The Prosecutor General’s technical investigation team (CTI) Tuesday has discovered the common grave of three minors on a farm used as a training camp by the ERPAC neo-paramilitary group.
The bodies were located in the Cumaribo municipality of the Vichada department, which borders with Venzuela. The CTI team reportedly found the bodies using information provided by the perpetrators. This is the first common grave attributed to the ERPAC. Authorities are not ruling out the possibility that more are hidden in the area.
Preliminary investigations established that the three victims were recruited in Huila, Pereira, Risaralda and Valle del Cauca between November 2010 and January 2011, and were sent to Cumaribo for training.
ERPAC is a neo-paramilitary group primarily active in the eastern plains of Colombia. Authorities and researchers disagree about the size and the area of influence of the group. ERPAC’s strongholds remain in the Meta, Guaviare and Vichada department, but according to researchers the group has also emerged in the north and west of Colombia due to alliances with other drug trafficking groups like the “Urabeños” and the “Rastrojos.”
PROFILE: ERPAC