Colombian Army bombing that killed ELN leader “Fabián” also killed 4 minors – Senator

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The senator of center-left party Polo Democrático Alternativo, Iván Cepeda, has denounced this Thursday the death of four minors in the bombing that the Colombian Army carried out in the department of Chocó, and that caused the death of the leader of the western front of the guerrilla of the National Liberation Army (ELN), alias ‘Fabián’.

Through a video broadcast through his account on the social network Twitter, Cepeda has moved that he has known the information thanks to a request he raised to the Institute of Legal Medicine.

“Of the eight people who died in that bombing, four were teenagers, and one of them was a child under 13 years old,” he said.

At the same time, the senator criticized that this “horrifying” data shows “a double reality”, alluding to the forced recruitment of minors and the “disproportionate” methods used by the Colombian Army.

About forced recruitment, Cepeda pointed out that it continues to increase “in the absence of peace policies of this government and presence in the territories”. Regarding the methods of the military forces, he stressed that they are “totally disproportionate”, such as bombing “against groups in which there are minors”.

In this context, and underlining that both the recruitment of minors and the indiscriminate methods are “clearly prohibited” under International Humanitarian Law, Cepeda informed that he had sent a communication to the United Nations in which he exposes this situation.

The Colombian Army carried out the bombing at the end of September and, together with alias ‘Fabián’, who died in Cali, another ELN leader, alias ‘Carlitos’, was also reportedly killed. The guerrillas subsequently threatened the Colombian state with a response, while the Ministry of Defense reiterated that Colombia “does not accept threats from narco-terrorists”.