Colombia’s State Council, the highest administrative court in the
country, ordered the government to pay US$ 490,000 compensation to
relatives of the seventeen people that were killed when in 1998 the air force bombed the truck in which they were traveling.
The family members of the victims had sued the government, arguing that the
soldiers who took part in the bombing used “false procedures” and
obstructed and postponed the various investigations.
The bombing took place on December 13, 1998 in Santo Domingo, Arauca during a street fair. Three crew members of the aircraft were
convicted and sentenced to six years in prison in September 2006.
“It has been duly proven in the investigation that on Dec. 13, 1998, 17
people died and 22 more were injured as a result of the explosion of a
cluster bomb dropped from a plane by members of the air force, the
verdict read, ordering the government to compensate the four families who had lost their loved ones.