Colombia’s army is implicated in over 2,300 civilian murders investigated by Colombia’s Prosecutor General’s Office in the last 25 years, according to a special report published by Caracol Radio Monday.
Caracol’s investigation into the Prosecutor General’s Office archives found that in the last 25 years the institution has investigated 2,321 murders of Colombian citizens in which members of the armed forces were suspected or convicted.
Of the total number of cases identified, 2,077 of those killed are men, 119 are women and 125 are minors.
According to the report, the majority of the murders are thought to be extrajudicial killings known as “false positives,” in which members of the army murder civilians and report the deaths to authorities as guerrillas killed in action.
The report also states that through the 2,321 investigations, 40 members of the national army have been convicted, twelve have accepted charges of murder and ten have been cleared of all charges.
The central Colombian department of Antioquia has the highest number of reported killings, with a total of 389, followed by the Meta department with 114.