Series on the rights of the victims and the application of Law 975. Bulletin No 25

1. Con el apoyo de:
COMISIÓN COLOMBIANA DE JURISTAS
Organización no gubernamental con estatus consultiv o ante la ONU
Filial de la Comisión Internacional de Juristas (Ginebra) y de la Comisión Andina de Juristas (Lima) Gobierno de
PERSONERÍA JURÍDICA: RESOLUCIÓN 1060, AGOSTO DE 1988 DE LA ALCALDÍA MAYOR DE BOGOTÁ Canadá
Bulletin No 25: Series on the rights of the victims and the application of Law 975
Judging from its first charges under Law 975, the Prosecutor’s Office does not want
to, or is unable to, shed light on the responsibility of the paramilitaries
On January 20, 2008, ten months after the imputation hearing, 1 the formal hearing of
submission of charges took place against the paramilitary member Wilson Salazar
Carrascal, alias “el Loro” (“the Parrot”), the first such event to take place as part of the
proceedings regulated by Law 975. The accusation by the Prosecutor’s Office is so lacking
in seriousness that it constitutes a violation of the rights of the victims to truth, justice and
reparation; and it foretells future impunity even greater than that worked out for the crimes
committed by this paramilitary and by those who will follow him in these proceedings.
Of the legal processes carried out against the paramilitaries who negotiated with the
government, the one that has progressed the most is the one taking place against this
perpetrator known as “el Loro.” He was the first paramilitary to give “free version”
testimony and the first who will go on to the Justice and Peace tribunals to be given a
reduced sentence, between five and eight years in prison, for all the crimes against
humanity he may have committed. The process of “el Loro” is a good example of the adage
that says that what begins badly ends badly.
On December 13, 2006, alias “el Loro” began giving “free version” testimony. Throughout
the hearings, he confessed to only two crimes of importance. The first was the assassination
of Ms. Aída Cecilia Lazo Gemada, a member of the political party Unión Patriótica and a
candidate to the mayoralty of the municipality of San Alberto (Cesar), and of her thirteen-
year old daughter. The second was the assassination of Mr. Luis Alberto Piña in the
municipality of Gamarra (Cesar).
Regarding the first case, alias “el Loro” was unable to say how the acts took place and
contradicted both the contents of the autopsy and the declarations of another paramilitary
who stated that they had planned to kill Aída Cecilia Lazo with blows so it would appear to
*The European Union supported the first phase of this project, between July and December of 2006, during which this
series of information bulletins was begun and the first twelve numbers published, available on the web page. The present
publication has been prepared under the auspices of the Canadian government, and its content is the sole responsibility of
the Colombian Commission of Jurists. In no way should it be thought to reflect the point of view of the European Union
or of the government of Canada.
1
The imputation hearing took place on March 20, 2007.
Calle 72 Nº 12-65 piso 7 PBX: (571) 3768200 – (571) 3434710 Fax: (571) 3768230
Email: ccj@coljuristas.org Website: www.coljuristas.org
Bogotá, Colombia

