Notorious SOA-WHINSEC Graduates & Instructors from Colombia

Name: General Rito Alejo del Río Rojas
SOA/WHINSEC Training Dates/courses: 1967, Cadet Orientation Course (as cadet)
Info: General Rito Alejo del Río Rojas is accused of being “the brain of a criminal enterprise” that united members of the military with paramilitary groups to sow terror in Urabá, and is alleged to have had a key role in strengthening paramilitarism and coordinating with paramilitaries. (VerdadAbierta.com, “El contubernio entre Rito Alejo del Río y los paramilitares [The Conspiracy between Rito Alejo del Río and the Paramilitaries],” 25 August 2012). He was convicted for the death of Marino López Mena in 1997 when del Río was the commander of the XVII Brigade of the Army. He was also under investigation for the massacre of Mapiripán, committed by paramilitaries, and the assassination of journalist and humorist Jaime Garzón. (El Espectador, ‘‘Rito Alejo del Río: la historia del general (r) condenado que volvió a la libertad [Rito Alejo del Río: The Story of the Convicted General (retired) Who Returned to Freedom],’’ 30 September 2017; El Tiempo, ‘‘Los testimonios de exparas contra el general Rito Alejo del Rio [The testimony of ex-paramilitaries against General Rito Alejo del Río],’’ 13 March 2018).
Research Notes: Updated October 2020. Listed in the SOA Graduate Database as ‘Del Río Rojas Ritoalejo’.

 

Name: First Lieutenant Luis Enrique Andrade Ortiz
Dates/courses: 1983, Cadet Arms Orientation Course (as cadet)
Info: Andrade was brought to justice for the 1989 massacre of La Rochela, a paramilitary massacre of 12 officials, including two judges, who were investigating military/paramilitary responsibility for a massacre of 19 people. He was convicted “for being responsible for the crime of supporting terrorist activities” (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, “Mariela Morales Caro and others [‘La Rochela’ Massacre] vs. Colombia”, 9 October 2002). As documented by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, he coordinated with the Los Masetos paramilitary group and an administrative court found that ”using his condition as a member of the Armed Forces, he organized and supported the armed groups that caused [the massacre].” (Inter-American Court of Human Rights, “Case of the Rochela Massacre vs. Colombia,” 11 May 2007, para. 96).
Research Notes: Updated October 2020. Listed in the SOA Graduate Database as ‘Andrade Ortiez Luis Enrique’.

 

Name: Colonel Álvaro Andrés Quijano Becerra
Dates/courses: 1989, Cadet Orientation Course C-34 Machining (as ensign); 2003-2004, Instructor of Maintaining Democracy and Peacekeeping Operations courses (as major)
Info: In 2007, during which time Colonel Quijano led a special counterinsurgency unit in western Colombia—a drug cartel stronghold—the National Anti-Narcotics Unit of the National Prosecutor’s Office accused Quijano and Major Wilmer Manuel Mora Daza of collaborating with paramilitary drug traffickers (specifically Don Diego Montoya, one of the FBI’s 10 most-wanted) near Cali in 2007, specifically by passing operational information to the drug trafficking organization. (El Tiempo, “A juicio 9 militares por supuestos vínculos con Diego León Montoya, alias ‘Don Diego’ [Nine Soldiers Face Trial for Alleged Ties with Diego León Montoya, alias ‘Don Diego’],” 11 June 2008). Quijano and Mora were arrested along with other soldiers who also attended the SOA, including Javier Escobar Martínez (who attended the SOA at the same time as Quijano in 1989). In 2009, the High Court of Cali annulled the proceedings against the military officials, arguing that they should be tried in the new oral system, as their captures had been carried out when the system was already in place (NoticiCentro, “Libres presuntos infiltrados de “Don Diego” en el Ejército [Alleged ‘Don Diego’ Army Infiltrators Freed],” 3 October 2009).
Research Notes: Updated October 2020. Listed in the SOA Graduate Database as ‘Alvano A. Quijano Becerra’ and ‘Quijano Becerra Alvaro A’.

 

Name: Major Wilmer Manuel Mora Daza
Dates/courses: 2003-2004, Instructor of Maintaining Democracy and Peacekeeping Operations courses (as captain)
Info: In 2007, the National Anti-Narcotics Unit of the National Prosecutor’s Office accused Major Mora and Álvaro Quijano of collaborating with paramilitary drug traffickers (specifically Don Diego Montoya, one of the FBI’s 10 most-wanted) near Cali in 2007, by passing operational information to the drug trafficking organization. Mora’s role specifically would have been that of delivering military equipment. (El Tiempo, “A juicio 9 militares por supuestos vínculos con Diego León Montoya, alias ‘Don Diego’ [Nine Soldiers Face Trial for Alleged Ties with Diego León Montoya, alias ‘Don Diego’],” 11 June 2008) Mora and Quijano were arrested along with other soldiers who also attended the SOA, including Javier Escobar Martínez (who attended the SOA at the same time as Quijano in 1989). In 2009, the High Court of Cali annulled the proceedings against the military officials, arguing that they should be tried in the new oral system, as their captures had been carried out when the system was already in place (NoticiCentro, “Libres presuntos infiltrados de “Don Diego” en el Ejército [Alleged ‘Don Diego’ Army Infiltrators Freed],” 3 October 2009).
Research Notes: Updated October 2020. Listed in the SOA Graduate Database as ‘Wilmere Manuel Mora Daza’.

 

Name: Major General Jorge Luis Vargas Valencia
Dates/courses: 1995, instructor (as captain); April 2019, WHINSEC commencement guest speaker
Info: Major General Vargas Valencia is the current director of Citizen Security and head of the Mobile Riot Squad (ESMAD), and spoke at the 2019 WHINSEC graduation ceremony (WHINSEC, Interview with General Major Jorge L. Vargas Valencia, 26 April 2019). Under Vargas Valencia’s command, the ESMAD has been criticized and denounced for using excessive force against protestors. During the protests on September 23, 25, and 26, 2019, students denounced ESMAD agents for shooting against them, throwing non-conventional materials, and attacking an ambulance (La FM, “Estudiantes presentarán denuncia penal contra el Esmad por presuntas agresiones [Students to Present Criminal Complaint against ESMAD for Alleged Agressions],” 2 October 2019). Human rights organizations and senators denounced Vargas Valencia and other police commanders for brutally repressing protesters at the end of November 2019, when an ESMAD agent was accused of killing Dilan Cruz during the protests, and at least 25 other people were injured (Congress of the Republic of Colombia, “Congresistas y organizaciones de derechos humanos denuncian ante la Fiscalía a la Fuerza Pública [Congresspeople and human rights organizations denounce the Public Force before the National Prosecutor’s Office]“, 26 November 2019).
Research Notes: Updated October 2020. Listed in the SOA Graduate Database as ‘Vargas Valencia Jorge L.’

 

Name: General Jaime Alfonso Lasprilla Villamizar
Dates/courses: 1980, Cadet Arms Orientation Course (as cadet); 2002-2003 Captain’s Career Course & Command and General Staff Officer Course (as lieutenant colonel)
Info: Lasprilla has a long history of training and ties with the United States. From March 2002 to March 2003, he gave two courses in WHINSEC; from August 2005 to June 2006, he studied in the National Defense University in Washington, DC, where he obtained a master’s degree (John Lindsay-Poland, Plan Colombia: U.S. Ally Atrocities and Community Activism, 2018). When he returned to Colombia, in 2006 and 2007, he served as commander of the Ninth Brigade in the Huila department. While leading the Ninth Brigade, troops under his command were the alleged authors of at least 75 extrajudicial executions, one of the highest levels of Colombia. (Colombia-Europe-United States Coordination and FOR, “‘Falsos Positivos’ en Colombia y el papel de asistencia militar de Estados Unidos, 2000-2010 [‘False Positives’ in Colombia and the Role of United States’ Military Assistance, 2000-2010]”). After this, Lasprilla was repeatedly promoted and became the commander of the Army in 2014. Only after the publication of a Human Rights Watch report in July 2015, which concluded Lasprilla was aware of the “broad and systematic campaign of extrajudicial executions,” was he removed (Al Manar, “Colombia destituye a jefes militares tras informe sobre ejecuciones de civiles [Colombia Removes Military Chiefs after Report on Civilian Executions],” 10 July 2015). To date, he has not been prosecuted, and, to the contrary, was sent to Washington, DC, where he served as a defense attaché of Colombia. The U.S. State Department knew Lasprilla had been transferred to the embassy, but didn’t mention so when referencing assassination allegations in its annual human rights certification letter to congress. (Mauricio Dueñas Castañeda, “General colombiano vinculado a ejecuciones trabaja en embajada en EEUU [Colombian General Linked to Executions Working in Embassy in U.S.],” 13 April 2017)
Research Notes: Updated October 2020. Listed in the SOA Graduate Database as ‘Jaime Lasprilla Villamizar’ and ‘Lasprilla Vijíamizar Jaime’.

