“We can call them ‘false positives’ or ‘extrajudicial executions’, but really these were cold-blooded murders. They were meticulously planned and carried by all ranks.”
Omar Rojas Bolaños and Fabian Leonardo Benavides — Blind Obedience in Fictitious Battlefields
October 8 2016 — Santos was named Minister of Defence on 19 July 2006. He resigned on 18 May 2009. In 2008 the ‘false positives’ scandal was uncovered. Members of the military carried out extrajudicial executions in order to artificially increase the number of guerrillas killed by the Army and claim rewards from the government. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
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“The army’s aim was to pass them off as left-wing rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) to boost its kill rate and give the impression it was winning the armed conflict against the group.”
UPDATE (February 19 2021) — The inquiry by a special court has concluded that the number of killings, known as “false positives”, is almost three times higher than previous estimates.
6,402 civilians were killed by the military between 2002 and 2008 and falsely passed off as enemy combatants.
The Court established that the majority of the “false positives” were carried out between 2002 and 2008, during the presidency of Álvaro Uribe.
Juan Manuel Santos – who was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2016! – served as defense minister from 2006 until 2009, at the the height of the “false positive” killings during the presidency of Alvaro Uribe.
El NARCO 82’ — President Álvaro Uribe Vélez of Colombia — August 7, 2002 – August 7, 2010 — was a “close personal friend of Pablo Escobar”.
RELATED POST: Matarife — An Unnameable Genocide [Álvaro Uribe Vélez — Season 1 – Episode 2 : Death Corporation]
In fact, they are related but the former President has dropped the ‘Escobar/Gaviria’ part of his name.
According to a 1991 DIA document, Alvaro Uribe — then a Senator — was “dedicated to collaboration with the Medellín [drug] cartel at high government levels.” [Note: Alvaro Uribe had been the mayor of Medellín when Escobar ‘owned’ the city.]
Uribe is currently investigated due to his alleged participation in the El Aro massacre (October 22, 1997) that took place in the Department of Antioquia while he was governor.
In August 2020, the Supreme Court ordered the detention of the former Colombian president amid an investigation into alleged witness tampering and fraud.
Uribe is known to have been a protégé of MI6 and the CIA. A good friend of mine personally escorted Uribe out of Colombia when he was moved to the UK where he allegedly wrote a PhD. Just in case you wonder, there is of course no record of that PhD.
END of UPDATE
“Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel peace prize.”
Thomas Andrew Lehrer — American satirist
Los Falsos Positivos
The “false positives” scandal (Escándalo de los falsos positivos in Spanish) was a series of murders in Colombia, part of the ongoing armed conflict in that country between the government and guerrilla forces of the FARC and the ELN.
Members of the military had poor or mentally impaired civilians lured to remote parts of the country with offers of work, killed them, and presented them to authorities as guerrilleros killed in battle, in an effort to inflate body counts and receive promotions or other benefits.
As of June 2012, a total of 3,350 such cases have been investigated in all parts of the country and verdicts have been reached in 170 cases. Human rights groups have charged that the judicial cases progressed too slowly.
The name of the scandal refers to the technical term of “false positive” which describes a test falsely detecting a condition that is not present. [WIKIPEDIA]
UN INVESTIGATION
In June 2009, UN special rapporteur Philip Alston carried out an investigation of extrajudicial executions in Colombia. He reported:
“ The victim is lured under false pretenses by a “recruiter” to a remote location. There, the individual is killed soon after arrival by members of the military. The scene is then manipulated to make it appear as if the individual was legitimately killed in combat. The victim is commonly photographed wearing a guerrilla uniform, and holding a gun or grenade. Victims are often buried anonymously in communal graves, and the killers are rewarded for the results they have achieved in the fight against the guerrillas. […]
I interviewed witnesses and survivors who described very similar killings in the departments of Antioquia, Arauca, Valle del Cauca, Casanare, Cesar, Cordoba, Huila, Meta, Norte de Santander, Putumayo, Santander, Sucre, and Vichada. A significant number of military units were thus involved. […]
Evidence showing victims dressed in camouflage outfits which are neatly pressed, or wearing clean jungle boots which are four sizes too big for them, or lefthanders holding guns in their right hand, or men with a single shot through the back of their necks, further undermines the suggestion that these were guerrillas killed in combat. […]
I have found no evidence to suggest that these killings were carried out as a matter of official Government policy, or that they were directed by, or carried out with the knowledge of, the President or successive Defence Ministers. On the other hand, the explanation favoured by many in Government – that the killings were carried out on a small scale by a few bad apples – is equally unsustainable.” [WIKIPEDIA]
A different picture
‘Who’s that Girl?’
Natalia París Gaviria (born August 12, 1973, Medellín, Colombia) is a Colombian model.
She is one of the most recognized models in Colombia and offers her own brand of personal care products under her name.
HOWEVER…
“The biggest love of Natalia Paris, widely considered one of Colombia’s sexiest models, was a wealthy (former) drug trafficker until he mysteriously disappeared in 2001.
He is now featured in one of Colombia’s most popular soap operas.
Julio César Correa a.k.a. Julio Fierro or La Señora is probably dead. He had joined a cooperation program with American justice in 1995 after he was caught smuggling two tons of cocaine to Miami.
He disappeared when he returned to Colombia for a holiday.” [Colombia Reports]
Actually, Julio was Escobar’s most trusted contract killer.
About JUAN MANUEL SANTOS
The International Federation for Human Rights produced a report on the phenomenon in May 2012, alleging over 3,000 civilian victims between 2002 and 2008.
The group asked the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court prosecutor to open an investigation, as “those who bear the greatest responsibility for these crimes are not being investigated or prosecuted in Colombia.”
Santos was named Minister of Defence on 19 July 2006. He resigned on 18 May 2009.
In 2008 the ‘false positives’ scandal was uncovered, referring to revelations concerning extrajudicial executions carried out by members of the military in order to artificially increase the number of guerrillas killed by the Army and claim rewards from the government.
On 4 November 2008, Santos admitted that the military had carried out extrajudicial executions and he pledged to resolve the issue.
Twenty-seven military officers, including three generals and eleven colonels, were sacked after an internal army investigation concluded that they were responsible for administrative failures and irregularities in reporting enemy casualties and operational results. The Commander of the Colombian National Army, General Mario Montoya, resigned.
UPDATE (May 8 2018) — The Guardian has finally noticed that: “President Juan Manuel Santos – who was awarded the Nobel peace prize for shepherding through the deal – served as defense minister from 2006 until 2009, at the the height of the “false positive” killings.” Thank you.
Activists say neither Santos nor his predecessor Álvaro Uribe have been called to account over the scandal, though Uribe faces several separate investigations over alleged war crimes.
A key witness in one case was murdered in Medellín last month.
Colombia’s government has often brushed off the scandal as the actions of a few rogue individuals.
“‘False positives’ were not just a problem of a few bad apples,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.
“These apparently widespread and systematic extrajudicial killings were committed by troops attached to virtually all brigades in every single army division across Colombia.”
The U.S. was aware that the Colombian military had engaged in such “crimes against humanity,” since the mid 90s.
As Michael Evans (National Security Archive) explains, classified U.S. documents show that:
“the CIA and senior U.S. diplomats were aware as early as 1994 that U.S.-backed Colombian security forces engaged in ‘death squad tactics,’ cooperated with drug-running paramilitary groups, and encouraged a ‘body count syndrome…’”
END of UPDATE
Victims of Colombia’s ‘False Positive’ scandal await justice
Nov 22, 2014 — Six years after one of Colombia’s darkest scandals arose, justice seems impossible for the victims’ families.
The “false positive” scandal is used to refer to the extrajudicial killings of civilians by members of the armed forces who dressed their victims as guerrillas in order to present them as combat kills.
The mothers of the famous cases in Bogota’s suburb, called Soacha, anxiously await justice for their lost sons. CCTV Corespondent Michelle Begue had the report from Bogota, Colombia.
REFERENCES
‘When Kissinger won the Nobel peace prize, satire died’
UPDATE
Colombian army killed thousands more civilians than reported, study claims — Guardian (May 8 2018)
U.S.-Sponsored Crimes In Colombia Referred to International Criminal Court — HUFFPOST
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2016 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE JUAN MANUEL SANTOS — Does anyone remember ‘Los Falsos Positivos’?
2016 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE JUAN MANUEL SANTOS — Does anyone remember ‘Los Falsos Positivos’? UPDATE : Colombian army killed thousands more civilians than reported
Two Years Ago — 2016 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE JUAN MANUEL SANTOS — Does Anyone Remember “Los Falsos Positivos”?
2016 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE JUAN MANUEL SANTOS — Does Anyone Remember “Los Falsos Positivos”? [UPDATE : Peace court: Colombia army killed 6,400 civilians and falsely passed off as enemy combatants]
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