Documents provided to the AP link the head of Colombia's army to the alleged cover-up of civilian killings in the mid-2000s. The general says he had no involvement or responsibility in combat operations at the time and had a purely administrative role.
FILE - In this Dec. 17, 2018 file photo, Army Commander Gen. Nicacio Martinez Espinel, right, salutes during a swearing-in ceremony for the new military and police commanders, in Bogota, Colombia. New evidence has emerged linking Martinez Espinel to the alleged cover up of civilian killings more than a decade ago.
Colombia’s military has been blamed for as many as 5,000 extrajudicial killings at the height of the country’s armed conflict in the mid-2000s as troops under pressure by top commanders inflated body counts, in some cases dressing up civilians as guerrillas in exchange for extra pay and other perks. Martínez Espinel at the time of the report said he had “no idea” if he had made the payments. “God and my subalterns know how we’ve acted,” he said.
“A decade ago, soldiers across Colombia lured civilians to remote locations under false pretenses — such as with promises of work — killed them, placed weapons on their lifeless bodies, and then reported them as enemy combatants killed in action,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.
The New York Times reported recently that Martínez Espinel commanded troops to double the number of leftist guerrillas and criminals they kill, capture or force to surrender in combat. The new guidelines, made in writing at the start of Martínez Espinel’s tenure as army chief in January, raised concerns among unnamed officers cited by the Times about the heightened risk of civilian causalities.
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