Colombian Prosecutor’s Office Formally Charges 24 Participants in Massacre

Colombia's Prosecutor's Office announced they would begin formal proceedings against 24 members of the nation's military for their role in the 2022 Alto Remanso massacre, which left 11 civilians dead amid thousands of rounds fired and multiple detonations of fragmentation grenades in the small hamlet. The soldiers in question reported that they engaged insurgents belonging to a splinter faction of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia known as the Estado Mayor Central (FARC-EMC) who were allegedly entrenched in the hamlet. However, no bodies of FARC-EMC fighters were recovered from the scene..The Case Begins.The soldiers, belonging to the 3rd Anti-Narcotics Battalion, were originally deployed to the area in order to locate a ringleader of the FARC-EMC identified by his alias, "Bruno," who acted as one of the leaders of the FARC-EMC's "Border Defense Commandos." The Prosecutor's Office alleges the soldiers spent hours observing Alto Remanso, failing to report any sign of Bruno in the hamlet. Despite Bruno's lack of presence, soldiers descended onto the hamlet wearing "dark garments, different from those traditionally used by the National Army" and launched their attack on the civilian population according to the Prosecutor's Office..What followed was two and a half hours of combat, with soldiers firing approximately 1,600 shots at 13 houses, a community booth, a sports center, the hamlet's pier, and 40-millimeter grenades and fragmentation grenades. Those who are under investigation in connection to the alleged massacre include officers, non-commissioned officers, and professional soldiers. The identities of those investigated were reported by Colombia's Prosecutor's Office as Lieutenant Colonel Néstor Andrés Cadena Bautista, Captain Jorge Erney Marroquín Cadena, Lieutenant Julián Ernesto Ávila Martínez, Second Sergeants Cristian Gabriel Perez Galindo and Maicol Andrés Quiñones Mendoza, First Corporals Wilber Leonardo Rodríguez and Wilson Andrés Santamaría Ramos, and 17 unnamed professional soldiers..According to the Prosecutor's Office, the fighting began while a community bazaar, which was organized to raise funds for the repair of the hamlet's roads according to Caracol Radio, was ending likely contributing to the high amount of civilians killed in the massacre. Those killed included an indigenous governor, the president of the Community Action Board of the village, a minor, and eight other people. Five other civilians were injured during the attack which included a pregnant teenager who was resting in her home..The soldiers have been charged with the "homicide of protected persons and attempted homicide of protected persons." However, the soldiers denied the charges, leading to an ongoing court case..A History of Civilian Casualties.The Colombian military holds a tense history with the civilian population of the country, with the military previously involved in several massacres and scandals that led to the deaths of Colombian civilians over the years. One such scandal is Colombia's notorious "false positives" scandal. During the scandal, the Colombian military offered rewards for soldiers with a large kill count against the FARC during the tenure of President Álvaro Uribe. These incentives led to the deaths of an estimated 6,402 civilians who were lured to rural areas of the country, killed, and dressed in FARC uniforms before being passed off as guerillas..After the scandal was discovered, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), a transitional court system that played a massive role in facilitating the peace deal between the FARC and the government in 2016, began an intensive investigation into multiple figures in the military, with more than 3,500 members of the military placed under investigation..During these investigations, officials have stated that many of the false positives were conducted to please ranking officers, with former commander of the Colombian army and retired general Mario Montoya accused of at least 130 killings. Officials testified that Montoya ordered soldiers to prioritize kills over captures of rebels..In the trial, prosecutors alleged that three generals, including Montoya, did not take sufficient action to prevent the false positives from occurring, while further claiming that some of the defendants had given orders directly to their subordinates to misidentify and murder civilians.."From the command they occupied, they were permissive, lax in controls, and did not exercise their powers of prevention, investigation, and sanction. This facilitated the dissemination, permanence, and concealment of the crimes. Their omissions contributed to the consolidation of the three macro-criminal patterns documented in the Huila Subcase, one of the six areas prioritized in the investigation," a document alleging the crimes stated..Military units under the command of the generals are believed to have been responsible for a significant number of civilian executions, with 192 of the 264 deaths between 2005 and 2008 reported by the units being thought to have been civilians who were purposefully misidentified as guerillas..Naturally, this scandal has left many Colombians wary of any bonuses provided to authorities for effective work. Such wariness ultimately led to a backlash against Carlos Pinedo Cuello, the mayor of Santa Marta, the capital of Colombia's northern department of Magdalena, following the announcement of a number of incentives for authorities that display good conduct through the use of proper protocols in terms of making arrests, preventing crimes, and quickly responding to criminal activities in June..The city started a fund of one billion pesos ($254.5 thousand USD) to facilitate these incentives, which include gift vouchers, coupons, vacation packages, and further time off. This fund and the announced rewards resulted in criticism. However, both the mayor and the Secretary of Security, Gustavo Berdugo, have defended the policy, with Berdugo telling Semana that six officials have already been rewarded before arguing that businesses use similar methods to promote good work.."What we are doing is also seen in companies; it is not something new. In the private sector, they give bonuses to their employees for good results. Here we want to highlight the work of the uniformed personnel and, every day, improve security. Above all, we are interested in prevention," Berdugo told Semana..Among the plan's critics is the governor of Magdalena, Rafael Martinez, who raised concerns regarding the possibility of another false positive scandal alongside a supposed "social cleansing."."Dangerous exercise of Santa Marta's mayor's office. With one day of leave as an incentive, the fatal door was opened to false positives from Alvaro Uribe. Would the billions of pesos of rewards offered by the illegals protected by the Democratic Center Movement be lent?" the governor said in a post on X. "Does it turn out that our taxes because of this will end up financing 'social cleansing' and even end up tipping the balance towards one of the two sides that are fighting for control of the bus?".Cuello fired back in a post on X, criticizing an unnamed figure believed to be Martinez for his supposed belief that he is "the champion of good management."."From his profile in X and believing himself to be the champion of good management, the other corrupt errand boy came out to talk about security. They do not do, nor do they let others do. In its downward spiral, it grabs hold of whatever it takes to remain current. Better get to work, pay Davila [likely Semana's director, Vicky Davila], and stop being a toad," Cuello said in a post on X.