Colombia’s police are under immense pressure over mounting evidence and testimonies indicating anti-government protesters in Cali were executed and buried in mass graves.
The security secretary of Colombia’s third largest city, Carlos Alberto Rojas, on Monday announced a “study” into the alleged disappearance of people during anti-government protests in Cali.
Rojas took to the press after a report by human rights organization Justicia y Paz, which claimed it had received reports of mass graves in the cities of Buga and Yumbo “where the bodies of many young people were taken.”
Justicia y Paz
Human rights NGO CODHES last week reported that 112 people have gone missing in Cali since the beginning of anti-government protests throughout Colombia on April 28.
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“Fake news” claim retracted
The latest evidence of the Cali Police Department’s alleged mass killing of civilians emerged Sunday when the bodies of two men wearing the same clothes as two men who were arrested on Saturday were found outside of the city.
The local police department and the Security Secretary initially said that the claims police the remains belonged to the detainees were “fake.”
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Cali’s Security Secretary removed its “fake news” claim on Monday, but refused to release the identities of the detainees, which would prove they were still alive.
Rojas also refused to refer to the alleged mass killing of people taking part in anti-government protesters since April 28.
The Missing Persons Search Unit stressed that “it is essential for the State to ensure that deprivations of liberty, whatever their legal form, are carried out in strict compliance with the limits and guarantees contained in the norms of international law under the principles of transparency and publicity.”
Missing Persons Search Unit
Rojas said that “the competent authorities are conducting the relevant studies to clarify the facts and conduct investigations” related to the “disappearances during the National Strike.”
Cali Security Secretary
Cali’s former police chief was forced to resign last week after evidence indicating that the police were colluding with armed civilians who involved in multiple apparent terror campaigns to quell the protests.