’ communication dated October 5, 2000. 14 Annex 2. General Report of the Historical Memory Group ¡Basta ya! Colombia: Memorias de guerra y dignidad. [‘Enough already! Colombia: Memories of war and dignity.] 2013, pg. 139. 15 Annex 1. Report No. 032. Sectional Directorate of the Technical Investigation Corps of the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic. Intelligence Report on self-defense groups, dated June 28, 1996. Annex to petitioners’ communication dated October 5, 2000. 16 Annex 1. Report No. 032. Sectional Directorate of the Technical Investigation Corps of the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic. Intelligence Report on self-defense groups, dated June 28, 1996. Annex to petitioners’ communication dated October 5, 2000. 17 Annex 4. Official Letter No. 5399/DAS.DGI.DIIEX.GPB.FP of the Administrative Department of Security (DAS), General Directorate of Intelligence, Internal and External Intelligence Division, dated December 19, 1995. Annex to petitioners’ submission received by the IACHR on February 1, 2007. 18 Annex 1. Report No. 032. Sectional Directorate of the Technical Investigation Corps of the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic. Intelligence Report on self-defense groups, dated June 28, 1996. Annex to petitioners’ communication dated October 5, 2000. 19 Annex 1. Report No. 032. Sectional Directorate of the Technical Investigation Corps of the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic. Intelligence Report on self-defense groups, dated June 28, 1996. Annex to petitioners’ communication dated October 5, 2000. 20 Annex 5. Public confession hearing of Ramón Isaza’s under Justice and Peace Law, dated October 16, 2008. Compact disk attached to State’s communication of September 28, 2009.