-46.
The brief of September 26, 2006, in which the representatives forwarded their
observations on the State’s report of May 24, 2006. In summary, they indicated the
following:
(a)
Regarding the obligation to investigate: that the “appeal for review submitted
by the Office of the Public Prosecutor” had been admitted by the Supreme Court of
Justice on May 19, 2006. However, the soldiers had not been notified of this
decision. They stated that, even though “the processing [of the appeal would take] a
long time and depended on several steps involving long time limits,” it could lead to
the effective and genuine investigation of the State agents who participated in the
events, [and is] one of the measures that gives most hope to the next of kin of the
victims.” They also indicated that “the information on this issue provided by the
State is inadequate,” since they “are unaware of any progress made” in the other
investigations that might lead to the elucidation of the events;
(b)
Regarding the search for the remains of the victims, they “were present at
the first search procedure undertaken in this case in November 2005.” “The judicial
commission and those who participated in the procedure inspected the property and
the places where a search or retrospective survey [would possibly be carried out] in
an initial procedure.” Even though it had been agreed to obtain the title of the
property, the Prosecutor’s Office (Fiscalía) had failed to do this. “To date the
exploration procedure has not been carried out, and the Prosecutor’s Office has
argued that it lacks the necessary resources.” The next of kin sent a communication
to the Office of the Prosecutor General (Fiscalía General) “in order to insist directly
that the search procedure continue.” To the surprise of the representatives, this “was
remitted to [the Prosecutor 17 of Bucaramanga, in other words] a different official to
the one in charge of the investigation”; moreover, [the representatives] do not
understand] “why and for what purpose a new investigation was opened”;
(c)
Regarding the monument to the memory of the victims, they stated that, on
October 5, 2006, a meeting would be held to hear the proposal of an artist who had
received the “34 proposals of the next of kin” regarding the monument at a previous
meeting, and that the Bucaramanga Mayor’s Office had mentioned “a site where the
monument could be erected”;
(d)
i.
ii.
iii.
Regarding the medical and psychological treatment:
On June 27, 2006, a meeting was held with representatives of the Ministry of
Social Security, the Vice President of the Republic, the representatives of the
next of kin, and the expert witness Carlos Martín Beristain, who the type of
treatment that was required in order to achieve its objective as a reparation;
“The representatives of the Ministry of Social Security recognized that the
basic health programs were very limited as regards psychosocial treatment,
that the Ministry’s personnel needed training, and that it was necessary to
form a coordinating team, but that at the moment the Ministry did not have
one, and lacked the necessary resources.” The Colombian Commission of
Jurists made several proposals regarding ways in which a diagnosis of the
beneficiaries of the measure could be made in order to determine how to
implement it;
At a meeting on September 18, 2006, the representatives of the Ministry of
Social Security informed the representatives of the victims that psychosocial
treatment would commence in the municipality of La Dorada, where a large
family group was located, and that “it had not been able to hold the meeting
with all the next of kin owing to lack of resources.” The representatives