“Thousands of Colombians like Juan David were executed by Uribe order,” says parents

Almost two decades have passed, but the pain of the execution of son Juan David, alongside his wife, Gloria Jimenez, bailless, remains there, shut up. But now, even greater than the weight of the hurt, a spirit of solidarity has emerged that unites and mobilizes fathers and mothers for truth and justice, as this Saturday (15), at the House of Memory Museum, in Medelin, in the painting of the mural “ We all know who gave the order. ”

A few hours after brushes and rods exclaimed in multiple colors “Las Cuchas Tenian Razón” (mothers were right), in a mobilization similar to that of the Argentines of May Square, subjects dressed in black covered the message, seen as an affront to the former president Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010), representative of US state terrorism policy against our countries and peoples. Uribe is one of the most angry opponents of the peace process defended by President Gustavo Petro.

In the case of the “city of eternal spring”, more than a huge concentration of rubble in Commune 13 (favela), the Tip It was transformed into a gigantic open -air cemetery. Common pits for extrajudicial executions, for the anonymous deposit of bodies such as young people such as Juan David and Gloria.

“After so much struggle and looking for, we were able to prove that my boy was missing on January 26, 2006, and on the 28th his body appeared wiped out of bullets, as a subversive, as a guerrilla of the National Liberation Army (ELN),” he reported The mother, Maria Olga Villa.

“They took him here from Medelin with the lie that he would work on a rural property, but it was actually another ‘false positive’ of the national army,” added his father, Luis Fernando Castro. Taking advantage of the vulnerability situation of informal workers, the army’s execution networks made the hiring from a public telephone and then taken on buses to be slaughtered two days later.

“State crimes gained strength and multiplied in the two Uribe governments”

“This ‘false positives’ is an euphemism, a lie, are murders, state crimes, which have gained strength and multiplied in the two governments of Uribe, under the logic that the war is being won with liters of blood from the opponent.” , explained Ecuadorian teacher and historian Renán Vega. To sell the idea that the enemy was being defeated, the writer reported, “many Colombians were disguised as guerrillas, including people with mental illness and physical disabilities, to be massacred.” “The figure is inaccurate, the special jurisdiction for peace speaks in 6,500 dead, but reality can reach 15 thousand. The murders were widespread to say that the Colombian state was winning the war against the guerrilla movement, ”he said.

Luis Fernando Castro assures that his family is one of the so many unjust, unintended civilians who have become a “positive” in the army’s commemorative figures, under the incentive of the United States. “We have concrete evidence that Juan David and his wife were false positive because members of the army itself told me the names of the military who participated in the alleged ‘confrontation’. I have their name. And this same battalion handed me my son’s body, ”he said.

“I repeat again: Juan David went to work on the 26th and on the 28th appeared dead as guerrilla. I myself asked the military myself when I received the body, which had passed. How long have you been in the guerrilla? Two days, to be slaughtered both together? They were massacred, ”protested his father.

In the evaluation of Luis, the action of Cuchas It is covered with meaning, unifying different organizations against the horror that occurred, “in a confrontation that Mr. Uribe participated giving the order.” “It was publicly identified as the person responsible, he is recorded, he stated, ‘I gave the order!’” He stressed.

“Colombian media seeks to cover up the truth”

“In support of this death,” the father denounced, “Colombian media acted in the defense of Uribe, with total negationism, never giving room for the victims to be heard, preventing any dialogue. Unfortunately, they are paid, private means, standing by politicians who do not seek the truth, but cover up what happened, ”said Luis.

In contrast to the smoke curtain, the father values ​​the support obtained from Argentina, “where we approved a petition against Mr. Uribe, and we would need other South American countries such as Brazil, Ecuador and Peru, where these human rights hitters also occurred, They joined a block in this struggle, as victims of state terrorism. ”

Asked about the next steps of the cuchas, Maria Olga Villa is incisive: “Our interest is to make visible and reiterate that this is not a lie, that the negationism with which institutionality intends to revitimize is unacceptable. Because it is true, these facts passed, occurred. ”

The mother says that three years have passed until she was reported to have been an extrajudicial execution, and “only from there began our struggle for truth and justice, to hit many doors at the institutional level.” “Fortunately, there were those who supported me when they arrived in the legal sphere, because thank God not all are corrupt. One prosecutor opened his office, even helped me not only giving guidance, but even guaranteeing transportation, and then I started to participate with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who contributed to lawyers, advisors and psychologists, who were supporting us, even May all about Juan David’s death finally come to light, ”he said.

Maria Olga said she killed the charade of what happened when she gather information and check numbers and dates. “I started looking for newspapers from the date the young people disappeared and then I realized, everything was clear. On January 28 there had been an alleged confrontation in the São Pedro community, which no one had heard, with ELN subversives. They were two dead, two anonymous. It has passed five years since its execution, I believe it was 2011, when I found out how they killed them: if it passed guerrillas, ”he ordered.

“Initially I thought it was alone, but I found out that we were many, and a familiarity conform to it, we started to support and comfort each other. There is a mother who gets sick every January, the month when her daughter disappeared, but does not forget the tragedy she lives, because she has to pay the gas canister, who has other children and grandchildren, and we fight and give ourselves support, ”said Maria Olga Villa.

“I claim respect to the name of my son and to recognize me as a victim”

“My son was murdered and this is a struggle to demand dignity. To claim respect for your name and to recognize me as a victim to assume what they did. They had no right to do this, neither with them nor with us. My collective is called ‘Weaving Memories’ and we all walk together knowing that ours is gone, but there are others. In my family we have four more children and there are also grandchildren who ask: grandmother, what is the reason for this fight? And we move on with the expectation that our rights will be fulfilled, with the conviction that, with pressure, justice is slow but does not fail, ”he insisted.

Captivating, the mother looks at me with serenity and commitment to the past, the present and the future of Colombia, our America and the humanity. Young people wear t -shirts in solidarity with Palestine, condemn Zionism and genocide in Gaza, talk about integration, democratization of communication and peace. Beside us the plaque in honor of the victims of forced disappearance ends the dialogue with reflection: “They are the silence of time because no one saw them, I keep them waiting, while in silence and time impunity hides.”

Reporting of the Communicasul Collaborative Communication Agency with the support of the Journal Hora do Povo, Southern Global Dialogues, Baron of Itararé, Red, Citizenship Mail and Councilman Gilmar Lima Martins (Alegre-RS)