 

Name: General Luis Bernardo Urbina Sánchez
Dates/courses: 1985, Command and General Staff College (as lieutenant colonel)
Info: In 1977, then Captain Urbina Sánchez led an operation to arrest and disappear Omaira Montoya Henao and Mauricio Trujillo in Barranquilla. In 1979, when he had been promoted to Major, members of the Brigade of Military Institutes (BIM), under the command of Urbina Sánchez, tortured the Uruguayan photographer Sergio Ramón Betarte Benítez (Colombia Nunca Más. V Brigada, https://nuncamas.movimientodevictimas.org/index.php/v-brigada). Urbina Sánchez was sent to the U.S. in 1982, and later in 1985, when he completed a year-long promotion course (command and staff course 0-3) at the SOA. Upon his return to Colombia in 1986, Urbina Sánchez, now Lieutenant Colonel, acted as Chief of the B-2 within the V Brigade, and in this capacity ordered his men to disappear William Camacho and Orlando Garcia and cover up the crime.  In August 1987, he was one of the military officials behind the assassination of the mayor of Sabana de Torres (a member of Unión Patriótica) along with his police escort and three others. In 1987, Urbina Sánchez ordered the detention, torture and assassination of Mario Alexander Granados Plazas. He was also implicated in the assassination of Amparo Tordecilla in 1989.  In 1988 and 1989, at the command of the National Direction of Army Intelligence, he coordinated the formation of a national paramilitary structure called the National Self-Defense Board. Fellow SOA graduate Meneses Baez confessed to Urbina Sánchez’ involvement in paramilitary death squads during these years. Urbina Sánchez retired from the Colombian Army in 1995 and was never prosecuted for his coordination with paramilitaries or participation in the cases mentioned above.
Research Notes: Updated October 2020. Listed in SOA graduate database as ‘Urbina Luis B.’

 

Name: General Luis Alfonso Zapata Uribe
Dates/courses: 1976, Counter-insurgency, Small-Unit Infantry Tactics C-7 (as ensign)
Info: San José Killings: Commanded the 17th Brigade of the Colombian Army beginning in May 2005, whom were involved in the November 17, 2005, killing of Arlen Salas David, a leader of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, Antioquia. The soldiers accused, along with members of the paramilitary forces, of the slaughter are Colonel Orlando Espinosa Beltrán, Major José Fernando Castaño López, Lieutenant Alejandro Jaramillo Giraldo, Captian Sabarain Cruz Reina, Sergeant Ángel María Padilla Petro, Sergeant Jorge Humberto Milanés Vega, Sergeant Henry Agudelo Guasmayan Ortega, Sergeant Édgar Garciá Estupiñón, Sergeant Darío Brango Agamez, and Captain Ricardo Bastidas Candia. Criminal proceedings against the soldiers were brought on February 26, 2009 for murder of protected persons, acts of extreme cruelty, and conspiracy as part of their participation in the February 21, 2005 massacre in which eight people, including four children, were murdered. (El Tiempo, Jan. 2010) (Verdad Abierta “Los generales Fandiño y Zapata y la masacre de San José de Apartadó [Generals Fandiño and Zapata and the Massacre of San José de Apartadó],” 17 April 2013).

 

Name: General Harold Bedoya Pizarro (deceased)
Dates/courses: 1965, Military Intelligence Course (as lieutenant); 1978-79, SOA Guest Instructor
Info: General Bedoya was the commander of the Colombian National Army and ran for President of Colombia in 1998 and 2002 as leader of a right-wing party he created called Fuerza Colombia.  While never prosecuted for his crimes, Bedoya was central in creating a culture of impunity among military and paramilitary actors. His involvement with paramilitary death squads dates back at least as far 1965: “Throughout Bedoya’s entire career, he has been Implicated with the sponsorship and organization of a network of paramilitary organizations. Bedoya, who has never undergone any investigation for his involvement in the massacres of non-combatants or other dirty-war crimes, is an articulate proponent of the continued ‘legal’ involvement of local populations in counterinsurgency operations” (Ana Carrigan, NACLA Report on the Americas, March/April 1995). In 1999, General Bedoya was involved in the assassination of prominent journalist and peaceworker Jaime Garzón, according to paramilitary leader Diego Fernando Murillo (Semana, “Los militares y el caso de Jaime Garzón [Military leaders and the case of Jaime Garzón]“, 12 August 2015). The family of Garzón sought to bring charges against Bedoya in 2012 for his role in instigating the 1999 murder, but were ultimately unsuccessful. Bedoya fervently defended fellow SOA graduate General Rito Alejo del Rio, under whose leadership grew strong military-paramilitary links in the region of Urabá, and who in fact received a 25-year prison sentence for the extrajudicial murder of social leader Marino López. General Bedoya was further denounced by Colonel Alfonso Velásquez for ignoring reports on paramilitary-military cooperation. (Caracol Radio, “Harold Bedoya, un general entre el brillo y las sombras [Harold Bedoya, a general between brightness and shadows]“, 2 May 2017).
Research Notes: Updated June 2021. Listed in the SOA graduate database as ‘Bedoya Pizarro Harlod’.

 

Name: Major Alejandro de Jesus Alvarez Henao
Dates/courses: 1984, Joint Operations (as major)
Info: Major Alvarez was a key founder and leader of MAS (Muerte a Secuestradores [Death to Kidnappers]), a paramilitary death squad responsible for numerous assassinations and disappearances, and named as such in a report by the Attorney General in Colombia (Tribunal Superior del Distrito Sala de Justicia y Paz [Superior District Court Justice and Peace Chamber], el caso de Jesús Ignacio Roldán Pérez [the case of Jesús Ignacio Roldán Pérez], 9 December 2014). Alvarez helped create the death squad MAS when we was in command of the Bomboná Battalion, a military group known to work closely with paramilitaries and named specifically by Human Rights Watch in its recommendations to the Colombian and U.S. governments (Human Rights Watch, Colombia’s Killer Networks: The Military-Paramilitary Partnership and the United States, November 1996). Other prominent members of MAS who also graduated from the SOA include: Lieutenant Colonel Virgilio Anzola Montero (1967, Cadet Orientation Course), General Carlos Julio Gil Colorado (1969, 0-6) and General Farouk Yanine Diaz (1969, Maintenance Orientation Course; 1990 & 1991, Guest speaker).
Research Notes: Updated June 2021. Listed in the SOA graduate database as ‘Alvarez Henao; Alejandro’.

 

Name: Major Carlos Enrique Martínez Orozco
Dates/courses: 1975, Guerrilla Warfare Operations
Info: Martínez Orozco, when he was a captain, was implicated in the massacre of 18 miners in Antioquia in June 1988. A civillian judge issued a warrant for his arrest, but rather than holding him to account for these crimes, the Colombian military subsequently promoted Martínez Orozco to the rank of major. (Amnesty International, Political Violence in Colombia: Myth and Reality, 23 January 1994). As second in command in the Patriotas Battalion in Honda (in the Tolima department), Major Martínez Orozco was shown to be linked with leaders of the paramilitary group ACDEGAM. In June 1992, he was charged in a military court—along with the battalion commander—and dismissed from military service by presidential decree.
Research Notes: Updated August 2021.

