Álvaro Gómez Hurtado case: analysis of the Farc confession – Investigation – Justice

Less than a month after the 25th anniversary of the crime of Álvaro Gómez Hurtado, and without indications about his participation in the assassination throughout the investigations, former FARC commanders made public their intention to contribute truth and acknowledge their responsibility in six homicides, including that of the conservative politician.

They did so through a letter that generated surprise and political and judicial uproar, since it is one of the crimes that marked the history of the country, whose research in more than two decades has more questions than answers and whose victim was one of the most respected politicians of the time.

(Also read: Farc recognizes responsibility in the homicide of Álvaro Gómez Hurtado)

Gómez Hurtado had already been a presidential candidate and his name again sounded for the Presidency, he was a councilor, a representative to the House and a senator. He had been one of the leaders of the National Constituent Assembly, which generated a milestone in national democracy, the son of former President Laureano Gómez and who from the pages of the newspaper El Siglo wrote columns and editorials about the social changes that the country required.

He was assassinated on November 2, 1995, when he was leaving the Sergio Arboleda University, where he had just taught a class on Colombian Culture. The crime took place amid the national uncertainty generated by the violent pressure of the drug cartels and the legitimacy crisis of the government of then President Ernesto Samper due to the entry of illegal money into his presidential campaign.

(It may interest you: Six drug lords cited to testify for the Gómez Hurtado case).

This Saturday, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) announced that through a letter representatives of the former FARC secretariat offered to “provide the truth, clarify the events that occurred and assume responsibility early” in the homicides of Gómez Hurtado, of General (r) Fernando Landazábal, the peace activist Jesús Antonio Bejarano, the representative to the Chamber Pablo Emilio Guarín and the former guerrillas José Fedor Rey and Hernando Pizarro León-Gómez.

After noon this Saturday and when the issue had already generated agitation in broad sectors, the Farc party issued a statement in which it expanded its decision to assume responsibility for the assassination: “We acknowledge the family of Gómez Hurtado, the country and the world that we are responsible for this fact ”. They add that responsibility will not be attributed “to those who no longer accompany us today” and that they will tell “the truth, without intermediaries and without interpretations that obey agendas other than those of full truth.”

(Also: The history of the murders that the Farc is recognizing).

And they affirmed that before the JEP and the Truth Commission they will say why they considered Gómez “a military objective and a class enemy who represented those who had declared war on the nascent Farc-Ep and why we decided to silence this fact all these years. We recognize that it was a mistake to have assassinated a politician of the stature of Álvaro Gómez. We have read his biographies and today we know that his contribution to the peace of the country would have been fundamental. But the war clouds the vision of the future and only allows us to see reality in black and white to divide it into friends and enemies ”.

Finally, the communication states: “Today we know that our adversaries in war can be our allies in peace. For this reason, with humility and a deep sense of responsibility with future generations, we apologize to the family, friends, partners and the entire country for having taken a man like Álvaro Gómez Hurtado from democracy and peace in the country ”.

The confession leaves several questions about if the ex-combatants have a way to prove their responsibility in the facts and why it took so long in mentioning his connection with an event of such national significance.

Although they indicate that they will tell the truth in transitional justice, spokespersons for the Attorney General’s Office indicated that they will continue to investigate the crime that was declared by the accusing body against humanity and that they will continue with the summons of witnesses and accused. In fact, the Prosecutor’s Office, to clarify the crime, which was one of the tasks that President Iván Duque set to the prosecutor Francisco Barbosa, summoned politicians and former drug deputies, but no one from the FARC.

In the latest decision, the accusing body quotes former senator Piedad Córdoba, former mayor Luis Eduardo Garzón, and drug traffickers Miguel and Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela; Fernando Henao Montoya, former member of the Norte del Valle cartel; Guillermo Pallomari, former accountant of the Cali cartel; the extradited Samuel Santander Lopesierra, ‘the Marlboro man’, and the former Víctor Patiño Fómeque.

The case raises a future collision of competences that the Constitutional Court would resolve.

