After 19 years of impunity in Colombia
Bogota, February 22, 2022. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, IACHR, the human rights protection body of the Organization of American States, OAS, admitted the case of the murder of Tito Eudaldo Díaz, then mayor of El Roble, Sucre, 2001-2004, a crime committed by paramilitary structures in alliance with departmental authorities, on April 5, 2003, in the city of Sincelejo.
This admissibility report corresponds to a petition filed on November 19, 2019, by the family of Tito Díaz, with the support of the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Collective (Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo -Cajar). The IACHR considered that it was competent to hear the petition due to the inaction of the Colombian justice system, which 19 years after the events occurred, has not investigated, tried and punished the entire criminal apparatus that participated in these events.
The mayor of El Roble, Tito Eudaldo Díaz was a political leader committed to his department and as part of his work he had denounced the corruption and influence peddling in which the then governor of Sucre, Salvador Arana, the police commander and the regional prosecutors were involved.
These allegations were made known by the mayor himself in a community council led by then president Álvaro Uribe Vélez, held in Corozal, Sucre, on February 2, 2003, two months before the crime. In that same scenario, Mayor Díaz denounced the existence of the plan to assassinate him: “there was already the destitution and then came my death, now comes the other step, I repeat, and that is that they are going to kill me…”.
Despite the warning, the murder was carried out. On the day of the murder, the mayor went out to meet with several people in the region, among them paramilitary Rodrigo Mercado Pelufo, and then his family lost track of him. Three days later, on April 8, 2003, they filed a complaint with the Gaula of the Police and on April 10 with the Ombudsman’s Office.
Only thanks to the persistence and dignity of the mayor’s family and the work of Cajar, the Colombian justice system has issued ten indictments and two criminal convictions for this case, one against the former director of the Sincelejo prison, Diana Martínez, and another against the former governor Salvador Arana, which was reached because he himself admitted his participation in the events. Martinez is now a fugitive from justice and Arana submitted himself to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace -JEP- where the case is progressing amidst threats and obstacles for the participation of the victims.
There is also a conviction against the Nation (National Police, Ministry of Defense) issued on September 30, 20019 whose comprehensive reparation measures have not been complied with by the State.
These few advances in justice have occurred in the midst of the murder of 18 witnesses in the case and the constant harassment against the family of the former mayor, particularly against his son Juan David Díaz Chamorro, a victim of threats and judicial set-ups.
For all of the above reasons, and despite the fact that the Colombian State alleged before the IACHR that domestic remedies to seek justice had not been exhausted, that there are judicial decisions in the case and that the victims had received the necessary guarantees within the process, “The Commission considers that in this case the exception established in Article 46.2.c of the (American) Convention applies because the events occurred more than 17 years ago and the criminal investigation is still ongoing.
For Rafael Barrios Mendivil, co-founder of Cajar and one of the lawyers in the case, “this admission is very good news because the case happened a long time ago, and it is very significant because the mayor of El Roble denounced acts of corruption in his department and warned that they were going to kill him. In spite of that, the authorities, starting with the head of state, Mr. Uribe, did nothing and Tito disappeared and was killed“.
The human rights defender and victims’ representative added that, in this case, “many people have yet to be brought to justice, such as the departmental police director at the time, the prosecutors and part of the department’s political class. Here there is little and partial justice and the major determiners have not been judged or punished,” he concluded.
Accordingly, the admissibility report concludes that it is necessary for the Inter-American System to study in depth the responsibility of the Colombian State in the murder of the Mayor of El Roble, as well as the state of partial impunity in the investigation of these facts that constitute violations to life, personal integrity, personal liberty, judicial guarantees, freedom of thought and expression, and political rights enshrined in the American Convention. El Cajar hopes that the IACHR will establish the international responsibility of the State for this grave crime and order measures of reparation and guarantees of non-repetition in favor of the victims.
1 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights -IACHR-, Report No. 363 of 2021, Petition 136609, Admissibility Report, Eudaldo León Díaz Salgado and Family v. Colombia, OEA/Ser.L/V/II, Doc.373, December 2, 2021.