 

Name: General Gustavo Pardo Ariza
Dates/courses: 1971, Irregular Warfare Operations
Info: Escape of Pablo Escobar, 1992: Pardo was one of three Army officers (two of them SOA graduates) forced into retirement upon the “escape” of Pablo Escobar from prison. Pardo was head of the Fourth Brigade in Medellín; soldiers under his command were supposed to be guarding the prison from which Escobar literally walked away. (Americas Watch Report: State of War Political Violence and Counterinsurgency in Colombia, 1993)

 

Name: General Rafael Samudio Molina
Dates/courses: 1970, SOA Guest Instructor; 1988, SOA “Hall of Fame”
Info: Massacre at the Palace of Justice, November 7, 1985: Oversaw the Army massacre at the Palace of Justice following an attempt by the M-19 to take it over. The Army under his command set the building ablaze, resulting in the needless and horrifying deaths of many of the hostages. Other hostages were killed in Army crossfire, or, as some suspect, direct assassination. Even the hostages who lived through the horrifying ordeal were not safe; some were killed before exiting the palace and others were arrested and disappeared immediately upon leaving the building. Taped conversations between Samudio Molina and his commanders in the building establish that at no time did Samudio Molina act as an agent of the civilian government, but rather used the situation to prove the brutality of the Colombian military and to eliminate individuals, including Supreme Court justices, who were not staunch enough allies of the Colombian Army. (POJ) Samudio Molina has also been implicated in paramilitary activities since 1978. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Farouk Yanine Diaz (deceased)
Dates/courses: 1969, Maintenance Orientation Course (as captain); 1990 – 1991, Guest speaker
Info: General Yanine was implicated in paramilitary activity in 1984 and 1985, with the death squad MAS (Muerte a Secuestores [Death to Kidnappers]) (Terrorismo de Estado en Colombia, 1992). In 1987 he was also implicated in the assassination of Alvaro Garcés Parra, the mayor of Sabana de Torres and prominent activist of the Uniòn Patriòtica – Frente Amplio del Magdalena Medio alliance. Also in 1987, an investigation linked Yanine to the massacre of 19 merchants in Puerto Araujo, Santander, and the public prosecutor’s office issued an arrest warrant for him, at which time he was giving classes at the Inter-American Defense College in Washington, DC. Upon returning to Colombia, Yanine was detained, but his case was quickly passed to a military tribunal—which absolved him (Comision Colombiana de Juristas, Colombia: Derechos humanos y derechos humanitarios [Colombia: human rights and humanitarian rights], 1997). The U.S. State Department detailed his case in its 1997 annual human rights report, and criticized the use of a military tribunal (U.S. Department of State, Colombia Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1997). In spite of this, and his alleged ties with paramilitary groups in Magdalena Medio, the March 1988 massacre of 20 banana workers in Antioquia, and the 1989 La Rochela massacre, General Yanine was a frequent guest speaker at the School of Americas.  According to former SOA instructor Major Joseph Blair, Yanine visited the SOA as a guest speaker from 1986 to 1989 on an annual basis and was a close personal friend of U.S. Army Colonel Miguel Garcia, who was the commandant of the SOA at the time.
Research Notes: Updated October 2020. Listed in the SOA graduation database as ‘Yanine Díaz Farouk’.

 

Name: First Lieutenant Pedro Nei Acosta Gaivis
Dates/courses: 1986, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Murder of 11 peasants, 1990: Ordered the massacre of 11 peasants, had his men dress the corpses like guerrilla forces, and then dismissed the killings as an armed confrontation between the Army and guerrillas. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Lieutenant Carlos Alberto Acosta
Dates/courses: 1992, Cadet Infantry Orientation Course (Commandant’s List)
Info: Massacre, 1994: Fled after receiving notice of a 58-year sentence for his participation in the massacre of three people in Lebrija in June 1994. (Vanguardia Liberal, 11/15/97)

 

Name: General Norberto Adrada Córdoba
Dates/courses: 1978, Training Management Course; 1975, Special Maintenance Administration
Info: Disappearance, 18 June 1986: Covered-up of the murder of William Camacho Barajas and Orlando Garcia González, who were last seen alive in the hands of soldiers under Adrada Córdoba’s command. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Delmo William Alba Rincón
Dates/courses: 1984, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Ramírez massacre, 1986: Implicated in the murder of six individuals (four of whom were tortured) from the home of the Ramírez family. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Juan Carlos Alvarez
Dates/courses: 1987, Psychological Operations Course
Info: Death Squad Activity: According to testimony given by his fellow officers to the Colombian attorney general, Alvarez was the officer who gave the go-ahead for death squad killings. (Human Rights Watch Report: Colombia’s Killer Networks and Covert Action Quarterly)

 

Name: Captain José Ismael Alvarez Díaz
Dates/courses: 1980, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Disappearance, 26 May 1982: Covered up the murder of Gustavo Alveiro Muñoz Hurtado, last seen alive with soldiers under the command of Alvarez Díaz. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Gilberto Alzate Alzate
Dates/courses: 1983, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Segovia Massacre, 1988: Implicated in the massacre at Segovia in which 43 people died, including several children. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Lieutenant Colonel Virgilio Anzola Montero
Dates/courses: 1967, Cadet Orientation Course
Info: Torture, murder of 5 peasants, 1986: Covered-up the torture and murder of five peasants by soldiers under his command. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)
Paramilitary death squad activity (MAS), 1982: Anzola Montero used a paramilitary death squad, “Muerte a Secuestradores” (MAS), to carry out assassinations and disappearances.

 

Name: General José Maria Arbelaez Caballero
Dates/courses: 1954, Communications Officer
Info: Disappearances, 1982: Arbelaez Caballero provided false information to investigators, the media and human rights organizations in order to protect army and police personnel responsible for 13 disappearances in the Cundinamarca department. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: First Lieutenant Jaime Gabriel Arcos Negret
Dates/courses: 1986, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Disappearance, 18 January 1988: Implicated in the disappearance of Héctor Suárez. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Agustin Ardila Uribe
Dates/courses: 1984, Command and General Staff College (Commandant’s List)
Info: In 1993, Commander Ardila had town mayor Tirso Velez of Tibu arrested and imprisoned for being a terrorist, after Mayor Velez published a poem against both guerrilla and army violence. (Human Rights Watch, State of War: Political Violence and Counterinsurgency in Colombia, 1993) Ardila was later accused of playing a role in the Mapiripán massacre in July 1997.  (Inter-American Court of Human Rights, “Case of the Mapiripán Massacre vs. Colombia,” Decision on the Merits, Reparations, and Cost, September 15, 2007). General Ardila was also investigated in relation to the October 1997 San Carlos de Guaroa massacre, during which time he served as the commander of the Fourth Division of the Army.  (Lawyer’s Collective, “En firme investigación a Coronel Molano y General Uscátegui por masacre San Carlos de Guaroa [Investigation into Colonel Molano and General Uscátegui for the San Carlos de Guaroa Massacre Underway],” May 11, 2016) In addition, Ardila’s career included command of Mobile Brigade 2. Colombia’s Mobile Brigades are unique in that they have no permanent base; their commanders answer only to the Army high command in Bogotá. Mobile Brigade soldiers wear distinctive, U.S. Army-style camouflage and no name patches. A “broad, consistent and often shocking” pattern of serious human rights violations follows the Mobile Brigades — including Ardila’s Mobile Brigade 2 — throughout the Colombian countryside. (Human Rights Watch, State of War: Political Violence and Counterinsurgency in Colombia, 1993)
Research Notes: Updated October 2020.

 

Name: Captain Carlos Javier Arenas Jiménez
Dates/courses: 1987, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Torture of 19, 1988: Participated in the detention and torture of 19 individuals in June 1988, one of whom sustained permanent damage to both arms. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Lieutenant Colonel Orlando Espinosa Beltrán
Dates/courses: 1986
Info: Lt. Col. Espinosa was later convicted for his role in the San José de Apartadó massacre in February 2005, when he had been the commander of the Francisco de Paula Vélez Battalion. (El Espectador, “Una sentencia histórica [Historic Decision],” May 19, 2019)
Research Notes: Updated October 2020.

