The Huffington Post

Mass Graves and Alleged Extrajudicial Executions in the Macarena, Colombia

July 28--After Everardo Borda was killed by the armed forces on January 16, 2008 his body was allegedly dumped in a clandestine grave site directly beside the military base of the Rapid Deployment Force in the Macarena, Meta in central Colombia.

28 de julio de 2010

According to the Inspector-General's initial report, there could be up to 2,000 non-identified bodies buried there. The Rapid Deployment Force (FUDRA in its Spanish acronym) has received considerable U.S. support since 2005 and the municipality of the Macarena and the surrounding region has been a focus of U.S.-backed military efforts to recover territory from the guerrillas.

On July 22 around 800 people from across the region came to the Macarena to tell an international delegation of political leaders, trade unionists and NGOs from the U.S. and Europe of the abuses they have suffered, many allegedly at the hands of the armed forces. Victims, like Everardo' father, Gerardo Borda, took the stage to tell of how their loved ones had been disappeared and killed reportedly by the armed forces and when they were finally able to find their body - and many are still looking - they were told their family member was a guerrilla killed in combat. According to those who gave testimony, the army has generally stigmatized people from the region as members - or at least allies - of the guerrilla. Indeed three days after the event Colombian President Alvaro Uribe flew to the Macarena and said publicly that accusing the armed forces of human rights abuses was a tactic used by the guerrilla. These comments put the lives of those victims who spoke at the event in grave danger.
 
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