PBI-Colombia accompanies event opening Macro Case 08, an investigation into crimes committed by members of the Public Force

Twitter photo.

On September 9, PBI-Colombia tweeted:

“We accompany the event in #Barrancabermeja on the opening of a new macro case 008 of @JEP_Colombia in #Colombia , where the Middle Magdalena will be one of the 5 prioritized regions within the case.”

CREDHOS explains:

“The magistrate of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace [JEP], exposes the cases that have been presented at the national level, especially in the Magdalena Medio region. Considering case 08, which examines the members of the public force who have had links with groups outside the law and have been the main perpetrators of violence against groups, Magdalena Medio is one of the five most important territories to be analyzed by the JEP.”

Semana has also reported:

“The JEP announced on Tuesday [August 30] that it is formally opening macro case 08, which will investigate crimes committed by members of the public force. Likewise, acts committed by other State agents, in association with the paramilitaries, will be investigated.

In this case alone, more than 70,000 victimizing acts are concentrated, of which more than 15,000 are attributed to the Public Force, followed by another number of State agents. The total number of alleged perpetrators to be investigated, according to the president of the JEP, Eduardo Cifuentes, is more than 2,800 people.

According to the Information Analysis Group of the JEP, the main crimes attributed directly to the security forces were homicides with 8,345 cases; forced displacement, 2,904; threats 1,638; torture, 1,249 and forced disappearance, 1,136.

Between 2000 and 2009, 51% of the events took place.”

And El Espectador reports on the various crimes that will be investigated, including “crimes against trade unionists of multinationals.”

That article notes: “The reports received by the Knowledge Chamber of the JEP warn about the crimes suffered by trade unionists of multinational companies in areas of agro-industrial or mining-energy exploitation who, likewise, were indicated as collaborators or members of the guerrillas or for their work that claimed labor and social workers.”

Companies named include the Swiss transnational Nestlé, Cicolac (a subsidiary of Nestlé) and US-based Drummond, a coal mining and oil company.

We will continue to follow this investigation.