Colombia’s State Council blamed Friday the Colombian state for “communication faults” in a 1996 FARC attack that killed 22 soldiers and orders a payment to the victims’ family members.
The court ordered the Colombian state to make a “public apology” for the mistakes committed during the planning of the defense against the attack.
The council ordered the Colombian state to construct a monument in honor of the soldiers who lost their lives in the attack and announced a fine of $349,000 to be paid to the families of two of the killed soldiers.
This is not the first time the Colombian state has been found liable for the attack. In May 2011, the State Council ordered the state to pay nearly $1M to family members of the victims.
The attack against the Las Delicias army base in the southwestern Putumayo department was realized by some 450 guerrilla fighters from the FARC’s Southern Bloc on August 30, 1996. The attack left 22 soldiers killed and 16 wounded, in addition to 60 soldiers kidnapped.