Taking of the Palace of Justice: 35 years later justice continues

A November 6, 198535 years ago, there was one of the nights that would be marked in the history of Colombia as one of the darkest and most painful: the taking of the Palace of Justice, what left 98 people killed Y 11 missing.

The operation performed by the M-19 He sought to bring the government to justice for having breached the ceasefire with the guerrilla organizations. However, over the course of the following 27 hours the country witnessed one of the darkest episodes, which the International Criminal Court considered a massacre.

Twenty-eight guerrillas from the Command Ivan Marino Ospina, under the command of Andrés Almarales and Luis Otero, they carried out the operation “Antonio Nariño for the rights of man”.

It should be remembered that at that time, the M-19 had surprised with blows of media impact, such as the seizure of the Embassy of the Dominican Republic, the theft of Bolívar’s sword and the arms of the North Canton, and in fact had given a warning of what was going to happen.

The October 23 that year, the day of the attack on the Army commander, General Rafael Samudio Molina, the M-19 sent cassettes to the media in which it announced “An action that would terrify and surprise the world.”

The plan, which according to intelligence investigations, had been planned by Alvaro Fayad, consisted of three phases: logistical preparation, seizure of the building and hostages and the last, a revolutionary trial of President Belisario Betancur and three of his main ministers.

That same day, the Directorate of Criminal Investigation and INTERPOL (SIJÍN), found in a raid on a house in the south of Bogotá – 8-42 of Calle 6ª Sur – the details of the shooting, including photos, maps, plans and documents that confirmed the intention of the illegal group.

During the operation, the M-19 entered the facilities of the building located in the Bolivar Square in Bogotá, from the basement, and detained several people who at that time were inside the place.

While this was happening, the Police and the Army began to locate in the nearby buildings, and hours later, they tried to enter the place, causing the start of the confrontations that lasted until night, and that caused a fire.

Keep reading:Prosecutor who took the case of the Palace of Justice denounces pressure by a former president

Although the information was denied, it was said that the incident was caused by the illegal group in order to burn the files of “The Extraditables”.

At the end of the morning, some of the detainees were rescued and taken to military installations, such as the Casa del Florero, where the Army operations center was organized, and to the military hospital.

On the morning of November 7, almost 24 hours later, the explosions continued inside the Palace and it is said that, by that time, there were already fatalities.

According to testimonies recorded by journalists, no corpse had been shot by guerrilla rifles and justice has verified that several people who still remain missing today, left the building alive.

In 2014, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights condemned the State for these disappearances, ordering him to carry out all the investigations to establish the truth of the facts, convict those responsible and determine the whereabouts of the victims.

So far, authorities have managed to locate six of the eleven missing persons in fact.

On the one hand, in October 2015, the bodies of Lucy Amparo Oviedo Bonilla Y Cristina del Pilar Guarín Cortés, who worked in the cafeteria, and Luz Maria Portela, a visitor to the Palace. The remains were found in other people’s graves.

Also, in 2017 they found the remains of Hector Jaime Beltrán, who was also an employee of the Palace cafeteria, in a tomb that had the name of another person, in Barranquilla.

Months later, the body of Bernanrdo Beltran Hernandez, likewise, building employee.

The last body to be identified was that of Gloria Anzola from Lanao, on September 17, 2019. His remains were found in the grave of Assistant Magistrate María Jeaneth Rozo.

At the end of November 7, the military managed to regain control of the Palace with dozens of deaths, including eleven court magistrates, 35 guerrillas and numerous civilians. In total they were 98 the fatalities, in addition to the missing persons mentioned above.

After 35 years, the families of the victims are still demanding justice for what happened.

More than three decades later, the investigation continues to find out the truth about what really happened that day. Angela María Buitrago, former prosecutor in the Palace of Justice case, spoke about the cases of people who were seen leaving the compound, but were later found dead.

“There is no doubt, both those of the M-19 and those who acted afterwards are responsible, but the disappearance was at the hands of the State”, added the former prosecutor.

Jorge Aníbal Gómez, former magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice, who was part of the Truth Commission, emphasized the importance of the testimonies of those who witnessed the taking.

“We developed the work for five years, interviewing both ex-guerrillas, some who participated in the preparation of that shot and learned about the facts, we also interviewed members of the armed forces, the work of that commission is presented in a final report that we performed 10 years ago “, said the former magistrate.

This work reached several conclusions about the responsibility of the M-19 and of the armed forces.

The case has not advanced for more than a year in the courts, so the victims demand the truth from the defendants.

“We need a truth now, whatever the perpetrators have to tell, but now; 35 years have passed and there has been no truth or any recognition from them “, Pilar Navarrete, widow of Héctor Jaime Beltrán Fuentes and member of the National Movement of Victims of State Crimes, in an interview with Sputnik.

For his part, Yesid Reyes, former Minister of State and son of the magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice, Alfonso Reyes Echandía, said that he was able to recover his father’s body, but not all have had the same fortune.

“There are other people who died, but whose bodies could not be correctly identified. We are still 35 years later waiting“He said in an interview for W Radio.

Another of the victims is Gabriel Andrade, son of the auxiliary magistrate, Julio César Andrade, whose remains did not correspond to those found and today, after 35 years, they seek to know what happened, because a video was recently known where the magistrate appears alive of the enclosure.

“We know the truth about who they were and what they did, we all know it.Gabriel added.

This Friday, November 6, a virtual mass will be held at noon with which the Supreme Court of Justice will commemorate the victims of the taking.

This Friday it is defined whether former President Álvaro Uribe remains free

District warns that those who do not respond to the Sisbén survey will leave the database

Controversy over the election of Álvaro Hernán Prada as a new member of the Accusations Commission