Last fall, Colombia was horrified by revelations that members of the Army – or criminals in their employ – had been luring away young men with promises of employment, killing them, then presenting their bodies as those of guerrillas or paramilitaries killed in combat. The dead were called “falsos positivos” – roughly, “false positive results against armed groups” – and the scandal forced the November 2008 retirement of Army Chief Gen. Mario Montoya.
The Colombia-Europe-United States Coordination, a network of Colombian human-rights groups, issued a report alleging that 535 civilians had been killed by Colombia’s security forces between January 2007 and June 2008, about one per day.
Colombian security and defense officials long denied that “false positives” were a problem. Now, they are insisting that they have put the problem behind them. Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos has said in at least two recent high-profile speeches that there have been no new cases of “false positives” since October.
We have had problems, as in the cases of extrajudicial executions or “false positives” that have been denounced, but we worked immediately, with all effort and rigor, and we can say that, since last October, no denunciations have been received about cases since then.
Is that correct, though? A recent report by the highly respected Colombian NGO CINEP and a new memo from the Colombia-Europe-United States Coordination [PDF] both indicate otherwise. The CINEP report documents three possible new cases between October and December 2008 in Casanare, Cordoba, and Putumayo. The CCEEU memo mentions these cases, as well as a few others in which the victims were executed but not later presented as killed in combat – their bodies were disposed of instead.
The CCEEU argues that forced disappearance is replacing “false positives” as the “new modality” of military human rights abuse.
They seek to give the sensation that the order to end the executions is being followed, but continuing the same practice, only now placing special care in ensuring that the new executions are not reported (publicly) and the cadavers are diligently hidden, in order to leave no traces of the troops’ responsibility for these illegal acts.
Compounding the difficulty of judging the degree to which “false positives” continue is the way in which they are discovered. It may take several months to determine that the armed forces may have had a role in the case of one of the hundreds of people who disappear every year in Colombia. In the notorious case that brought the scandal to world attention last fall – the discovery of the bodies of missing young men from a slum near Bogotá buried in a province near the Venezuelan border – the lag between disappearance and discovery was at least six months.
An editorial in Monday’s edition of the Bogotá daily El Espectador looks at the issue and determines that, indeed, the Colombian defense minister may be speaking too soon.
We celebrate that the Army is carrying out a serious diagnosis to bring an end to this criminal conduct, that the investigations’ advances are communicated to public opinion, and that drastic measures are taken to restore credibility and trust to the institution. But the Minister should think twice before assuring that “false positives” are a thing of the past.
April 29th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Since I feel like a masochist today, and a bored one at that, here’s a comment:
If they aren’t being reported as guerrilla casualties then they aren’t “false positives”, using the simplest logic in the world, no?
The idea behind “false positives” is that the personnel involved will get some kind of benefit from the murder and its presentation. That doesn’t seem to be the case if that’s changed now.
Also, perhaps it would be better if you asked when did “false positives” really began, in order to understand this isn’t merely Uribe’s fault, but I suppose that doesn’t sound like what you want to hear and promote.
Regards (formally at least),
Marcos
April 29th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Hey Adam, since your visit to Colombia apparenlty you have missed tons of scandals occurred over there. One of them is that Uribe’s ministers issued a free trade zone status to his sons lands in Mosquera near Bogota, and made them pretty rich at the drop of a hat. The other one is that at last Don Berna admitted to having funded the first Uribe president Campaign. And last but not least the only witness that directly accused Uribe of Paramilitarism, was killed in Medellin, as he was granted parole after being sentenced to more than eighty years (summing up all convicitions). Ain’t that interesting?
April 30th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
I think you must understand that cololmbian army is taking measures in order to improve unfortunately situation. You write only bad news but you can write too about the new army and his respect for the human rights. Not all people are guilty int those crimes.
Obviusly people understand the reality in a big institution like the colombian army and his fight against farc during forty five years.
Is very difficult to understand this situation.
May 1st, 2009 at 9:10 pm
I was wondering about the distinction that Marcos brought up as well. Clearly both are cold murder, but it seems worthwhile to consider the implications of presenting the bodies of innocent bystanders as guerrillas vs. burying suspected guerrillas in the jungle. The first case, as I understand it, was the result of an army policy of rewarding the units based on the number of guerrillas killed, while the second case, seems more the blatant disdain for judicial proceedings. I think in terms of creating action-oriented recommendations that distinction must be made.
May 2nd, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Steve: You probably didn’t mean it this way, but thanks for the support, since at least that shows it’s not just me being crazy when I ask some of these things, at least once in a while, even if that’s not what wants to be heard by certain people.
On a related but different note, it’s a pity Mr. Bustos continues to promote his philosophy of “against Uribe, everything; in his favor, nothing” and that colors his presentation of any and all events, including conveniently leaving out facts and circumstances he surely must know about. Then again, with the way things are going, perhaps that’s appropriate around these parts.
Regards,
Marcos
May 2nd, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Marcos,
I think you will find that most people on this blog who are aware of the false positives know that it is not a new phenomenon. That does not mean, though, that a shift in the reasoning behind (or the cause of?) of them hasn’t changed.
May 2nd, 2009 at 2:12 pm
[...] up in some pretty language.” The Center for International Policy’s Colombia program discusses the continuing killings of civilians by the Colombian military as well as the “false [...]
May 4th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
“False Positive” its a perverse term missused for crimes commited by the Colombian Army, in poor suburbs young people cant be in the streets or regular or iregular forces can freely kidnap or kill them and present his bodies like guerilla soldiers. Just for your knowledge: this actions happens every day, in every town in Colombia with the complicity of the Goverment.
January 20th, 2010 at 2:35 am
[...] members show up to march against the armed forces impunity on the deaths of young men due to . In the latest false positive situation, it seems that military lured young men with promises of work to rural areas where they were then [...]
January 21st, 2010 at 12:51 am
[...] sulla morte dei propri figli [sp] in quelli che vengono definiti casi di Falsi Positivi. Nei più recenti di tali casi [in], sembra che i militari adescassero i ragazzi con promesse di lavoro in aree rurali, dove [...]
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:41 pm
[...] sulla morte dei propri figli [sp] in quelli che vengono definiti casi di Falsi Positivi. Nei più recenti di tali casi [in], sembra che i militari adescassero i ragazzi con promesse di lavoro in aree rurali, dove [...]
January 23rd, 2010 at 8:58 am
[...] kuwa juu ya sheria katika vifo vya vijana wa kiume kutokana na kile kinachoitwa Ushahidi wa Uongo. Katika kisa cha hivi karibuni kabisa cha Ushahidi wa Uongo, inaonekana kuwa wanajeshi waliwashawishi vijana wafuatane nao kutokana na ahadi za kazi sehemu za [...]
February 19th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
[...] the armed forces impunity on the deaths of young men due to what has been called False Positives. In the latest false positive situation, it seems that military lured young men with promises of work to rural areas where they were then [...]