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In a quarter of a century of investigations, only until this Saturday did the hypothesis that the FARC were behind the assassination, on November 2, 1995, of the conservative political leader Álvaro Gómez Hurtado. The thesis, which comes from a letter sent by the FARC to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), and from a statement in which they say they will tell why it was a “military objective”, It does not stop surprising not only a wide sector of the country but also the prosecutors who have been in front of the case for these 25 years.
(Also read: The surprising twist that the Farc’s confession gives to the case of Álvaro Gómez).
For years the hypotheses have turned between a homicide of ex-drug traffickers, a murder committed by the military as retaliation because Gómez did not collaborate with an alleged coup against Ernesto Samper, and a State crime carried out by the Samper government – a version defended by the Gómez Hurtado family -.
“Since the investigation began, there was never a single version nor was a single hypothesis that pointed to the Farc investigated,” said Alfonso Valdivieso, the first attorney general (1994-1997) who had the case.
Alfonso Gómez Méndez, prosecutor between 1997 and 2001 spoke in the same sense. “I receive this with total confusion, at no time had even a slight indication of the Farc appeared,” he indicated. Although he added: “It could be true, but they must prove it. It is not enough to attribute the crime, they must give all the details and details; only then will it be known if it is a real confession ”.
(More on this topic: Gómez Hurtado’s family does not believe in recognition of the Farc).
It could turn out to be true, but they must prove it. It is not enough to attribute the crime, they must give all the details and details; only then will it be known if it is a real confession
Mario Iguarán, who between 2005 and 2009 was the attorney general, added that not even on the computers of former guerrilla commander Raúl Reyes, recovered after his death, “was there an element, evidence or information that indicated that it had been the Farc?“, He said.
However, he pointed out that, in principle, they should be believed because if their statements are false, they would be expelled from the JEP for committing, after the signing of the peace agreement, the crime of false accusation and if they leave that jurisdiction, for their crimes they are exposed to sentences of 40 years in prison in the ordinary justice; a risk they would hardly take, he explained.
For Eduardo Montealegre, prosecutor between 2012 and 2016, the claims of the now Farc political party must be seriously investigated. For him, the hypotheses that have been investigated all these years do not have solid evidence. “The Farc have no reason to lie. If they do, they lose all JEP benefits. There are more reasons to believe them than to distort their confession, “he said.
(You may be interested in: The history of the murders that the Farc is recognizing).
Finally, Néstor Humberto Martínez, who until May 2019 was attorney general, considered that the version “has no support in the judicial file.” In his period, everything pointed to the North Valley cartel, he explained. In fact, this is how it was declared, in 2017, of this as a crime against humanity linked to Gómez Hurtado’s positions against drug trafficking.
The truth is that in 25 years there has only been one sentence, that of Héctor Paúl Flórez, sentenced to 40 years for shooting against the political leader.
Faced with the FARC’s confession, President Iván Duque said this Saturday that he was generating doubts but that justice must determine its veracity. “That justice do what it has to do, that the special justice hear the testimonies it has to hear, but that the justice that has been carrying out the investigations does not stop doing them and that afterwards they compare what the circumstances really are like “, he pointed.
(In context: ‘To adjudicate those crimes does not stop generating doubts’: Duque).
Gómez Hurtado was assassinated by hit men when he was leaving the Sergio Arboleda University, in Bogotá, after giving a class.
What’s coming
The version of the Farc before the JEP does not mean that, immediately, that justice assumes the process or that it keeps the entire file. Transitional justice has jurisdiction only for cases that occurred during the conflict, but The Prosecutor’s Office can continue investigating the other hypotheses that have nothing to do with the guerrillas –In fact, spokespersons for the accusing body said that they will continue with their proceedings–, and in the event of an eventual clash of powers, the Constitutional Court will decide the matter.
Even if in the JEP the former heads of the Farc speak of people who are outside the jurisdiction of that transitional justice, copies can be certified for the Prosecutor’s Office or the corresponding authority to investigate them.
(We recommend: Six drug lords summoned to testify for the Gómez Hurtado case).
Valdivieso considered that The JEP should carry out a thorough investigation “because it is not just about accepting what the FARC say.” And Gómez Méndez explained that the Prosecutor’s Office must analyze whether there is support in that confession, and “if the crime is really related to the conflict, the JEP would have jurisdiction in that regard. But since there are several hypotheses that do not tie him to the conflict, the Prosecutor’s Office could keep that part, ”he said.
For Iguarán, the Prosecutor’s Office must continue with the impulse that it has given to the case, “without prejudice to the fact that if tomorrow the JEP verifies that it is true, the ordinary process is terminated.” Montealegre, for his part, considered that there is no discussion in which the case should go to the JEP, “By the Constitution, transitional justice has preferential power,” he explained.
It would be very delicate if, as the file says, there is no precedent that links this to the conflict, the jurisdiction of the Prosecutor’s Office is removed
But for the former prosecutor Martínez it would be a mistake to take the jurisdiction of the Attorney General. “It would be very delicate if, as the file says, there is no precedent that links this to the conflict, the jurisdiction is removed from the Prosecutor’s Office in this last phase. As long as it is not established that the murder was in the development of the armed conflict, the Prosecutor’s Office must continue to advance its investigations, “he concluded.
In any case, In transitional justice there is still a steep path for the FARC to be prosecuted for the assassination of the political leader, as well as for the other 5 homicides that the ex-guerrillas recognized.
First, because these crimes have no place in any of the macro-cases that the JEP has open up to now, so it will be necessary to analyze what the handling will be for them. And second, because, as the prosecutors said, between a confession and the judicial truth, that is, what is proven in a case, there is a long way.
Other Justice notes that may interest you:
– ‘Implementation of the agreement can help reduce violence in Colombia’: IACHR.
– In the midst of controversies, tokens are moved to the end of the Disciplinary Chamber.
– The Court did not make a decision on the Uribe case and left it for this Monday.
MARÍA ISABEL ORTIZ FONNEGRA
Justice Writer
On twitter: @MIOF_
[email protected]
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