Paramilitaries, Caguán episode and failure of the peace process: Andrés Pastrana reveals himself before the Truth Commission

This Tuesday Andres Pastrana He was heard before the Truth Commission as a former president, as a political leader, as a diplomat, as a journalist, as a victim and as an analyst of the armed conflict.

The conservative leader in his introduction decided to hand over to the director of the Commission, Francisco de Roux, a letter that, according to him, brothers Miguel and Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela gave him in which they state that, “Samper was aware of the proceeds of drug trafficking money in the countryside ”.

Here is the letter Pastrana delivered dated June 12, 2000:

The former president told the Commission: “I am here, before the Truth Commission, convinced that only the truth can achieve peace (…) I am here to fulfill a duty not only legal, but also moral. I am here, because the new generations cannot be left without a part of history and the victims and the future generations they have the right to know and to know the enormous efforts of many to achieve peace “.

“First I am here, because I am convinced by peace and no one doubts that I have invested all my political capital in its research and I know that without the truth we will not find peace (…) C ‘ it is true that I did not make peace, despite all the efforts that we made, but all that is lived now is in part what we sow “, said the ex-president.

Once the conversation started with Father Francisco de Roux and the other commissioners, Pastrana spoke of the strengthening of paramilitarism between the years he was president. He assured that during his rule, they killed 350 paramilitaries and captured 850 others.

He also explained that as measures to attack the paramilitary, by suspending the granting of operating licenses, Convivir (the cooperatives that gave birth to various paramilitary groups) ended and trained 120,000 members of the military in human rights defense.

He also said that in 2001 they carried out raids in Montería, including the home of the former paramilitary leader. Salvatore Mancuso, whose reaction was to issue threats of car bombings in Bogotá, and was Carlos Castaño, founder of AUC, who disagreed.

On the guerrillas and your government’s attempts to advance a peace process, Commissioner Marta Ruiz He asked the former president if his government’s goal was really to seek peace or if he was buying time to strengthen himself for war.

The former president stressed that the government’s peace process was serious. Proof of this is that it has been supported by all political parties, economic unions and the international community.

Pastrana explained to the Truth Commission that he had met Manuel Marulanda (FARC leader) after being elected president, and he told him that they had to make peace with social justice, with the eradication of illicit crops and with the protection of the environment.

According to the former president’s version, Marulanda told him that they had to end the paramilitary, clean up five municipalities, and once they were cleaned up, they started the peace dialogue. In this process, the infamous empty chair was recorded, a rendezvous that the guerrilla leader never made. “I said, if Marulanda leaves the chair empty, I will sit down,” he said.

He also assured that the demilitarized zone of Caguán was not invented by his government, but that it already existed in law, and those who recommended him to create it were Álvaro Leyva and Juan Manuel Santos.

He mentioned that one of the problems with the demilitarized zone was that there was the Cazadores battalion, which was located in San Vicente del Caguán, in an area under the domain of the FARC. According to him, Marulanda said he left the chair empty because he believed that if they saw them kissing everyone would think peace was already made and that is why no guerrillas were going to shoot. again.

“I can leave here today with my head held high, I did everything I could and what was in my power to make peace in Colombia. I did not succeed, unfortunately I did not. How many lives would have been saved, how many deaths would we have avoided if peace had been signed. Peace overwhelmed the Farc, they were not prepared. We did what was in our power“insisted the former president, who admitted mistakes had been made and apologized to the victims.

See here the full intervention of Pastrana:

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