ARMY CAPTAIN CHARGED IN FEBRUARY 2005 MASSACRE OF

UNCLAS BOGOTA 008400 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV KJUS CO SUBJECT: ARMY CAPTAIN CHARGED IN FEBRUARY 2005 MASSACRE OF MEMBERS OF THE SAN JOSE DE APARTADO PEACE COMMUNITY ¶1. On November 22, the Prosecutor General's office (Fiscalia) ordered the detention of Army Captain Guillermo Gordillo for his participation in the massacre of eight civilians near San Jose de Apartado in February 2005. Captain Gordillo is in preventive detention, charged with homicide of protected persons "in concert with delinquency and terrorism." Gordillo commanded the Bolivar Company of the Velez Battalion of the 17th Brigade at the time of the massacre. A former paramilitary cooperating with prosecutors reportedly testified that Gordillo ordered the murder of San Jose de Apartado Peace Community leader Luis Eduardo Guerra and seven others in retaliation for the FARC's killing of soldiers two weeks earlier. The paramilitary testified that Gordillo's men secured the area while the paramilitaries carried out the murders, because they believed members of the peace community sympathized with the FARC. In addition to Guerra, the victims included three children aged eleven, five and two. ¶2. Human rights groups complain that while Gordillo's arrest represents progress, the investigation has not reached higher levels. Amnesty International questions why Colonel Nestor Ivan Duque, a high ranking officer within the 17th Brigade, has not been prosecuted for covering up the military's involvement in the deaths. Duque was questioned by the Fiscalia and testified that elements of the 17th Brigade were nowhere near the site at the time of the massacre. The Fiscalia decided there was insufficient evidence to charge Duque in connection with the massacre, but the Inspector General's Office (Procuraduria) has an open investigation against him. Military officials tell us that in the absence of an order by the Fiscalia or Procuraduria, they cannot suspend Duque or take other disciplinary action against him. Nichols