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common crime; that he heard about the investigation of the Caballero-Delgado Case
through the news media and knows that the National Director of Criminal
Investigation ordered the case reopened in 1992; that he had taken the testimony of
one witness who will remain unidentified, and that Arias-Alturo, who had been
absolved, now is incriminating himself and accusing the Army; that he knows that
Arias-Alturo testified that he was with some soldiers from the Morrison Base, they
stopped a bus, made Caballero-Delgado and Santana get off, and killed them; and
that he is willing to submit a copy of the records of all stages of the proceedings.
43.
Witness Manuel José Cepeda-Espinosa testified that he is an attorney, and
that he has been Presidential Advisor in all matters related to constituent
proceedings; that during the Government of President Barco he drafted legal
instruments to facilitate the incorporation of the M-19 into civilian life, and that the
M-19 participated in the call of the Constituent Assembly and in the elections of
March 1990, winning nineteen of 70 seats in the Constituent Assembly and one in
the Presidential Tripartite, and the M-19 has a Minister in the Cabinet; that they
have developed protection for human rights and have reformed the institutions of
justice; that he knows of the Caballero-Delgado Case only from the newspapers;
that the Constituent Assembly limited what can be done by the Public Forces during
marshal law; that the Government has issued decrees to eliminate civilian groups
carrying weapons; that from 1982 until 1991 Colombia was under marshal law; that
the police and soldiers are subjected to civil justice in a wardship proceeding; that no
guerrilla group had been incorporated in civilian life for the last six years; that there
was a situation of armed conflict and drug trafficking was at its highest level; and
that there was no governmental policy to obstruct the actions of unions,
nongovernmental organizations, or the administration of justice.
44.
Witness Hernando Valencia-Villa testified that he is the Public Prosecutor's
Human Rights Delegate in the National Attorney General's Office; that his office has
complete autonomy in investigations, and that at present he is investigating around
five hundred charges against soldiers; that the Public Prosecutor's Delegate for
Military Forces is in charge of the Caballero-Delgado Case because the Human Rights
Delegate was created in 1990; that in the Caballero Delgado Case they have not
passed the investigatory stage, which means that no one has been charged; that at
the end of last year a special agent was appointed from the Ministry for the
proceeding in the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Barranquilla; that in eleven years,
from 1983 to 1994, there were 1947 forced disappearances attributed to public
officials and about 1650 have not been resolved; that disappearances reached their
peak in the years 1988, 1989, and 1990; that in recent months there has been
recognition of the gravity of the human rights crisis; and that the proposed law on
the disappearance of persons had not been approved as of yet.
45.
Witness Luis Alberto Restrepo Moreno testified that he was a Jesuit priest and
is currently an investigator at the Institute for Political Studies and International
Relations at the National University; that in Colombia there has not been a policy
against human rights nor interference in the administration of justice; that, from a
strictly legal point of view, the only violators of human rights are agents of the State,
but he thinks that all armed political actors and, of course, the guerrillas should be
considered as such; that there are many problems in exercising justice in Colombia;
and that from 1978 to 1982 the Government gave a somewhat free hand to the
military forces, and that there were no precautions taken to constrain human rights
violations.