36 confiscate the stolen livestock. The Army officers answered that the livestock “had already been confiscated” and that they should proceed peacefully to Puerto Valdivia, where there were about “800” displaced people. One night the Army started shooting, so everyone shut themselves up in their homes. The livestock were then taken through El Aro on the way to another location. The witness lost his livestock, his home, his work and all his belongings. b) Witnesses proposed by the representatives30 In the 1990s, different actors intervened in the existing conflicts in the area of the Municipality of Ituango. The FARC guerrilla had been “established in the daily life of the Municipality and [of] the State’s forces, represented by the Army and the Police,” for about 10 or 12 years. In view of this situation, a departmental government council was established to deal with the issue of security in the Municipality. Subsequently, various ranchers and some political leaders proposed that “the Convivir associations” should be established in Ituango; these were “paramilitary groups” operating within a legal framework. These associations were defined as “private security cooperatives” and had the full support of the Army and the Police. After they had been established, a large number of disappearances began to occur and more than 200 deaths were recorded, as this was “the modus operandi of the paramilitary groups.” On June 11, 1996, armed men came to one of the houses in the village and, having forced the front door, one of them went inside and seized Héctor Hernán, who was mentally retarded, by the arm. It all happened within a question of minutes. A shot was heard followed by the moans of Héctor Hernán. There was no civil or military authority in La Granja when the facts occurred. The alleged victims of La Granja did not receive any help subsequently from the State. Some of the inhabitants’ children left the district, which has made it difficult for the families to get together frequently. After the El Aro massacre in 1997 there was massive displacement and the conditions have not been safe enough to return. c) Witness proposed by the State 1. Germán Saavedra Prado, member of the Colombian Army In 1995, he was a Major in the Army and worked as an S3 officer of the Girardot Battalion, in the Department of Antioquia. The Municipality of Ituango is located in the Western Cordillera and is a strategic location, because it facilitates the movement of illegal groups to other departments. This is why these groups are concentrated in the zone and can easily gather 800 individuals and make incursions in different localities. Moreover, at that time, poppy growing was widespread and this resulted in a dispute for control of the area. 30 The representatives and the witnesses themselves requested that their names should remain confidential for reasons of safety.