Colombian state to apologize for senator's assassination

[gbscar]

Colombian state to apologize for senator's assassination
Monday, 08 August 2011 09:41 Natalie Dalton

The Colombian government will publicly acknowledge Tuesday their responsibility for the 1994 assassination of communist Senator Manuel Cepeda, announced his son, Representative Ivan Cepeda

Cepeda was a Union Patriotica congressman who was shot to death August 9, 1994 in southeast Bogota. Seventeen years after the crime, the Colombian government will acknowledge their responsibility for the assassination of the politician, and ask for a pardon for the murder before Cepeda's family, said his son on his weblog.

The Inter-American Commission of Human Rights found the Colombian State responsible for both the action and ommission of the crime on behalf of their employees involved and ordered the government to publicly apologize. The assassination of Cepeda occured in the context of politically generated violence against members of the Union Patriotica Party (UP), said the IACHR.

The Union Patriotica was formed by the FARC and the Colombian Communist Party as a diplomatic arm of their movement in 1985. By the late 1990s, the UP was obsolete with an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 of its members murdered. Most of these murders were never prosecuted.

<...>

http://www.colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/18164-colombian-state-to-beg-pardon-for-senator-vargas-assassination.html

[gbscar]

1. Congressman Cepeda accepts govt apology for father's murder

Congressman Cepeda accepts govt apology for father's murder
Wednesday, 10 August 2011 06:07 Travis Mannon

<...>

Several media reported that the Colombian State, represented by Interior Minister German Vargas Lleras, apologized to the family members of the murdered senator and asked for a pardon. Lleras admitted that the state did not provide good enough protection to Senator Cepeda, a mistake that led to his assassination.

<...>

Congressman Cepeda said he accepted the government's formal apology as an act of hope that Colombians can build peace based on democracy and justice.

"I accept this solemn request for forgiveness as an act that symbolizes the belief that to eliminate sections of the opposition you cause irreparable harm to the Colombian society, and that the government says that it is a situation that can not and must not be repeated."

Senator Cepeda was a member of the Union Patriotica Party founded by the leftist guerrilla group FARC. Cepeda, along with an estimated 2,000-3,000 other members of his party, was murdered in the FARC's attempt to become politically legitimate in the 1990s.

Congressman Cepeda noted that while he accepts the government's apology, he hopes that it can work to not commit crimes again for which it must later apologize and ask for the victims' forgiveness.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/18211-congressman-cepeda-accepts-govt-apology-for-fathers-murder.html

Comment:

The report above is a bit incomplete, since Germán Vargas did explicitly mention that the state wasn't just responsible for omission but also because its own agents directly participated in the murder of Senator Manuel Cepeda.

Those so inclined can read this here (in Spanish):

http://www.mij.gov.co/Ministerio/NewsDetail/997/1/NuncamasdebenocurriractoscomoestedijoelMinistrodelInterioralpedirperdonporelcrimencontraManuelCepeda

In addition, Congressman Iván Cepeda mentioned in his reply that it is not legitimate to assassinate anyone, whether Communist, Liberal, Conservative or from any other political sector. Cepeda also made a reference to how President Uribe practically insulted and put him as well as other victims in danger by claiming that they were presenting "false accusations" and acting out of hatred, which was an unfortunate sign of how there are still many in the Colombian far right who continue to justify and aid such violent actions.

More on that here (again, in Spanish):

http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/politica/articulo-290735-ivan-cepeda-acepto-perdon-del-estado-asesinato-de-su-padre