Former Colombian army commander to face charges for more than 100 murders

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Retired general Mario Montoya will be charged for the executions of 104 civilians, wrongly presented as rebels killed in combat during his time as commander of the Colombian army (2006-2008), the prosecutor’s office announced Saturday (31).

“We are going to charge him as the person responsible for the aggravated homicide (…) of 104 of the so-called false positives,” Attorney General Francisco Barbosa told Semana magazine, alluding to the scandal in which the military executed thousands of civilians between 2002 and 2008 but passed them off as casualties in the midst of a fierce anti-guerrilla struggle.

According to the investigating agency, these murders occurred between 2007 and 2008, and five of the victims were minors. “All the material authors were active members of the army,” Barbosa added.

Montoya submitted in 2018 to the Special Justice for Peace (JEP), which investigates the worst crimes of the conflict and offers alternative sentences to those who confess their crimes and make reparations to the victims. His case has not been resolved.

According to the JEP, more than 6,400 civilians were killed during Álvaro Uribe’s government by military personnel motivated by a “body count”.

The prosecutor’s indictment seeks to “help” the tribunal that emerged from the 2016 accords with the FARC guerrillas to shed light on these crimes, Barbosa explained.

Several of Montoya’s subordinates have admitted to the JEP that they killed civilians to present them as combat casualties, in exchange for furloughs and other benefits.

Army Major Gustavo Soto told the AFP in 2020 that Montoya measured operational results “in deaths”. According to Barbosa, the officer “went to the brigades, to the battalions, to the divisions (…) with the policy of rewards for those executions.”

But the general denies having instigated these crimes, and his defense maintains that “at no time was there a directive to the army for such atrocious acts”.