 

Name: Marco Antonio Pedreros Rivera
Dates/courses: 2001, Command and Staff promotion course at WHINSEC
Info: In 2008, as a general in the National Police, Pedreros withdrew from his position at the request of then president Uribe, as a result of an investigation against him for “alleged ties with the drug trafficker Daniel Rendón Herrera, alias ‘don Mario.’’’  (El Mundo, “Escándalo acabó con carrera de Pedreros [Scandal Ends Career of Pedreros],” August 27, 2008; Semana, “Presidente Uribe le pidió la renuncia al general Pedreros [President Uribe Requests Resignation of General Pedreros],” August 26, 2008).  In 2011, the Prosecutor’s Office announced it had opened an investigation against him for selling weapons to the ELN guerrilla group while he was police commander in Norte de Santander. (Caracol Radio, “Procuraduría dice que Patrulleros abusaron de autoridad en caso Ordóñez [Attorney General Says Patrol Officers Abused Authority in Ordóñéz Case],” October 1, 2020).
Research Notes: Updated October 2020.

 

Name: Second Lieutenant Julio Arenas Vera
Dates/courses: 1985, Combat Arms Orientation Course
Info: Assassination, 1986: Implicated in the revenge-killing of communist Gustavo Alfonso Macias Borja. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Victor Julio Arevalo Pinilla
Dates/courses: 1975, Special Maintenance, Administration; 1971, Engineer Officer Course
Info: Torture, murder, 1989: Strongly implicated in the torture and murder of Reinaldo Cuenca Wilson and Liliana Camacho Ipuz, and in the attempt to make their deaths appear guerrilla-related. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Major Julio Elias Barrera Bustos
Dates/courses: 1982, Joint Operations Course
Info: Paramilitary death squad activity (MAS), 1981-82: Protected and aided the military/paramilitary death squad MAS.

 

Name: General César Eugenio Barrios Ramírez
Dates/courses: 1968, Military Intelligence Officer Course
Info: Murder 1987: Protected and covered for soldiers responsible for the extrajudicial execution of 3 peasants, and the attempt to disguise the incident as an armed confrontation with guerrillas. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Lieutenant Colonel Luis Felipe Luis Felipe Becerra Bohórquez
Dates/courses: (not formally enrolled)
Info: In September 1988, an arrest warrant was issued for then Major Becerra Bohórquez for the massacre of banana workers in Urubá, Antioquia the previous March. Becerra Bohórquez had been in command of the intelligence unit of the Tenth Army Brigade, which had coordinated with paramilitaries for the massacre. The judge who issued the arrest warrant against Becerra Bohórquez and others was forced to flee the country after receiving death threats, and Becerra Bohórquez was not detained that year. Instead, he traveled to the United States for a military promotion course. In 1989, when an official of the Colombian judicial system was searching for Becerra Bohórquez, he was informed that Becerra Bohórquez was in the United States taking a military course—meaning the Army of Colombia used military training in the U.S. as a way to avoid answering for a massacre, all with the support of the U.S. (Human Rights Watch, “Colombia’s Killer Networks: The Military – Paramilitary Partnership and the United States,” November 1996). After his military training in the U.S., Becerra Bohórquez was promoted to lieutenant colonel and was absolved in 1993. Although the Attorney General had requested his dismissal from the army in 1992, Becerra Bohórquez was in command of the Palacé Battalion when the Riofrío massacre occurred on October 5, 1993. According to the José Alvarez Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective, “there was a prior agreement between those who committed the act and the men of the Palacé Battalion.” Becerra Bohórquez publicly stated that the massacre victims were guerrillas that died in combat with the army. According to a witness, soldiers placed grenades and missiles near the bodies to make it seem like they were guerrillas (Amnesty International, “Colombia, Mito y Realidad. Casos para Llamamiento [Colombia, Myth or Reality. Case for Appeal],” 1993). Finally, after extensive public interest in the case, he was separated from the army in November 1993, and in 1998 he was convicted for the cover-up. He was a fugitive from justice when he was killed in 1999 (El Tiempo, “Muerto Militar condenado por masacre [Soldier Convicted of Massacre Dead],” 15 February 1999).
Research Notes: Updated October 2020.

 

Name: Captain Pedro Vicente Bermudez Lozano
Dates/courses: 1981, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Urabá massacre 1988: Implicated in the massacre of 20 banana workers. Although an investigation called for the dismissal of the soldiers involved, a military court acquitted them, citing lack of evidence. Bermudez was even promoted (along with Becerra Bohorquez, above) during the army’s Investigation” of the massacre. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, 1992, AW:SW)

 

Name: Lieutenant Colonel Víctor Manuel Bernal Castaño
Dates/courses: 1992, Command and General Staff College
Info: On August 18, 1991, members of the Colombian Army massacred members of the Palacios Romero family in Fusagasugá, Cundinamarca, who had ties to the Unión Patriótica. The XIII Brigade of the Army published a statement presenting the victims as members of the FARC-EP, attempting to cover up political assassinations and present them as combat deaths. Lieutenant Colonel Bernal Castaño, then Commander of the Artillery Battalion, stationed in Fusagasugá, was allegedly responsible for giving false information to his superior, the military court and the attorney general’s office. He also allegedly pressured his soldiers to assist in the cover up. (El Tiempo. “Masacre de Fusagasugá ya tiene responsable [Perpetrator of Fusagasugá Massacre Identified],” 26 March 1993). While Bernal Castaño was under investigation by the Attorney General’s Office (IACHR, “Report N°170/17 Case 11.227 Report on the Merits. Members and Militants of the Unión Patriótica vs. Colombia,” 6 December 2017), in a clear attempt to protect him, the Colombian Army sent him to the School of Americas, where he took a promotion course: commander and staff, which lasted from January to December 1992. While there, he was appointed “Head of the Course.” During this time, U.S. press reported that members of the Colombian legislature denounced that the Army sent Bernal Castaño to the SOA to avoid answering the questions of the investigators in the investigation against him. In March 1993, the Delegated Attorney General for the Defense of Human Rights confirmed a ruling against him, but the only sanction he received was a 30-day suspension.
Research Notes: Updated October 2020.

 

Name: Henry Borda
Dates/courses: 1980, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Segovia Massacre, 1988: Judge Martha Luisa Hurtado issued an arrest warrant against Borda and other officials for their failure to prevent the massacre of 43 people in Segovia. All evidence indicates that the police and military officials knew the attack was coming and did nothing to prevent it, to stop it while it was occurring or to detain the attackers as they escaped, driving right by the police station. (Americas Watch Report: Informe sobre derechos humanos en Colombia, 1989)

 

Name: General Martin Orlando Carrero Sandoval
Dates/courses: 1990, Comando y Estado Mayor
Info: Threats and Intimidation of Human Rights Workers, 1998: On May 24, troops under his command entered a farm located near San Jose de Apartado. They shot a cow, proceeded to carve it up, and stated to all those present that they would do the same to Eduar, a member of the Missionary Team of Justice and Peace. On June 17, soldiers from the same brigade came back and sought out Eduar, demanding that he give them a statement and identify the witnesses of the earlier incident so they could also provide statements. The military did not hide the fact that among them were the very soldiers who had reportedly threatened Eduar. (Inter-Congregational Justice and Peace Commission)

 

Name: Captain José Gabriel Castrillon Garcia
Dates/courses: 1990, Infantry Officer Basic Course
Info: Disappearance, 1987: Strongly implicated in the abduction and subsequent disappearance of José Jairo Medina Ramírez. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: First Lieutenant Mauricio Cervera Bonilla
Dates/courses: 1986, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Illegal detention, torture, 1989: Participated in the illegal detention and torture of a union leader and 2 banana workers. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Colonel Luis Arturo Cifuentes Mogollón
Dates/courses: 1973, Auto Maintenance Officer Course
Info: Torture, assassination, 1986: Strongly implicated in the torture and extrajudicial execution of M-19 member Yolanda Acevedo Carvajal. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Lieutenant Colonel Hernán Alfonso Contreras Soler
Dates/courses: 1971, Special Maintenance Orientation
Info: Torture, disappearance, 1977: Contreras Soler oversaw the capture and torture of Mauricio Trujillo and Omaira Montoya Henao. Montoya Henao was subsequently disappeared. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: First Lieutenant Francisco Javier Corrales
Dates/courses: 1987, Cadet Arms Orientation Course C-3A
Info: Organizing paramilitary groups, 1992: In 1992, the human rights attorney delegate for the armed forces filed charges against Corrales and six other officers for their role in organizing paramilitary groups in the Chucuri region of the department of Santander. (HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH REPORT: COLOMBIA’S KILLER NETWORKS, 1996)

 

