US embassy cable - 04BOGOTA3714

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 003714 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/12/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, MARR, MASS, PHUM, PINR, PREL, PTER, KJUS, CO 
SUBJECT: MILITARY ERROR IN CAJAMARCA CAUSES 5 CIVILIAN 
DEATHS 
 
 
Classified By: Amb. William B. Wood Reasons 1.4 (b&d) 
 
 1. (U) On the night of April 10 in the municipality of 
Cajamarca, Tolima department, soldiers from the Pijoas 
Battalion of the Colombian Army's Sixth Brigade killed five 
civilians -- including a 6-month-old infant -- who soldiers 
mistook in the dark for FARC guerrillas.  Cajamarca is an 
area with high levels of guerrilla activity, and at the time 
of the shooting the Army was engaged in an operation against 
the FARC's 21st and 50th Fronts, which operate in the region. 
 According to the military, the civilians, who were spotted 
on a rural highway, refused soldiers' orders to halt and were 
shot after they began to run. 
2. (U) On April 11, Army Commander General Martin Orlando 
Carreno and Fifth Division Commander Brigadier General Hernan 
Alonso Ortiz arrived at the scene, as did prosecutors and 
criminal investigators from the Prosecutor General's Office 
("Fiscalia") and local representatives of the Office of the 
Human Rights Ombudsman ("Defensoria").  The military justice 
system also has begun an investigation of the incident.  That 
same day, Armed Forces Commander General Carlos Alberto 
Ospina publicly acknowledged military responsibility for the 
deaths and offered condolences to the victims' family. 
 
3. (C) Comment: The Army's quick acknowledgement of 
responsibility for this tragedy stands in sharp contrast to 
the Air Force's obfuscation and procrastination in the 
aftermath of the 1998 bombing of the village of Santo 
Domingo, Arauca department, an incident that remains a 
painful human rights thorn in the GOC's side.  So far, the 
military's reaction to this case is reminiscent of its 
response to the August 2000 Pueblo Rico massacre, in which 
soldiers accidentally shot six children during combat with 
National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas in Antioquia 
department.  The Army's transparency in that case is the 
primary reason the tragedy is now almost forgotten, and the 
military appears -- wisely -- to be using its successful 
management of that case as a useful precedent.  Embassy will 
continue to follow developments in the military and civilian 
investigations of this latest incident.  End comment. 
WOOD