During a month-long journey
through Europe last year, the
President of Colombia, Julio
Cesar Turbay Ayala, gave
assurances that his government
was not violating human rights.
Before several news reporters in
London, Turbay asserted that he
in fact was the only political
prisoner in Colombia, con-
demned as he was to serving his
country selflessly. To support his
claim, the President invited
Amnesty International, whose
headquarters are located in the
British capital, to prove that all
the accusations were lies pro-
pagated by subversive agents
with the intent of discrediting and
destabilizing his government.
Amnesty International ac-
cepted the invitation. The mis-
sion sent to Colombia in January
spent 15 days meeting with
numerous government officials,
individuals from various political
and mass organizations, and cur-
rent and former prisoners and
their families. Their conclusions
and recommendations were con-
veyed to the Colombian govern-
ment, as well as made public in
an Amnesty International report.
The release of the A.I. report in
March of this year created a
MaylJune 1980
political hurricane since it was
printed in full by the major
newspapers of the country. The
findings of this highly-respected
organization clarified the doubts
in the minds of many Colombians
with regard to the government
and the violation of human rights.
Inadvertently it also reinforced and
legitimized the stated reason for
the takeover of the Dominican Em-
bassy by guerrillas from an
organization called M-19 on
February 27, approximately a
month before the report was
released. As Commander Uno,
chief of the M-19 operation, af-
firmed during an interview from
the Embassy, “We want to show
to world opinion that here in Col-
ombia there are political prisoners,
that people are tortured.”
With regard to the right of
defense and the use of Military
Tribunals, the report points out
that between 1966 and 1973
almost 5000 court-martials took
place; these military tribunals
sentenced more than 3800
civilians. During the summary
trials practically all international
agreements on the rights of
prisoners to a defense were
systematically violated. Thus,
“Amnesty International recom-
mends that the Colombian
government transfer to ordinary
courts all the trials in progress
against civilians sentenced by
the Military Courts, whether or
not their actions are related or
allegedly related to armed
movements of opposition.”
The report also recommends
the abolition of the “state of na-
tional security” which encom-
passes laws in violation of
numerous international pacts.
Among other abuses of
established legal procedures,
denial of the right of habeas cor-
pus or the recourse to appeal is
institutionalized, and the govern-
ment, after consultation with the
ministers, is given the authority
to imprison for ten days any in-
dividuals suspected of subvert-
ing the public peace.
The mission also investigated
assassinations, disappearances,
imprisonments and attacks, con-
centrating particularly on peas-
ant communities and Indian set-
tlements under military jurisdic-
tion. Specifically, with regard to
peasants, it was determined that
in 1973 peasants who belonged
to the Regional Council of the
Cauca Area (CRIC) were
assassinated. Their deaths were
denounced, “but the govern-
ment has not yet taken any
measures for the protection of
the peasants’ lives.”
Finally, Amnesty International
recommends that the govern-
ment institute effective
measures to protect refugees, to
allow freedom of expression, and
to guarantee the political rights
of professionals; it also recom-
mends the review of the Con-
stitutional Reform of 1979 and
the new Penal Code.
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Amnesty’s Findings
Amnesty’s report states that the visit to Colombia, “took place in the midst of a national
debate centered on the subject
of human rights. During that
debate, the government and the
civilian and military authorities
denied the existence of political
prisoners as well as any viola-
tions of human rights, alleging
that the denunciations of torture
were the result of a plan con-
ceived by subversive agents in-
tent on discrediting the govern-
ment. .. . Nevertheless, the in-
vestigation undertaken. by the
mission clearly’ demonstrated
that imprisonment on the
grounds of political belief does
exist in Colombia, that it is not
limited to the violent opposition
and that many individuals have
been arrested solely for the non-
violent exercise of their human
rights. In many instances, these
arrests have been accompanied
by torture.” In a press release
issued on April 12, A.I. confirmed
that, “The mission was able to
identify 33 centers where torture
has been reported, ranging from
psychological torture to
beatings, burnings and drugs
and electric shocks.”