Name: First Lieutenant Edgar Ferrucio Correa Copola
Dates/courses: 1986, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Llana Caliente massacre, 1988: One of the officers responsible for the massacre of 20 or more peasants detained during a march demanding schools and health clinics. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Dario Enrique Cortes Castillo
Dates/courses:1980, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info:Torture, 1988: Participated in the detention and torture of 19 individuals. One victim sustained permanent damage to both arms. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Second Lieutenant Romulo Cortes Gordon
Dates/courses: 1985, Combat Arms Orientation Course
Info: Assassination, 1986: Implicated in the revenge-killing of communist Gustavo Alfonso Macias Borja. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Second Lieutenant Tomas Emilio Cruz Amaya
Dates/courses: 1988, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Fusagasugá massacre, 1991: In March 1993, Colombia’s attorney general ordered the dismissal of Cruz Amaya for his role in the Fusagasugá massacre of a peasant family. (Americas Watch Report: State of War: Political Violence and Counterinsurgency in Colombia, 1993)

 

Name: Lieutenant Carlos Eduardo Dávila Romero
Dates/courses: 1967, Cadet Orientation Course
Info: Paramilitary activities (MAS), 1987-88: Involvement with paramilitary death squads, including “MAS,” at times aided by Israeli mercenaries. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Major Jorge Enrique Duran Arquelles
Dates/courses: 1991, Curso de orientacion de caballeria para cadetes
Info: Massacre, 1991: Named in the massacre of 20 indigenous people in Caloto. (Colombia: Human Rights Abuses against Indigenous Peoples, Amnesty International)

 

Name: Colonel Jaime Alberto Escobar Garzón
Dates/courses: 1981, Command and General Staff College
Info: Paramilitary activities (MAS), 1982: Implicated in activities associated with the rightist military/paramilitary death squad “MAS” (Muerte a Secuestradores, or Death to Kidnappers). (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: First Lieutenant Germán Espinoza Rubio
Dates/courses: 1982, Patrol Operations (Dropped); 1976, Small Unit Infantry Tactics
Info: Assassinations, 1982: Assassinated several peasants. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Lieutenant Colonel Manuel José Espitia Sotelo
Dates/courses: 1991, Command and General Staff College; 1982, Tactical Officer
Info: Escape of Pablo Escobar, 1992: Espitia Sotelo was forced into early retirement in August 1992 after drug kingpin Pablo Escobar “escaped” from prison, where he was living in grand style. Espitia Sotelo was commander of the military police battalion guarding the prison. (Americas Watch Report: State of War: Political Violence and Counterinsurgency in Colombia, 1993) (Escobar was discovered and killed in 1993.)

 

Name: Colonel Edgar Hernando Falla Alvira
Dates/courses: 1967, Cadet Orientation Course
Info: Assassinations, 1987: “Intellectual author” of the assassinations of Unión Patriotica leaders José Dario Rodriguez and Fabiola Ruiz. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Carlos Arturo Farfán Quiroga
Dates/courses: 1971, Special Maintenance Orientation
Info: Paramilitary activity, 1987: Publicly supported paramilitary death squads responsible for the assassinations and deaths of several peasants. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Major Jorge Flores Suárez
Dates/courses: 1972, Military Intelligence Officer Course
Info: Paramilitary death squad (“AAA”) activity, 1978: Strongly implicated in the activities of the military/paramilitary death squad “AAA.” (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Second Lieutenant Octavio Fonseca Hoyos
Dates/courses: 1985, Combat Arms Orientation
Info: Disappearance, 15 September 1987: Strong evidence links Fonseca Hoyos to the disappearance of Ramón Salvador Angarita Solano. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Héctor Alirio Forero Quintero
Dates/courses: 1977. Small Unit Infantry Tactics
Info: Disappearances, torture, 1988: Commanded a patrol that disappeared 4 people on February 11, 1988. On the same day, he himself detained 2 more individuals and tortured them with the help of fellow SOA graduate Carlos Morales del Rio (below). The last two victims were released to civilian authorities several days later. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Mario Hugo Galan
Dates/courses: 1971, 0-26
Info: Threats to human rights workers, 1998: Recently in the news for calling Human Rights Watch/ Americas director Jose Miguel Vivanco and a Washington Post reporter “enemies of the people” for reporting that the 20th Brigade was being investigated in connection with the murders of human rights defenders. Such a label is tantamount to a death threat.

 

Name: Lieutenant Colonel Luis Fabio Garcia Correra
Dates/courses: 1985, Command and General Staff College
Info: Denouncing human rights workers, 1993: “In May, June and July 1993, senior army officers of the Nueva Granada Battalion based in Barrancabermeja verbally attacked CREDHOS (Regional Committee for the Defense of Human Rights) workers when they inquired about or tried to visit detainees on the army base. On several occasions, officers, including Battalion Commander Luis Fabio García, accused CREDHOS members of being spokespersons for the guerrillas.” (Americas Watch Report, State of War: Political Violence and Counterinsurgency in Colombia, December 1993)

 

Name: General Daniel Enrique García Echeverry
Dates/courses: 1976, Command and General Staff College; 1961, Military Intelligence
Info: Paramilitary activity, 1983 – 88, including Urabá massacre: García Echeverry established and ran paramilitary forces wherever he was stationed. Witnesses and ex-members of his units have testified as to his role in planning and running squads in Antioquia and Santander, including his involvement with the paramilitaries who carried out the Urabá massacre of twenty banana workers in 1988. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Colonel Fernando Garcia Morales
Dates/courses: 1967, Cadet Orientation
Info: Paramilitary activity, 1986: Ex-members of a paramilitary group from Puerto Boyacá testified that Garcia Morales protected, aided and participated in paramilitary activities during his tenure as a commander of the “Barbula” battalion. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Major Luis Roberto García Ronderos
Dates/courses: 1983, Patrol Operations
Info: Segovia massacre, 1988: Implicated in the massacre of 43 people, including several children, in the town of Segovia. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Ramón Emilia Gil Bermudez
Dates/courses: 1988, Guest Speaker; 1969, Maintenance Orientation
Info: Corruption, 1994: Dismissed from his position as commander of Colombian Armed Forces on November 22, 1994, in an effort by President Ernesto Samper to root out corruption and drug trafficking among the Colombian armed forces. (Reuters, 11/22/94) Death squad activity (MAS) 1982: Established, protected, and participated in the activities of the rightist death squad “MAS.”
(TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Carlos Julio Gil Colorado
Dates/courses: 1969, 0-6
Info: Paramilitary activity (including MAS), 1980 – 92: The highest ranking of 7 officers indicted in November 1992 for involvement with paramilitary groups in the Santander department. (Amnesty International Report: Colombia: Political Violence: Myth and Reality, 1994; Americas Watch Report: State of War: Political Violence and Counterinsurgency in Colombia, 1993; Human Rights Watch World Report 1994; TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Bernardo Gil lsaza
Dates/courses: 1981, Cadet Arms Orientation
Info: Urabá massacre, 1988: Implicated in the massacre of 20 banana workers. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: First Lieutenant Juan Fernando Gomez Gallego
Dates/courses: 1985, Combat Arms Orientation
Info: Paramilitary activity, 1987: Implicated in activities linked to the paramilitary death squad ROJO-ATA. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Oscar Gomez
Dates/courses: 1987, Cadet Arms Orientation Course (Infantry)
Info: Murder: Gomez is charged with the “aggravated murder” of grassroots leader Antonio Palacios Urrea as well as six other people. (Americas Watch Report: Political Murder and Reform in Colombia, 1992)

 

