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After about a month of initiating the anti-government protests in Colombia, the Attorney General’s Office delivered its report on missing persons on May 24. The judicial body reported that it found 290 who had been reported as missing in the framework of the demonstrations and that the search is still active for another 129 citizens. Meanwhile, the Government asked the IACHR to wait for the local authorities to investigate before it initiates an investigation into alleged human rights violations in the country.
At least 190 people remain unaccounted for after having attended the anti-government protests that Colombia has been going through for almost a month. The country’s Attorney General’s Office released this figure on Monday, May 24, while ensuring that 290 people initially reported as missing had already been found.
#ATTENTION | Inter-institutional action of the Attorney General’s Office and the @DefensoryCol allowed to locate 290 people who had been reported as not located during the days of protest. The Urgent Search Mechanism is still active in 129 cases. pic.twitter.com/aI5k51a7Gf
– Colombia Prosecutor’s Office (@FiscaliaCol) May 24, 2021
So far, the figures on missing persons had been released by NGOs and the Ombudsman’s Office, which had indicated more than 500 missing persons. On May 8, the Search Unit for Disappeared Persons in the country, together with 26 other human rights defenders, notified the Ombudsman and the Attorney General’s Office that 471 people have disappeared during the protests.
In addition, the Prosecutor’s Office reported that in the days since the protests began, on April 28, they have received reports of 43 deaths, a figure that coincides with that of the local NGO Temblores. However, the accusing body specified that, of the total, only 17 deaths “have a direct link” with the mobilizations. Human rights groups have denounced excessive use of force, while the Colombian government rejects these accusations.
We have received credible reports of 61 deaths that have occurred in Colombia since the protests began.
So far, we have confirmed that 24 of these deaths (22 protesters or passersby and two police officers) are related to the demonstrations.
– José Miguel Vivanco (@JMVivancoHRW) May 24, 2021
Human Rights Watch said for its part that it has received “credible complaints about 61 deaths that have occurred in Colombia since the protests began” and that so far it has confirmed 24.
The United States and the UN ask the Colombian Government to locate the disappeared
The Office in Colombia of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Search Unit for Missing Persons (UBPD) asked the Colombian State on Monday to initiate the “expedited search and location” of the persons reported as missing during the protests.
“It is also important that the search and location be expeditiously, without delay and without delay, of the persons whose disappearance is alleged, as a way to prevent the possible consummation of disappearances,” both organizations said in a joint statement.
The United States government also made that appeal separately. “We encourage the authorities to continue their work to locate the missing persons as soon as possible,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at a news conference.
The official added that her country “welcomes” the investigations that the Administration of President Iván Duque has opened into some cases of violence and the deployment of some 35 teams throughout the national territory to find the disappeared. The groups are made up of a prosecutor, investigators, police, and regional defenders.
Colombia puts the IACHR on hold
Meanwhile, and after the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) requested authorization on May 14 for a commission to enter the country in order to assess the human rights situation, the Colombian Vice President, Marta Lucía Ramírez, replied that Wait until the investigation by local control bodies is completed before authorizing the requested inspection.
“We have told Secretary Almagro that we consider all visits welcome, but at this moment, we think that we have to wait until the control bodies themselves finish doing their homework, investigating each of the cases,” Ramírez declared.
The vice president said that she does not rule out “hopefully organizing in the course of the next few weeks” any of the requested visits.
The temporary refusal to receive the IACHR has rejected harsh criticism against the Duque government. This is the first time that something like this has happened in the country and the opposition and civil organizations denounce that it is an attempt to silence the human rights violations that take place during the demonstrations.
Previously, Duque had harshly criticized the decisions of Venezuela or Nicaragua not to receive IACHR investigators.
The Senate debates a motion of censure against the Minister of Defense
Defense Minister Diego Molano attended the Congress on Monday where the opposition promoted a motion of no confidence. Exiting the attempt to remove him from office is a complex maneuver in the face of the possible lack of political support for an official who has only been in office for four months.
Opposition politicians in the Upper House point to him as responsible for the “war treatment that (has) been given to social mobilization” within the framework of the national strike.
#Colombia During the debate on the motion of censure against the Minister of Defense, some of the victims who have denounced abuses by the public forces in the demonstrations spoke https://t.co/DKoA1gNyb6
– Vanguard (@vanguardiacom) May 24, 2021
During the debate, the senator from the left and one of the biggest opponents of the Duque government, Iván Cepeda, said that
part of the documentary material that supports the debate contains
462 videos, images and audios that come from people who were in 35 cities of the country at the time in which the possible cases of police abuse.
Likewise, the departure of Molano is one of the requests of the National Unemployment Committee, a key group in the call for protests and strikes that are maintained throughout the country.
Civil organizations inside and outside of Colombia have denounced alleged human rights violations, especially related to police abuses.
The Colombian government rejects the allegations. However, on May 11, he announced the initiation of 65 disciplinary actions, including 8 for homicide, against police officers.
For this Tuesday, May 25, Molano must appear before the House of Representatives also to give answers on this matter.
With EFE and local media
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#Colombia #Prosecutors #Office #reports #missing #month #protests
source https://pledgetimes.com/colombia-prosecutors-office-reports-129-missing-after-a-month-of-protests/
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