Colombia News | Colombia Reports
  • News
    • General
    • Analysis
    • War and peace
    • Elections
    • Economy
    • Culture
    • Sports
    • Science and Tech
  • Travel
    • General
    • Bogota
    • Medellin
    • Cali
    • Cartagena
    • Antioquia
    • Caribbean
    • Pacific
    • Coffee region
    • Amazon
    • Southwest Colombia
    • Northeast Colombia
    • Central Colombia
  • Data
    • Economy
    • Crime and security
    • War and peace
    • Development
    • Cities
    • Regions
    • Provinces
  • Profiles
    • Organized crime
    • Politics
    • Armed conflict
    • Economy
    • Sports
  • Lite
  • Opinion
  • About us
  • Support us
  • Contact Us
  • Intelligence
  • Advertising
  • Newsletter
Colombia News | Colombia Reports
  • News
    • General
    • Analysis
    • War and peace
    • Elections
    • Economy
    • Culture
    • Sports
    • Science and Tech
  • Travel
    • General
    • Bogota
    • Medellin
    • Cali
    • Cartagena
    • Antioquia
    • Caribbean
    • Pacific
    • Coffee region
    • Amazon
    • Southwest Colombia
    • Northeast Colombia
    • Central Colombia
  • Data
    • Economy
    • Crime and security
    • War and peace
    • Development
    • Cities
    • Regions
    • Provinces
  • Profiles
    • Organized crime
    • Politics
    • Armed conflict
    • Economy
    • Sports
  • Lite
  • Opinion
News

Army major indicted for ‘false positive’ killings

by Matt Snyder July 5, 2011

 

false postives sucre

A Colombian army major was indicted Tuesday for his part in the murder of 11 young Colombians in the Sucre department along Colombia’s Caribbean coast.

Major Orlando Arturo Cespedes Escalona, deputy commander of the joint task force in Sucre, will be tried for his part in the killing. The murder is part of Colombia’s “false positives” scandal, where Colombia’s armed forces have killed innocent civilians and posed them as enemy guerrillas to inflate their kill counts of enemy units.

During the summer of 2007, 11 Colombian farmers from the Sucre district were offered $426 by army civilian recruiters for agricultural work. The farmers were then murdered and reported as combatants killed by the military several months later.

Major Escalona was arrested in October 2010 for his part in the killing and will now face prosecution under a special human rights unit. Several recruiters involved in the murder have already been sentenced to up to 25 years in prison. Escalona’s commander, Colonel Luis Fernando Borja Aristizabal, who was in command of the Sucre military unit, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his part in a false positive killing.

As of last year there have been an estimated 3,000 cases of false positive killings in Colombia since 2002.

militarySucre

Trending

  • Tensions in Colombia over lost COVID-19 vaccine shots

  • Colombia’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign shows first cracks

  • Coronavirus crisis bankrupted 500K of Colombia’s small businesses

Weekly interviews and news updates

Related articles

  • Colombia’s war crimes tribunal and the terrorist with apparent learning disabilities

  • Duque’s pirate ‘Plan Colombia’ copy latest blow to peace process

  • Will the politicians behind Colombia’s mass killing of civilians go to court?

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin
  • RSS

@2008-2019 - Colombia Reports. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by Digitale Zaken and Parrolabs


Back To Top