Colombian State Admits Responsibility for Death of M-19 Leader
M19 leader Carlos Pizarro. X/ @suarezvacca
November 12, 2024 Hour: 9:46 am
A hitman shot former guerrilla Carlos Pizarro while he was traveling on a plane to Bogota in 1990.
On Monday, the Colombian State recognized for the first time its responsibility in the assassination of Carlos Pizarro, who was a presidential candidate for the political force created after the demobilization of the M-19 guerrilla movement, to which Colombia’s current president, Gustavo Petro, once belonged.
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“This is an important development for the country,” said Senator Maria Jose Pizarro, daughter of the M19 leader, who attended the hearing held at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Washington.
“It has been proven that both paramilitary groups and State agents were involved in the extrajudicial execution of Pizarro Leongómez; specifically, members of the now-defunct Administrative Department of Security, DAS, who, among other things, were responsible for his security,” said Cesar Palomino-Cortes, director of the National Legal Defense Agency of the State (ANDJE).
Pizarro died on April 26, 1990, in a hospital from gunshot wounds he received aboard a plane on which he was traveling from Bogotá to Barranquilla, fired by a hitman, Gerardo Gutierrez Uribe, alias “Jerry,” who was in turn killed by the bodyguards of the then-presidential candidate.
At the hearing, the Colombian State also acknowledged the lack of legal guarantees. The process to identify those responsible for the assassination suffered delays that impacted “the right to truth for Mr. Pizarro’s family members,” said Palomino-Cortes.
Colombia hopes that with this acknowledgment of responsibility, they can work with Pizarro’s daughters and other family members to find other paths for comprehensive reparation and the restoration of trust in the institutions. Maria Jose Pizarro expressed her satisfaction with this recognition by the Colombian State, which comes “after 34 years of struggle against impunity.”
“The State acknowledges its responsibility for the violations of human rights inflicted upon the daughters, son, and family members; our right to identity and protection in times of war, as well as the right to peace and democracy in Colombia. My father was not killed by war or his past; he was killed by the future and his decision to pursue a presidential candidacy after signing the peace agreement,” emphasized the senator of the Historic Pact, the coalition that currently governs Colombia with Gustavo Petro at the helm.
Laura Garcia, who was Carlos Pizarro’s partner, also spoke at the hearing, calling for “reparation in every sense” for the families of leftist figures extrajudicially killed in Colombia.
Rafael Barrios, of the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CAJAR), stressed that Pizarro’s last wish as a signatory to the agreement between the Government and the M-19 was to make peace a reality.
“Given the Colombian context, we ask the IACHR to consider in its decision the impact that Pizarro’s homicide had on a society that has been striving for decades to build trust in order to create a stable and lasting peace for present and future generations,” he stated.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE