The defense lawyer for families of missing victims from the 1985 Palace of Justice siege will ask the Inter-American Human Rights Commission to validate a U.S. document which allegedly exposes ex-colonel Plazas Vega as responsible for the forced disappearance of eleven civilians after their rescue.
The lawyer, Rafael Barrios, claims that the document is a significant piece of evidence which confirms accusations that Plazas Vega was responsible for the disappearance of the civilians and undermines the retired colonel’s claim he was not in charge of the siege.
News station Caracol Radio reported on Thursday that Barrios stated “the fact that in 1999, the US State Department already knew what had happened in Colombia on November 6 and 7, 1985 in an essential step towards not just the truth but also justice.”
The document also sheds light on the cases of two other former generals who are accused of being involved in the disappearances and murders of 11 civilians who were rescued from the burning building, the lawyer says.
“In the U.S there is an independent organization called the National Security Archive, which periodically requests the declassification of documents from the State Department – it was from this organization that we received the document yesterday.”
24 years after the violent battle over the Palace of Justice that destroyed the building and killed more than a hundred people, including Supreme Court magistrates, Plazas Vega is on trial for his alleged responsibility of the mysterious disappearance of civilians who were seen leaving the building safely.