PBI-Colombia accompanies Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation at ceremony returning body of Silvio Tulio Romo to his family
On May 17, PBI-Colombia posted: “After 32 years of #enforceddisappearance, we accompany @nydia_erika [the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation] in Villavicencio in the handover of victim Silvio Tulio Romo to his family.”
In 2018, Verdad Abierta reported:
“Carmen Mora, since she was a child, learned to defend herself. She left home at the age of eight due to abuse.
In her adolescence, during a party, she met Silvio Tulio Romo, a tractor driver, with whom she moved in after a few years: four children are the fruits of their love. “We were happy, he was a very good husband and father”, writes Carmen in her memory notebook.
They settled for a few years in Aguas Claras, Meta. She remembers the moments of happiness they lived as a family during some holidays.
Silvio lived in several places before arriving in Bogotá, where his tragedy began. On November 5, 1991, while he was spending time with some friends near the 20 de Julio neighborhood, Silvio was taken against his will by armed men identified as members of the B2 Group (Military Intelligence Unit), who said they would take him to the police inspectorate. Carmen went to look for him, but never found him.
After several months, a publication in Vea magazine was the impetus for Carmen to continue her search.In the cover photo she thought she recognized her husband, lying in the middle of several lifeless bodies. The news was related to a massacre that occurred in Bojacá, Cundinamarca, the same day Silvio disappeared.
She immediately traveled more than five hours to that municipality. Arriving at the cemetery, a woman who was also searching for a relative warned her that they should leave as soon as possible because she was being persecuted. Carmen was filled with fear and left in the first car she found. Despite having been intimidated, the intrigue forced Carmen to return eight months later.
“I went to the police inspection, there they had photos of all the bodies, I recognized Silvio. They sold me the photos where he appeared. They had been buried in a common grave since according to the gravedigger nobody had come to claim them and they were declared NN. To dig them up I would have to pay three million pesos,” she recalls.
Carmen searched by her own means for the coroner’s certificate, without success. She was given a death certificate of Silvio, without full recognition, DNA tests or exhumation. She took a long time to file the complaint, since she said she had no knowledge of what to do: she did not know what a Prosecutor’s Office was. An official during his statement changed his version, did not involve the B2, and blamed the guerrillas for the facts. She has never felt supported by the State during this search. “The State has not even given us the exhumation, even though we know that he is buried there, thanks to the great search that I did,” she laments.
She dreams of achieving the exhumation and confirming that he is her husband. To look her children in the eyes and be able to tell them, here is their father.”
PBI-Colombia has accompanied the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation since 2007 (occasionally) and 2016 (in full).
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