2. be a personal conflict and avoid that the investigations would lead to the AUC; but they
changed plans when the daughter came to the defense of her mother as she was being
beaten by the paramilitaries. At that moment they decided to shoot both of them. 2 That is,
everything seems to indicate that “el Loro3”’s confession with regard to these two serious
crimes is false and aims to cover up the true perpetrators of this atrocious assassination.
However, the Prosecutor’s office seems to have given no thought to the fact that alias “el
Loro” did not know the exact circumstances in which the act was committed. “The
important thing is that he confessed,” said the prosecutor at one point. 4
As to the second case “confessed,” that of Luis Alberto Piña, alias “el Loro” had already
been sentenced to 19 years in prison by ordinary justice, a sentence that could be reduced to
five years by virtue of the “justice and peace” law.
The scarce acts confessed by “el Loro”, who was a member of paramilitary groups for more
than a decade, not only contradict evidence that he lied about the acts he actually confessed
but also indicate convincingly that he did not confess all the crimes for which he is
responsible. It is hardly credible that such a paramilitary would spend all that time in
contemplation, when these groups were created to kill people and especially to assassinate
civilians that they considered – with or without reason – had links with the guerrilla.
During one of the “free-version” sessions, a victim present at a near-by hall fitted out by the
Prosecutor’s Office so the victims could hear what “el Loro” had to say, reported that in the
early morning of December 29, 2000, alias “el Loro,” together with 50 other men, burst
into the Siete de Agosto neighborhood of the municipality of Carmen de Bolívar (Bolívar),
killing people and holding up stores. At least four people had been assassinated that
morning and two more had been disappeared. Together with another person, the victim hid
inside a water storage tank so she would not be discovered and could save her life, but later
had to flee so nothing worse would happen to her and became forcibly displaced.
Besides the three homicides he confessed to (Aída Cecilia Lazo, her daughter, and Luis
Alberto Piña), after completing the investigation phase the Prosecutor’s office accused him
of homicide and tentative aggravated homicide against the citizens Miguel Barberi and
David Barbosa, which took place on March 9, 2004, in the municipality of Aguachica
(Cesar), and the homicide of Mr. Héctor Gómez Tapias, which occurred on January 5,
1997.
2
“El ‘Loro’, primer ‘para’ juzgado” [‘El Loro’, the first ‘para’ tried], El Tiempo, January 28, 2008.
3
See Colombian Commission of Jurists, Bulletin No. 13: A one-act farce: The first opening declaration (“free version”)
under Law 975 - “The Circumstances Don’t Matter As Long As He Confesses,” Bogotá, March 1, 2007.
www.coljuristas.org.
2

3. The investigation against “el Loro” was practically concluded with the hearing of
submission of charges against him; what remains pending now are reparation and
sentencing. During the hearing of submission of charges against “el Loro”, the Prosecution
did not include the non-confessed homicides it charged him with on March 20, 2000,
during the imputation hearing, which is a preliminary procedure prior to the investigation
phase. Nor was he charged for the massacre of Carmen de Bolívar, narrated by the victim
mentioned above who was present at the “free-version” hearing. Nor did the Prosecution
find any other crimes to charge him with.
But it did charge him with the crime against Aída Cecilia Lazo, about which serious doubts
exist whether he actually committed it. And, more serious than that: having charged him
with this crime, he was not charged with the torture committed during the same incident -
the barbaric way in which the victim and her thirteen-year old daughter were assassinated;
who, according to the autopsy and what was said by other paramilitaries, were brutally
beaten before being killed. The Prosecutor’s office believed the contradictory declarations
by alias “el Loro” rather than the expert opinion of the Institute of Legal and Forensic
Medicine. As a result, the torture inflicted upon Aída Cecilia Lazo will remain, as it has
since before the trial, unpunished.
Wilson Salazar Carrascal, alias “el Loro,” confessed to having been a member of the
paramilitary for twelve years. Common sense would indicate that it is hardly believable
that in all that time he committed no other crimes than the homicides of Aída Cecilia Lazo,
her 13-year old daughter, Luis Alberto Piña, Miguel Barberi, David Barbosa and Héctor
Gómez Tapias, as well as false testimony and extortion. Through this type of accusations,
the Prosecution is transmitting – in the best-case scenario – a message of ineptitude in
investigating and shedding light on the truth which borders on naivety, if not outright
complicity with the paramilitaries.
The case of Wilson Salazar Carrascal, which most probably will be the first to conclude
with sentencing, began with serious irregularities that make it difficult to bring satisfaction
to the victims in terms of their rights to truth, justice, and reparation. The flawed beginning
of the trial against “el Loro” seems to be leading to a flawed ending, which foretells a
flawed execution also of the processes to be carried out regarding the rest of the
paramilitaries subject to Law 975. If Colombian society and the international community
do not do something about this soon and in a determined manner so the Colombian state
shows political will and investigative and accusatory capacity with regard to the
paramilitary beneficiaries of the “justice and peace” law, it will prove very difficult, if not
impossible, to overcome the serious human rights crisis affecting Colombia - which tends
to worsen due to the very high levels of violations of human rights and humanitarian law
and of impunity.
Bogotá, March 7, 2008
For more information, please contact Gustavo Gallón-Giraldo, Director of the CCJ, at Tel. (571) 376 8200, Ext. 115.
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