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(CNN Spanish) - Colombian Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo and General Luis Fernando Navarro, commander of the Army, announced to Colombians on May 1 that they had withdrawn from active service 11 officers of the institution and a Brigadier General for the alleged "irregular use of military intelligence capabilities".
What the Minister and the Army Commander referred to in that virtual press conference was what the Semana magazine had reported on several occasions as alleged illegal interceptions of communications and monitoring of opposition journalists, magistrates and politicians in Colombia.
The Colombian Prosecutor's Office and the Attorney General's Office are conducting criminal and disciplinary investigations against several members of the Army for these serious accusations. This decision occurred only hours before Semana revealed new details of the alleged eavesdropping, monitoring, and profiling detailing the social, family, and displacement circles of national and international journalists in a newspaper article titled "The Secret Folders."
The alleged eavesdropping — known in Colombia as “bullets” -— and the illegal follow-ups would have been carried out even on members of the government such as the ambassador to the Vatican and former secretary general of the Colombian Presidency, Jorge Mario Eastman. The defense minister maintains that “the publication that Semana magazine made this weekend is of immense gravity. Very serious what has been denounced against journalists, political leaders and non-governmental organizations. ”
President Iván Duque himself stated on his Twitter account on Saturday: "I have said, since the beginning of my government, that I will not tolerate those who dishonor the uniform or carry out practices contrary to the law.
I have said, from the beginning of my Government, that I will not tolerate those who dishonor the uniform or carry out practices contrary to the law. Since I came to @mindefensa, I asked @CarlosHolmesTru to carry out a rigorous investigation of the intelligence work of the last 10 years.
- Iván Duque 🇨🇴 (@IvanDuque) May 2, 2020
After instruction given to @mindefensa, I highlight that investigations are producing results. I reiterate my strong rejection of any follow-up action. Profiling journalists, politicians, and presidential officials must be thoroughly investigated and severely sanctioned.
- Iván Duque 🇨🇴 (@IvanDuque) May 2, 2020
The military involved in these alleged events have not made a public statement about the investigations. The lawyer of three those investigated by told CNN that they will only speak in court.
Given the seriousness of what happened, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia expressed in a statement this Sunday that "intelligence must be used to protect human rights and not to violate them." In the same sense, the Ombudsman, Carlos Negret, pronounced himself, who stated in his Twitter account that “practices such as the 'profiling' of journalists, political defenders of Human Rights and public officials, disclosed by the magazine Semana, they seriously damage the democratic principles on which our social rule of law is based ”.
The Foundation for Freedom of the Press of Colombia, FLIP, through a press release entitled "Why are they watching us?", Rejected these illegal practices on Sunday and asked President Iván Duque and the Minister of Defense to thoroughly investigate the facts and punish those responsible.
Background
In mid-2019, various international and non-governmental media outlets published a series of accusations that put the then Commander of the Colombian Army, Major General Nicacio Martínez, and the Colombian Ministry of Defense in distress. Initially, in an article published on May 18, 2019 by The New York Times entitled "The Colombian Army's lethal orders put civilians at risk," the newspaper questioned Martinez's alleged orders to his men through a directive to them, They are supposed to "double the number of criminals and rebels who kill, capture, or force to surrender in battle."
An assertion that was immediately rejected by the then Minister of Defense, Guillermo Botero, and by President Iván Duque in public pronouncements and by means of a letter sent to The New York Times .
The military high command affirmed that the official documents that supported the investigation of the journalist Nicholas Casey, were misinterpreted and that they were only orders to increase the operational results against the illegal armed groups. However, the government decided to nullify those measures in the face of the scandal due to the alleged possibility that those known in Colombia as “false positives” would be repeated: civilians killed extrajudicially and later presented as killed in combat.
There are 2,248 victims in total of the so-called “False Positives” between 1988 and 2014, according to the investigations of the Special Justice for Peace (JEP.) Casey, the author of the article and who also had access to the testimonies of three Army officers under reserve, he had to leave the country for security reasons. He is one of the national and international journalists who were illegally intercepted for communications and follow-ups, according to the Semana investigation.
Minister Botero resigned from his post on November 6, 2019, amid a scandal over the deaths of 8 minors in a bombardment of alleged dissent by the FARC guerilla in the jungles of Caquetá and due to complaints from the weekly magazine. Botero has always denied all allegations and said his decision was for personal reasons.
A situation similar to that of retired General Nicacio Martínez, a former Army commander, who resigned his post on December 28 of the previous year, citing family reasons. Through a statement, his lawyer Jaime Granados reiterated that his client has nothing to do with the irregular situations reported by Semana in recent days.
Communicated to the public opinion regarding the publication "The secret folders" of @RevistaSemana, as attorney for Mr. General Nicacio de Jesús Martínez Espinel. pic.twitter.com/3rIJVKOtf6
- Jaime Granados Peña (@JGranadosPena) May 3, 2020
Strokes
