The United States documents that raise doubts about the “false positives”

Relatives of victims hug during a recognition hearing, for the so-called "false positives", in Ocaña, on April 27, 2022.Nicole Acuña (via REUTERS)

The publication of declassified files from the United States by the Truth Commission in Colombia reopened doubts about whether military assistance had an impact on the murders of civilians known as "false positives" during the government of Álvaro Uribe Vélez.

The documents were previously confidential and are now in the public domain at the request of the

, a non-governmental organization based in Washington.

In at least three of them, reference is made to the body count, an indicator that would have put pressure on these homicides.

The first is a communication from December 2002, addressed by the then commander of the United States Southern Command, General James T. Hill, to George W. Bush's Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld.

In it he points out that they had "consciously avoided falling into the 'body count' syndrome" and that "the simple fact of counting the dead narco-terrorists or the hectares fumigated is meaningless if the enemy recruits more guerrillas or plants more poppies and coca" .

A few months later, in July 2003, the Pentagon's top deputy in charge of special operations, Marshall Billingslea, sent a memorandum to Rumsfield celebrating the increase in FARC guerrilla casualties achieved in the first months of Uribe with the support of the United States: 543 members in six months compared to 780 in the last two years of his predecessor, Andrés Pastrana.

"Since January 1, 2003, President Uribe's team and special commando units have killed 543 FARC, captured 1,063, and induced the desertion of 300," the report states.

In contrast, he compared, in the last two years of the previous government "the FARC were gaining ground."

He also stressed that the effort against what were considered "high-value targets" was "taking its toll on the high-ranking guerrillas."

According to the final report of the Truth Commission, created by the agreement with the FARC in 2016, the logic of the enemy was used to justify homicides and show results in the counterinsurgency fight.

“By privileging deaths in combat over any other military result, serious violations of human rights and infractions of International Humanitarian Law were encouraged,” he points out.

“The pressure for casualties in combat increased in the Armed Forces, which encouraged the commission of very serious crimes, such as the so-called 'false positives', in which innocent people were presented as guerrillas killed and killed in a defenseless state. ”, adds the Commission.

An analysis published in 2013 by the Colombia Europe United States Coordination, a network of 285 social and human rights organizations, maintains that "there is a correlation between the units and officers who received assistance and training from the United States and the commission of extrajudicial executions”.

On April 27, while the first recognition hearing for these crimes by the military was taking place in Catatumbo (Norte de Santander), the United States embassy in Colombia published a message praising “the courage of the soldiers who acknowledge their responsibility in false positives and apologizing to the victims.

By telling what they know, they help build the justice and peace process.”

For its part, the Democratic Center, former President Uribe's party, said in a statement last June that "those who say there was a Vietnam doctrine or

are lying " and that "thanks to the actions taken by the government of Álvaro Uribe the 'false positives' in the country are over”.

The digital media La Silla Vacía detected that three of the four points in the statement were misleading.

Uribe has reiterated that during his mandate decisions were made to curb these crimes.

The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) has documented 6,402 cases of innocent civilians murdered between 2002 and 2008.

The third document, from December 2003, compares the counterinsurgency campaign of the Patriota plan (2003-2006) with that of the Lazo plan (1962-1966), which included military training on US bases, and highlights the increase in combat deaths.

“With that assistance action [from the United States] there was also a lot of pressure to show success, show results.

The most normal thing during the Cold War and counterinsurgency campaigns is to show that the body count is increasing,” said Michael Evans, an NSA analyst and director of the documentation project on Colombia.

Some of the more than 15,000 declassified documents have censored sections.

“Historically these documents have been important in clarifying human rights violations.

They were central to the comparison exercise of the Truth Commission”, explained Commissioner Alejandro Valencia at a press conference.

One of the recommendations of the Commission is that President Gustavo Petro request that of the United States, Joe Biden, the accelerated declassification of documents related to the Colombian armed conflict for their value in clarifying the truth.

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