A court sentenced Colombia’s state to repair survivors of the 2000 paramilitary massacre of El Salado for its responsibility in arguably the bloodiest massacre committed during the armed conflict.
According to the Administrative Tribunal of San Andres, the Defense Ministry, the Navy and the National Police failed to act to either prevent or stop the six-day massacre in which more than 100 civilians were massacred by members of paramilitary group AUC, according to the prosecution.
A Navy captain was sentenced to 13 years in prison last year for refusing to take action while the massacre was taking place.
In order to compensate the survivors and the families of those who were murdered, the state must pay almost $7 million to the survivors and family members of victims of the massacre and build a commemorative statute in the village in honor of those who died.
The National Center for Historical Memory was ordered to make a documentary on the massacre, and the Defense Ministry, the National Police and the Navy were ordered to publish the court sentence on their websites.
In order to guarantee non-repetition, the state institutions convicted for their negligence and refusal to protect civilians were ordered to provide additional education to their forces on human rights and international humanitarian law.
Social leader Yirley Velasco
Survivors of the massacre who had sued the state for compensation have said they have been receiving death threats since January.