memorandum of justification concerning human ... - Just the Facts

UNCLASSIFIED
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(11) Army Sergeant Edgar Garcia Estupiñan
(12) Army Sergeant Darío José Branco Agamez
D. On January 29, 2009, the Prosecutor General‘s Office indicted 10 members of the
Army‘s 33 rd Counterguerrilla Battalion assigned to the 17 th Brigade on charges of
homicide against protected person, barbaric acts, and aggravated criminal conspiracy
for their alleged role in the January 18, 1989, La Rochela massacre, in which12
investigators were killed in Simacota (Santander) where they were sent to investigate
the massacre of 19 merchants who had died in October 1987 at the hands of the ―Los
Masetos‖ paramilitary forces of Magdalena Medio. (Prosecutor General‘s Case
Number Unknown)
(13) Army Lieutenant Colonel Orlando Espinosa Beltrán
(14) Army Major José Fernando Castaño López
(15) Army Sub-lieutenant Edgar Garcia Estupiñan
(16) Army Second Sergeant Darío José Branco Agamez
(17) Army Lieutenant Alejandro Jaramillo Giraldo
(18) Army Second Sergeant Ángel María Padilla Petro
(19) Army Corporal Sabarain Cruz Reina
(20) Army Sub-lieutenant Jorge Humberto Milanez Vega
(21) Army Second Sergeant Henry Agudelo Cuasmayán Ortega
(22) Army Third Corporal Ricardo Bastidas Candia
E. On April 14, 2009, the Prosecutor General‘s Office indicted four members of the
Army‘s 2 nd Artillery ―La Popa‖ Battalion, including its commander Army Colonel
Hernán Mejía Gutiérrez, for colluding with paramilitaries and the homicide of 20
individuals in June and October 2002. Between January 2002 and December 2003,
Mejía Gutiérrez and Army Lieutenant Colonel Ruiz Mahecha met with heads of the
self-defense forces, including Rodrigo Tovar Pupo (alias ―Jorge 40‖) and David
Hernandez (alias ―Jorge 39‖). On June 22, 2002, Carlos Alberto Pumarejo Lopesiera
and Edwar Caceres Prado were killed and reported as combat deaths. Additionally, on
October 26, 2002, 18 supposed guerrillas, who were actually members of self-defense
forces, were killed in El Socorro in the municipality of Bosconia (César). The
paramilitary members were killed by their own men as part of an internal purge and
later called Colonel Mejía‘s battalion to collect the bodies and report them as combat
kills. (Prosecutor General‘s Office Case Number 3834)
(23) Army Colonel Hernán Mejía Gutiérrez (captured May 6, 2008)
(24) Army Lieutenant Colonel Jose Pastor Ruiz Mahecha (captured May 6, 2008)
(25) Army First Sergeant Aureliano Quejada Quejada (captured on May 8, 2008)
(26) Army First Sergeant Efrain Andrade Perea (captured on May 6, 2008)
UNCLASSIFIED