Name: Major Leonardo Gómez Vergara
Dates/courses: 1983, Cadet Branch Orientation
Info: Disappearance, 18 June 1986: Implicated in the disappearance of William Camacho Barajas and Orlando García Gonzalez. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: First Lieutenant Jorge Gonzalez
Dates/courses: 1985, Combat Arms Orientation
Info: Paramilitary activity (MAS), 1981-82: Implicated in activities of the right-wing paramilitary death squad MAS, or “Muerte a Secuestradores” (Death to kidnappers). (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Major Luis Miguel Gonzalez Monroy
Dates/courses: 1992, Officer Administration Course; 1976, Small Unit Infantry Tactics
Info: Illegal detention, torture, extrajudicial execution, 10 May 1986: Implicated in the detention, torture and murder of Yolanda Acevedo Carvajal. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Manuel Jaime Guerrero Paz
Dates/courses: 1988, SOA “Hall of Fame”
Info: Mistreatment of prisoners, 1982: In 1982, soldiers under the command of Guerrero Paz tortured four prisoners, one of whom died of his injuries. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)
Illegal detention, 1988: In a measure of questionable legality, he personally issued orders for the arrest of ten union leaders, most of whom were released later without charge. (Amnesty International 1989)
Paramilitary activities: Throughout his tenure as armed forces chief and defense minister, the relationship between the Colombian military and paramilitaries remained close, and impunity was the rule for crimes committed by both. (Colombia: Inside the Labyrinth)

 

Name: Colonel Carlos Guerrero Peña
Dates/courses: 1985, Command and General Staff College; 1977, Military Intelligence Officer
Info: Paramilitary activity, 1986: Strongly implicated in paramilitary activity in Puerto Boyacá (Boyacá). (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA,1992)

 

Name: General Marino Gutierrez lsaza
Dates/courses:1985-86, Guest instructor; 1973, Military Police Intelligence Officer Course
Info: Disappearance, Murder, 1982: Implicated in the disappearance of Gustavo Albeiro Muñoz Hurtado on 26 May 1982. His cadaver was found the following July 4. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Major Hermann Hackspiel Olano
Dates/courses: 1976, Small Unit Infantry Tactics
Info: Urabá Massacre, 1988: Implicated in the massacre of 20 banana workers. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain David Hernandez
Dates/courses: 1985, Cadet Arms Orientation Course; 1991, Psychological Operations
Info: Firing indiscriminately on civilians: In August 1996, troops under Hernandez’s command fired on and used tear gas against a group of protesting peasants, which resulted in four wounded. The soldiers also burned the protesters’ tents and stole money that was intended for the purchase of food. (Noche y neblina: Panorama de derechos humanos y violencia politica en Colombia, Banco de Datos de violencia politica)

 

Name: First Lieutenant Edgardo Hernández Navarro
Dates/courses: 1985, Combat Arms Orientation Course
Info: Segovia massacre, 1988: Implicated in the early evening massacre of 43 people, including several children, in the town of Segovia. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Alejandro Herrera Fajardo
Dates/courses: 1977, Small Unit Infantry Tactics
Info: Disappearance, 1982: Implicated in the disappearances of 13 people in Cundinamarca between 4 March and 11 September 1982. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Second Lieutenant Albeiro Herrera Castaño
Dates/courses: 1986, Cadet Arms Orientation (Engineer)
Info: Disappearance, 1988: Implicated in the disappearance of 4 peasants in the Santander department. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Colonel Leopoldo Hipolito Hincapie Segrera
Dates/courses: 1971, Automotive Maintenance Officer Course
Info: Disappearance, 1988: Implicated in the detention and disappearance of Rene Herrero Ortega. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992) Torture, 1979: Participated in the detention and torture of Olga López Jaramillo. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Hernán Hurtado Vallejo
Dates/courses: 1954, Anti-Aircraft Artillery/Automatic Weapons
Info: Disappearance, murder, 1982: Implicated in the disappearance of Gustavo Albeiro Muñoz Hurtado, who was detained in May, and whose cadaver was found the following July. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Gilberto lbarra
Dates/courses: 1983, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Used children to detonate mines, 1992: On February 12, 1992, Ibarra forced three peasant children to walk in front of his patrol to detonate mines and spring ambushes. Two were killed; one was seriously wounded. (U.S. Committee for Refugees Report: Feeding the Tiger: Colombia’s Internally Displaced People, 1993)

 

Name: Captain Cenén Dario Jiménez Leon
Dates/courses: 1980, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Assassination, 1988: Strongly implicated in the assassination of union leader Manuel Gustavo Chacón Sarmiento, whose assassination in broad daylight incited five days of strikes and confrontations between the military and the citizens of Barranca. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN
COLOMBIA, INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, 1992; Colombia: Inside the Labyrinth)
Disappearance, 1988: Strongly implicated in the illegal detention, beating and disappearance of Héctor Suárez. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Major Miller Tarcisio Koy Nuñez
Dates/courses: 1983, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Assassination, 1986: Implicated in the assassination of Unión Patriotica member Pedro Net Jiménez. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Fernando Landazabal
Dates/courses: 1950, Basic and Heavy Weapons
Info: Refusal to submit to civilian democratic authority, 1983: Landazabal was forced to retire as Colombia’s defense minister in 1983, when he refused to honor a government mandated amnesty for certain guerrilla factions. (Colombia: Inside the Labyrinth)

 

Name: Paucelino Latorre Gamboa
Dates/courses: 1980, Commando Operations
Info: Commander of notorious Twentieth Brigade, 1998: Latorre was the commander of the 20th Brigade when it was implicated in the murders of three human rights workers in 1998. the Colombian government recently disbanded the 20th Brigade because of its involvement in grave human rights violations.

 

Name: First Lieutenant Carlos Alberto Lasprilia Ramírez
Dates/courses: 1984, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Disappearance, 1988: Implicated in the disappearance of Rene Herrero Ortega. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Major Jorge Alberto Lazaro Vergel
Dates/courses: 1981, Cadet Arms Orientation Course C-3
Info: Puerto Patiño Massacre, 1995: Lazaro was arrested by the attorney general’s office in Barranquilla on charges that he had directed the massacre of 8 people in Puerto Patiño. A local police commander quoted Lazaro as saying, “no one[can] operate here without my order and I tell them yes or no, they are under my command and we’re not going to leave dead people around, we are going to grab people and disappear them because the dead make a lot of noise”. (HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH REPORT: COLOMBIA’S KILLER NETWORKS, 1996)
Links to Drug-Trafficking: Cited in a Colombian police report, which was published by Human Rights Watch in 1996, for involvement in the drug trade. (Frank Smyth, freelance journalist)

 

Name: First Lieutenant Samuel Lesmes Castro
Dates/courses: 1984, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Torture, murder, 1986: Participated in the torture of Yolanda Acevedo Carvajal, and aided in the cover-up of her assassination. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: First Lieutenant Harvey Bernardo Londono Muñoz
Dates/courses: 1986, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Disappearance, murder, 1989: Implicated in the disappearance of Reinaldo Cuenca Wilson and Liliana Camacho Ipuz, whose bodies were blown up near a pipeline in order to seem like a guerrilla operation gone wrong. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Major Germán Arturo Lopera Restrepo
Dates/courses: 1976, Small Unit Infantry Tactics
Info: Disappearance, 1982: Implicated in the disappearance of 13 people between 4 March and 11 September 1982. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Fernando López Cifuentes
Dates/courses: 1992, Combat Arms Officer Advance Course
Info: Torture, murder, 1987: Implicated in the brutal torture and murder of Cesar Aqite Ipia and Miguel Ipia Vargas. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Major Luis Fernando Madrid Baron
Dates/courses: 1978, Small Unit Tactics
Info: Paramilitary activity, 1987: Implicated in the activities of a paramilitary group which killed 149 people from 1987 to 1990. Cited as the intellectual author of many of the assassinations. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: First Lieutenant Cesar Maldonado
Dates/courses: 1987, Cadet Arms Orientation
Info: Forced civilian to guide, 1991: On patrol as part of Mobile Brigade 2, Maldonado and another lieutenant forced peasant Pedro Paternina Argumedo off of a public bus, made him put on an army uniform, and forced him to guide them for 8 days, without contact with his family. This is not an unusual tactic for Mobile Brigade personnel, who wear U.S. camouflage uniforms, are responsible to no local authority, and wear no name tags. (Americas Watch Report: State of War: Political Violence and Counterinsurgency in Colombia, 1993)

 

