San José (EFE).- The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (CourtHR) condemned the State of Colombia on Monday for the “extermination plan” of the leftist Patriotic Union (UP) party implemented through violations of the human rights of some 6,000 members and militants for more than two decades from the mid-1980s.
“The Court was able to verify that the systematic violence against the members and militants of the Patriotic Union, which lasted for more than two decades and extended to almost the entire Colombian territory, manifested itself through acts of a different nature such as disappearances forced, massacres, extrajudicial executions and murders, threats, attacks, various acts of stigmatization, improper prosecutions, torture, forced displacement, among others,” the court indicated.
According to the ruling, the acts committed by the State “constituted part of a systematic extermination plan against the Patriotic Union political party, its members and militants, which had the participation of state agents, and with the tolerance and acquiescence of the authorities.” , constituting a crime against humanity.
Impacted by the conflict in Colombia
The UP was established as a political organization on May 28, 1985 as a result of a peace process between the National Secretariat of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian Government, detailed the Inter-American Court.
“As a consequence of his rapid rise in national politics and, especially, in some regions with a traditional guerrilla presence, an alliance arose between paramilitary groups, with sectors of traditional politics, the public force and business groups, to counteract the rise in the political arena of the UP”, indicates the sentence. EFE
The Inter-American Court, based in Costa Rica, notified the parties of the sentence on Monday and indicated that it positively valued a partial acknowledgment of responsibility made by the State, as a tool for the development of the process, to the validity of the principles that inspire the Convention and the satisfaction of the reparation needs of the victims.
