An indigenous governor and two other civilians are among the 11 dead the Colombian army has presented as guerrillas killed in a recent operation on the border with Peru, community leaders and advocacy groups said on Wednesday (March 30th). human rights.
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"Those killed by the army were not guerrillas, but civilians, including indigenous comrades
," said Oscar Daza, spokesman for the organization that brings together the indigenous peoples of the Colombian Amazon (Opiac ), during a press conference.
According to her, among the 11 victims presented by the army as being dissident ex-Farc rebels who rejected the 2016 peace agreement, are a local governor, a community leader and his wife.
The Opiac does not provide details of the eight other people believed to have been killed in the fighting.
Human Rights Watch also confirmed that
“during the army operation, the indigenous governor, the community leader and his wife were killed”
.
"There is an urgent need to clarify the facts
," said Juan Pappier, the NGO's senior researcher for the Americas.
The Office of the Mediator (Ombudsman) received the complaint made by Opiac, pointing out that
"a 16-year-old boy"
is among the victims and also called on the authorities to
"quickly clarify"
the facts.
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On Tuesday, General Alberto Rodriguez said that the 11 people killed in Puerto Leguizamo, in the department of Putumayo (south), belonged to the Segunda Marquetalia, one of the two major factions of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Marxists) .
“The operation was not against peasants, but against Farc dissidents.
It was not against innocent natives, but against drug traffickers
,” Defense Minister Diego Molano said on Twitter on Wednesday.
Without mentioning any fighting, the prosecutor's office announced on Twitter an investigation into
"the events in Puerto Leguizamo where 11 people died"
.