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| Domingo the Avenger... |
 Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 10:03 pm |
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National Security Archive Update, October 8, 2009
State Department Cable says Colombian Army Responsible for Palace of
Justice Deaths, Disappearances
Document Introduced as Evidence in Trial of Col. Alfonso Plazas Vega
For more information contact:
Michael Evans - 202/994-7029
mevans at (no spam) gwu.edu
http://www.nsarchive.org
Washington, DC, October 8, 2009 - A declassified U.S. State Department
document filed in a Colombian court yesterday blames the Colombian
Army, and Col. Alfonso Plazas Vega in particular, for the deaths of
over 70 people during military operations to retake the Palace of
Justice building from insurgents who had seized the building in
November 1985. The document, a January 1999 cable from the U.S.
Embassy in Colombia, was obtained by the National Security Archive
under the Freedom of Information Act.
The cable states in paragraph four that Col. Plazas Vega (misspelled
as "Plazas Vargas") "commanded the November, 1985 Army raid on the
Supreme Court building" and that the operation "resulted in the deaths
of more than 70 people, including eleven Supreme Court justices." The
Embassy adds that soldiers under the command of Col. Plazas Vega
"killed a number of M-19 members and suspected collaborators hors de
combat, including the Palace's cafeteria staff."
Col. Plazas Vega is currently on trial for the disappearances of
eleven civilians during the course of the operation, several of whom
worked in the Palace cafeteria. The Palace of Justice tragedy began on
November 6, 1985, after insurgents from the M-19 guerrilla group
seized the building, taking a number of hostages. The building caught
fire and burned to the ground during Colombian military and police
force efforts to retake the Palace, killing most of the guerrillas and
hostages still inside.
"The information included in this brief description of Col. Plazas
Vega is the clearest, most concise statement we have seen in
declassified records about the Army's responsibility for the deaths
and disappearances in the Palace of Justice case," said Michael Evans,
director of the Archive's Colombia documentation project.
"The Palace of Justice tragedy is one of the most searing events in
Colombian history," Evans added, "and with both this case and the
Truth Commission on the Palace of Justice in progress, now is the time
for the U.S. government to come forward with all human rights related
information it has pertaining to the Palace of Justice tragedy."
Other documents published today provide new details on military
operations to retake the building and on Colombia's fruitless efforts
to find a diplomatic post for Col. Plazas Vega in the mid-1990s.
* In the midst of the crisis, the Embassy reported, "We understand
that orders are to use all necessary force to retake building."
Another cable reported that, "FonMin [Foreign Minister] said that
President, DefMin [Defense Minster], Chief of National Police, and he
are all together, completely in accord and do not intend to let this
matter drag out."
* A pair of contradictory Embassy cables: one reporting that
"surviving guerrillas have all been taken prisoner," followed by
another, two days later, reporting that "None of the guerrillas
survived."
* A February 1986 Embassy cable reporting that Colombian military
influence on society and politics, "no doubt exercised at times of
crisis such as the Palace of Justice takeover, is also sometimes
overdrawn."
* A highly-redacted U.S. Embassy document from 1996 regarding an
inquiry about "human rights and narcotics allegations" against Col.
Plazas Vega. Discussing his rejection as Colombian Consul to Hamburg
by the German government, the cable notes that "[the State] Department
concurred that the [Colombian government] be informally asked to
withdraw Plazas' nomination…" The Embassy adds that, "None of the
above allegations [against Plazas] were ever investigated by the
authorities -- a common problem during the 1980's in Colombia."
Visit the National Security Archive Web site for more information:
http://www.nsarchive.org |
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