Name: Major Carlos Enrique Martínez Orozco
Dates/courses: 1975, Guerrilla Warfare Operations
Info: Massacre, 1988: Implicated in the massacre of 18 miners in Antioquia, whose body parts washed in pieces down the river Nare. Martínez Orozco was subsequently promoted.
Paramilitary activity, 1990: Protected a chief paramilitarist responsible for high-profile assassinations; and in June 1992 was charged in a military court for his connection to paramilitaries. (Amnesty International Report: Colombia: Political Violence: Myth and Reality; TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Gen José Nelson Mejía Henao
Dates/courses: 1989, SOA “Hall of Fame”; 1961, Counter Resistance Course
Info: Use of U.S. counter-narcotics funds for counterinsurgency campaign: Former Chief of Staff, Colombian Army. Generals Nelson Mejía Henao and Luis Eduardo Roca thanked the US Congress in 1991 for $40.3 million in anti-narcotics aid which was used (illegally) in counterinsurgency campaigns in northeastern Colombia, where narcotics are neither grown nor processed. (Ruth Conniff in The Progressive, May 1992)

 

Name: Captain Carlos Armando Mejía Lobo
Dates/courses: 1989, Psychological Operations Course; 1980, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Assassination, 1984: Ordered the extrajudicial execution of communist Oscar William Calvo. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Carlos Vicente Meléndez Bohada
Dates/courses: 1978, Training Management Course
Info: Paramilitary activity (MAS), 1982: Implicated in paramilitary activities associated with the right-wing paramilitary death squad MAS. Assassinations, 1976-77: Implicated in the assassination of peasants Gilberto Vanegas and Alicidio Vanegas. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: First Lieutenant Luis Antonio Meneses Baez
Dates/courses: 1980, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Paramilitary activity, 1981 -1991: Engaged in all manner of paramilitary activities — including illegal detentions and extrajudicial executions — and described himself as a “coordinator” of armed forces and military intelligence. (AI:CPV, TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Pedro Nel Molano Vanegas
Dates/courses: 1962, Counterinsurgency Operations Course
Info: Torture, murder, 1978: Strongly implicated in the torture and murder of ELN member Jose Manuel Martinez Quiroz. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Tomas Monroy Roncancio
Dates/courses: 1981, Patrol Operations; 1976, Small Unit Infantry Tactics
Info: Murder (6 counts, convicted), 1986: In June 1992, a military court convicted Monroy and 2 sergeants for detaining six workers (“suspected subversives”), forcing them into a cave, and slitting their throats. (Americas Watch Report: State of War: Political Violence and Counterinsurgency in Colombia, 1993)

 

Name: Lieutenant Colonel Mario Montoya Uribe
Dates/courses: 1993, SOA Guest Instructor; 1983, Tactical Officer, Cadet Arms
Info: Paramilitary activities (AAA), 1978-79: Implicated in paramilitary activities (specifically, bombings) of the paramilitary group known as “AAA.” (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Major Carlos Alfonso Morales Del Rio
Dates/courses: 1980, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Paramilitary activity, 1988: One of three Army officers believed to have run a death squad which operated in San Vicente de Chucuri and El Carmen (Santander). (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Juan Carlos Morales Lopez
Dates/courses: 1989, Cadet Orientation
Info: Paramilitary Activities: Was arrested in July 1998 after an investigation by the Colombian Attorney General concluded that Morales Lopez and other military officers collaborated with members of paramilitary groups who were captured in Acandi (Choco) in February of 1998. (El Colombiano, 7/24/98)

 

Name: Major Manuel Orlando Moreno Martínez
Dates/courses: 1975, Guerrilla Warfare Operations
Info: Murder of 3 woodcutters, 1988: Implicated in the murder of 3 woodcutters. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Rafael Neira
Dates/courses: 1980, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Cover-up, 1991: Neira claimed that Gildardo Antonio Gomez had escaped following his arrest by soldiers from the Nueva Granada Batallion, which was under Neira’s command. Gomez’ body was subsequently found with signs of severe torture. (OMCT News, 1991)

 

Name: Major Mauricio Ordoñez Galindo
Dates/courses: 2001-2002, Instructor, Cadet Leadership Development Course & Cadet Troop Leader Training Course (when he was a captain)
Info: In 2011, together with eight other members of the military, he was convicted of the aggravated homicide of four people in Cali in 2007, when he served as commander of the Army’s Unified Action Group for Liberty (GAULA). According to the judgment, Ordoñez and the others sentenced had presented the victims as kidnappers, when in reality they were “humble people.” (El Heraldo, “9 militares condenados a 46 años de prisión por homicidio agravado [Nine Military Members Sentenced to 46 Years of Prison for Aggravated Homicide],” 16 September 2011)
Research Notes: Updated October 2020

 

Name: Second Lieutenant German Dario Otalora Amaya
Dates/courses: 1988, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Massacre in El Sande: In 1990, troops under Otalora’s command entered the village of El Sande threatening them and accusing them of being guerrillas. Several people were killed, including the religious lay worker from Switzerland, Hildegard Maria Feldmann. Sande, firing indiscriminately at the inhabitants. They rounded up all of the villagers, (Aquellas muertes que hicieron resplandecer la vida, 1992)

 

Name: General Gustavo Pardo Ariza
Dates/courses: 1971, Irregular Warfare Operations
Info: Escape of Pablo Escobar, 1992: Pardo was one of three Army officers (two of them SOA graduates) forced into retirement upon the “escape” of Pablo Escobar from prison. Pardo was head of the Fourth Brigade in Medellin; soldiers under his command were supposed to be guarding the prison from which Escobar literally walked away. (Americas Watch Report: State of War Politcal Violence and Counterinsurgency in Colombia, 1993)

 

Name: Jose Pereira
Dates/courses:1987, Cadet Arms Orientation Course C-3A
Info: Illegal arrest, 1991: Pereira was indicted for the illegal arrest of Gildardo Antonio Gomez and one of his employees. The two were taken to an abandoned house and questioned about their involvement with the guerrillas. The employee managed to escape, but Mr. Gomez’ body was later found with signs of torture. (Americas Watch Report: Political Murder and Reform in Colombia, 1992)

 

Name: First Lieutenant Edgar Gonzalo Peña
Dates/courses: 1982, Cadet Arms Orientation Course C-3
Info: Illegal arrest and torture: A judge in Cucuta ordered Peña’s arrest for his participation in the 1988 capture of Benjamin Quintero Alvarez, Jorge Vivas B. y Luis H. Perez, who were later found tortured. (Autodefensas, paramilitares y narcotrafico en Colombia)

 

Name: General Rafael Peña Rios
Dates/courses: 1971, Special Maintenance Orientation Course; 1967, IW Operations
Info: Stated baldly in an interview with El Tiempo that the military should be a force of repression. He bemoaned the fact that the military no longer had complete control of Colombia, equated political opposition (such as the Unión Patriotica) with guerrilla warfare, and said that the way to end military abuse of authority was to give back to the military complete authority. (Colombia: Inside the Labyrinth)

 

Name: Major William Fernando Perez Laiseca
Dates/courses: 1977, Small Unit Infantry Tactics
Info: Torture, 1988: Participated in the detention and torture of 19 people in Pereira (Risaralda). (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Eduardo Alfonso Pico Hernandez
Dates/courses: 1983, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Urabá Massacre, 1988: Implicated in the massacre of 20 banana workers. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Marcos Evangelista Pinto Lizarazo
Dates/courses: 2001-2002, Instructor, Logistics and Resource Administration Course, when he was a major
Info: Family members of victims of extrajudicial executions, accompanied by the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective denounced Pinto Lizarazo for his role in these crimes. Pinto Lizarazo was serving as commander of the “Atanasio Giradot Infantry Battalion No. 10, assigned to the Nine Brigade, and the Magdalena Infantry Battalion No. 10, assigned to the Fourth Brigade, when troops under his command committed at least 21 documented cases of civilian homicides, misnamed ‘false positives,’ between the years 2007-2008.’’ (Lawyers’ Collective, “Víctimas denuncian a Brigadier General Marcos Evangelista Pinto Lizarazo por falsos positivos en Huila [Victims denounce Brigadier General Marcos Evangelista Pinto Lizarazo for false positives in Huila],” 8 February 2018) In August 2020, the Colombian press reported that the “Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the criminal responsibility of General Pinto Lizarazo in the deaths of at least 42 peasants, who were later presented as guerrillas killed in combat, when he commanded two military battalions.” It also reported, “four civilians have died at the hands of troops under his command in Norte de Santander,” where Pinto Lazarazo has served as commander of the Second Division since January 2020. (El Espectador, “Los cuestionamientos a Marcos Pinto, comandante de la Segunda División del Ejército [Questions Raised About Marcos Pinto, Commander of the Second Division of the Army],” 2 August 2020)
Research Notes: Updated October 2020

