Colombia’s State council ordered the government to pay US$ 3 million
compensation to 82 family members of the at least 40 indigenous
Colombians that were massacred by paramilitary forces in Naya, Cauca in
2001.
According to the State Council, the State neglected to prevent the incursion of the paramilitaries that led to the murder of at least 40 and forced 3,000 indigenous to seek refuge elsewhere.
The Government, led by President Andres Pastrana, had ignored warnings by the inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Ombudsman about a possible upcoming paramilitary incursion in the area.
500 men of the Calima Bloc of paramilitary organization AUC, led by Ever ‘HH’ Veloza, took control of the area the beginning of April 2001 and allegedly murdered people with chainsaws in several villages in the Naya area.
Aside having to pay the US$ 3 million compensation, the Government must publish a summary of the ruling in a national newspaper.