The letter from the Farc is known in the midst of the contradictory versions of the police and former senator Piedad Córdoba, who has indicated that it will tell who killed Gómez Hurtado, about an incident in which the car of his bodyguards was shot, and after a strong statement from the family of the conservative politician, who considers that the hypothesis of the former senator, now ratified by the FARC, is “old and absurd, which does not have the slightest evidence base.”

(We recommend: Gómez Hurtado’s family does not believe in recognition of the Farc).

The process hypotheses

Mauricio Gómez, son of the immolated leader, pointed out in an article published in this newspaper that the thesis is very serious and would lead to “free their true intellectual authors from responsibility and punishment ”.

The version of the Farc was viewed with distrust by some sectors who recalled that in April 1985 the General Staff of the Farc invited Gómez Hurtado to sit down with them to talk about peace.

“We believe that at this time in Colombia, whoever manages to reach the opinion of millions of people with clear and precise statements about the peace process and peace itself will be the next president of the republic. Say when you are coming, we are waiting for you at Casa Verde ”, the letter read.

(More news on the topic: ‘Infamous hypothesis’: Álvaro Gómez’s son on the declaration of Piedad Córdoba).

The lawyer Enrique Gómez Martínez, nephew of the victim and lawyer for the family in the criminal process, pointed out that the JEP is lending itself to try to remove the jurisdiction of the investigation from the Prosecutor’s Office “to, in a third-rate process, convict that some The false death of the Farc was the one who was involved in this, and to prevent the investigation against (Ernesto) Samper and (Horacio) Serpa from advancing. We had warned it ”. And added that “There are already 322 testimonial and documentary evidence that confirm the occurrence of a State crime.”

And it is that throughout the years the hypotheses have pointed to different sectors, less the Farc, from an illegal group in Sincelejo (Sucre), through a plan of criminals from the north of Valle del Cauca, by accusations to members of the Army and former President Ernesto Samper and members of his government.

This Saturday, Samper and former Minister Horacio Serpa, who have been identified by the victim’s family, issued a statement declaring that they were requested by the announcement of the ex-combatants. “Although we understand and support that this recognition is made within the framework of transitional justice, as a contribution to the truth, we hope to know the details of the manner, time and place, which the JEP will surely investigate to make a definitive pronouncement on them” .

After the crime, the existence of a group of soldiers who would be related to him was mentioned, and the Office of the Attorney General managed to file charges against five uniformed men who were related to alleged paramilitaries from Sucre. Even, an investigation was ordered to the Marine Intelligence Battalion Number 2 of Corozal (Sucre).

Then the thesis of the participation of men from the 20th Brigade of the army and a supposed retaliation because Gómez Hurtado would not have lent himself to support an attempted coup against President Samper. The former president had hypothesized that the crime had been perpetrated by people who wanted to hasten his fall from power.

In the investigations, mentions have also appeared of the retired general Rito Alejo del Río and his alliances with the former head of the Auc Carlos Castaño. And then the involvement of the Norte del Valle del Cauca cartel, which was perpetrated to do politicians a favor and sabotage the figure of extradition to the United States. Through the process, the former Hernando Gómez, alias Rasguño, has already been heard.

For the crime Héctor Paúl Flórez is sentenced to 40 years in prison, accused of shooting Gómez Hurtado and about whom the FARC will have to refer.

Confession with evidence

The Farc’s confession is at this moment in the Truth and Responsibility Acknowledgment Room. Analysts noted that The six magistrates will have to define in principle if a new macro case is opened or if these facts conform to any of the existing ones.

Later, the experts indicated, and given the importance of the facts, a verification of what was narrated by the ex-combatants with the reports presented to the JEP will have to be made. “There must be a minimum of verification, examination of what has been said and verification of what has been stated “, said an analyst consulted.

They warned that, in any case, if it is found that the truth is not being told, an incident of non-compliance could be opened, thereby risking losing the benefits of the peace agreement.

Other Justice notes that may interest you

-The debt of the State with the regulation of public protest

-Abecé of the controversy of the two ‘eternal’ magistrates of the Judiciary

-Why is the return of civilian traffic officers not convincing?

LEAVING BUITRAGO MEDINA
Justice Editor
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