The recommendations of
Amnesty International to the Col-
ombian government encompass,
for the most part, the demands
made by most of the groups af-
fected by the human rights situa-
42
tion in Colombia. To begin with,
the international organization
recommended lifting the state of
siege since, “most of the human
rights violations such as in-
discriminate and massive
political arrests, prolonged im-
prisonment without trial, torture,
summary trials of civilians by
military courts, and political
assassinations have been aided,
directly or indirectly, to a large
extent, by the prolonged state of
siege in force almost uninter-
ruptedly since 9 November
1949.”
Adding Fuel to the Fire
The plebiscite-like nature of
the visit conferred an enormous
weight to these recommenda-
tions. The 44-page report, fur-
thermore, was made public at a
specifically critical moment. The
takeover of the Dominican
Republic Embassy by the M-19
had already drawn world atten-
tion to violations of human rights
in Colombia. Considering the
worldwide publicity the Iranian
situation had received, the taking
of 15 ambassadors as hostages
in a single operation could hardly
have gone unnoticed. The day
after the takeover the
newspapers printed articles
reporting the existence of
political prisoners in Colombia;
according to the guerrillas, they
numbered more than 300.
Notwithstanding the press
reports, President Turbay and his
ministers chose to ignore the
demands for the prisoners’
release, instead issuing
statements portraying them as
common criminals.
Journalists who travelled to
Colombia to cover the incident
were afforded the opportunity to
observe Colombian democracy in
action. The March legislative elec-
tions, which took place while the
Embassy was still being held,
registered a record voters’ absten-
tion of 73%.
This lack of popular support,
demonstrated the already
generalized skepticism towards
the government, much of which
stemmed from the visible corrup-
tion rampant among bureaucrats
for whom the state budget is
viewed as nothing more than the
spoils of war.
The poor turnout at the polls
gave rise to the hope of finding
the government less intransigent
about negotiating a solution to
the hostage situation. But the ex-
pected reprisal of the military,
particularly against the Left,
forced most of the opposition
sectors to be cautious in their ac-
tions. At the same time, the ma-
jority of the traditional parties
which control the state ap-
paratus lined up behind the no-
negotiations stance assumed by
the President and his ministers.
So did the U.S. government.
It was against this tableau that
the Amnesty International report
was made public. Yet even
though the report appears to
have undermined what little
credibility the government still
holds, Turbay remains extremely
cynical in his denial of the ac-
cusations. He even had the
temerity to call on the OAS
Human Rights Commission to
prove that Amnesty’s report was
false.
The outcome of the negotia-
tions following the takeover of the
Dominican Embassy has been de-
fined by the Colombian govern-
ment as a victory. Very few of the
M-19 demands were accepted.
MaylJune 1980
The ransom money given to the
guerrillas was obtained from a
private source who negotiated in-
dividually on behalf of some of the
hostages. Originally the M-19
demanded $50 million; the amount
obtained was only $2.5 million. The
political prisoners were not freed
and none of the documents and
manifestos of the M19 were
published in the major news-
papers of the world as requested
by the guerrillas. The President,
the armed forces and the official
press stressed the fact that in the
negotiations the Constitution had
not been violated and that Colom-
bian democracy had survived the
crisis.
The M-19 also claimed victory.
According to them one of their
main goals was to denounce the
existence of political prisoners in
Colombia. Definitively, the take-
over of the Embassy, one month
before the report of Amnesty Inter-
national was published, turned the
attention of the world to the bat-
tered condition of human rights in
Colombia.
But the state of siege continues.
The internal security statutes are
still applied against civilians in
hastily organized military courts.
And torture as a weapon against
“subversion” thrives in military
garrisons.
The government has chosen to
fight the evidence with a campaign
of silence and denials.
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