 

Name: Lieutenant Colonel Roberto Pizarro Martinez
Dates/courses: 1981, SOA Guest Instructor
Info: Murder, 1986: Implicated in the murder of Victor Manuel Aroca and the ensuing attempt at a cover-up. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Gustavo Adolfo Pizza Giviria
Dates/courses: 1982, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Assassination, 1987: Implicated in the assassination of Unión Patriotica presidential candidate Jaime Pardo Leal. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: First Lieutenant Luis Fernando Plata Aldana
Dates/courses: 1986, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Llana Caliente massacre, 1988: Plata Aldana commanded one of the companies whose soldiers fired indiscriminately into a crowd of peasants detained during a march demanding schools and health clinics in the Santander department. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Eduardo Plata Quinoñes
Dates/courses: 1977, Command and General Staff College (Distinguished Graduate);1969, Maintenance Orientation
Info: Trujillo massacre, 1990: At the very least, Plata Quinoñes is believed to have covered for officers involved in the gruesome campaign of killing and dismemberment in and around Trujillo in the spring of 1990. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: First Lieutenant Norberto Plata Sanchez
Dates/courses: 1976, Small Unit Infantry Tactics
Info: Torture, murder, 1980: Participated in the torture of four M-19 members, one of whom died. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Jose Bertoli Porras Amaya
Dates/courses: 1981, Cadet Arms Orientation
Info: Torture, 1990: Participated in the torture of 42 people over 7 days, most of whom were members of labor unions or human rights groups. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: First Lieutenant Jose Oswaldo Prada Escobar
Dates/courses: 1986, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Disappearance, paramilitary activity, 1988-89: Implicated in paramilitary activities including disappearance, assassination, and the massacre of a judicial commission investigating military/paramilitary cooperation. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Orlando Hernando Pulido Rojas
Dates/courses: 1983, Cadet Branch Orientation
Info: Torture, murder, 1988: Implicated in the torture of Filemón Cala Reyes in September 1988, and in his murder on 14 March 1989. Paramilitary activity, 1987: Participated in a paramilitary death squad responsible for the assassination of 149 peasants between June 1987 and April 1990. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Major Marco Aurelio Quintero Torres
Dates/courses: 1976, Small Unit Infantry Tactics
Info:Torture, 1988: Tortured Jorge Ivan Pulgarin Arcila during 9 days in March 1988. Later that year, Quintero Torres participated in the torture of 19 people, one of whom sustained permanent damage in both arms. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Nestor Ramírez Mejía
Dates/courses: 1985, Command and General Staff College (Distinguished graduate)
Info: Beating of journalist, 1996: In 1996, journalist Richard Velez was attempting to film a confrontation where army troops under Ramirez’ command fired on a group of demonstrating peasants. When the soldiers saw Velez filming, they began to kick and beat him, demanding that he give up the tape. He managed to hand the tape to another journalist who was able to smuggle it out, but Velez himself was severely wounded, his liver perforated and testicles destroyed. This incident occurred after Velez had publicly challenged Ramirez Mejia at a press conference, providing video evidence that contradicted Ramirez’ account of an armed confrontation. Velez was later granted political asylum in the United States. (Colombia Update, Fall/Winter 1998) Failure to comply with judicial order, 1996: A judge sentenced Ramirez Mejia to 30 days in prison and a fine for failure to comply with an order to remove barricades constructed by the army at a bridge to block protesting peasants. (Colombia Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 2) Assassination, 1986: Implicated in the revenge-killing of Gustavo Alfonso Macias. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Sergeant William Ramírez
Dates/courses: 1986, Orientación de Armas para Cadetes C-3A3
Info: Murder: Ramírez is charged with the aggravated murder of grassroots leader Antonio Palacios Urrea as well as six other people. (Americas Watch Report: Political Murder and Reform in Colombia, 1992)

 

Name: Major General Juan Carlos Ramírez Trujillo
Dates/courses: 2002, WHINSEC Command and Staff Course
Info: On January 12, 2007, when Ramírez was the Commander of the Artillery Battalion No. 4 in Antioquia, troops under his command allegedly committed five extrajudicial executions. In 2008, the Human Rights Unit of the National Prosecutor’s Office opened a formal investigation into these executions. (Colombia-Europe-United States Coordination and Fellowship of Reconciliation, “‘Falsos Positivos’ en Colombia y el papel de la asistencia militar de Estados Unidos, 2000-2010 [‘False Positives’ in Colombia and the Role of United States Military Assistance, 2000-2010],” 2014, p. 86) In 2019, when he was promoted to Major General, Corporación Jurídica Libertad denounced his alleged involvement in additional extrajudicial executions in 2006 when he was commander of the Seventh Division, and have presented a report regarding these executions to the Special Peace Jurisdiction. (AlertaPaisa, ‘‘Organizaciones sociales rechazaron ascenso del mayor general Juan Carlos Ramírez [Social Organizations Reject Promotion of Major General Juan Carlos Ramírez],’’ 23 December 2019)
Research Notes: Updated October 2020

 

Name: Captain Carlos Hugo Ramírez Zuluaga
Dates/courses: 1980, Cadet Arms Orientation
Info: Paramilitary death squad activity (MAS), 1981 -82: Colombian attorney general named Ramírez Zuluaga as one of several Army officers who were part of the military/paramilitary death squad MAS (Muerte a Secustradores, or “Death to Kidnappers”). (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Major Luis Fernando Ricardo Perdomo
Dates/courses: 1987, Psychological Operations Course
Info: Paramilitary death squad activity (MAS), 1981-82: Colombian attorney general named Ricardo Perdomo as one of several Army officers who were part of the military/paramilitary death squad MAS. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Luis Eduardo Roca Malchel
Dates/courses:1991, SOA “Hall of Fame”
Info: Misuse of counter-narcotics funds. In 1991, this former Army chief of staff, with cohort José Nelson Mejía Henao (above), thanked Congress for $40.3 million in anti-narcotics aid, which they said would be used (illegally) in counterinsurgency campaigns in northeastern Colombia, where narcotics are neither grown nor processed. (Ruth Connill, The Progressive, May 1992) Torture, 1988: Covered for those who tortured 19 people over 3 weeks in June 1988, one of whom sustained permanent damage to both arms. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Luis Alberto Rodríguez
Dates/courses: 1978, Command and General Staff College; 1970, “O-7”
Info: Former head, joint chiefs of staff, dismissed along with 5 other top military officers: Rodríguez was dismissed on 22 November 1994 by President Ernesto Samper. Samper overhauled the military leadership in the hopes of decreasing corruption and drug trafficking among the armed forces, and improving the human rights record of the military. (Reuters, 22 November 1994)

 

Name: General Francisco Augusto Rodríguez Arango
Dates/courses:1969, Maintenance Orientation Course
Info: Murder, 1986: Covered for those responsible for the revenge-killing of communist Gustavo Alfonso Macias. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Luis Alvaro Rodríguez Fontecha
Dates/courses: 1975, Guerrilla Warfare Operations
Info: Paramilitary death squad activity (MAS), 1981-82: Named by the Colombian attorney general in 1983 as a member of the military/paramilitary death squad MAS. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN) COLOMBIA, 1992

 

Name: Captain Mario Raul Rodríguez Reynoso
Dates/courses: 1978, Small Unit Tactics
Info: Murder, 1989: Implicated in the disappearance of Amparo Tordecilla. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Raul Rojas Cubillos
Dates/courses: 1971, Special Maintenance Orientation
Info: Urabá massacre, 1988: Implicated in the early morning massacre of 20 banana workers. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992) Segovia massacre, 1988: Implicated in the early evening massacre of 43 people, including several children, in a central park in the town of Segovia. Several children were among the dead. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Luis Fernando Rojas Espinoza
Dates/courses: 1984, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Segovia massacre, 1988: Implicated in the massacre at Segovia. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: First Lieutenant José Hugo Rojas Guzmán
Dates/courses: 1986, Cadet Arms Orientation
Info: Paramilitary activity, 1989: Led a military/paramilitary death squad in Magdalena Medio. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Second Lieutenant Alejandro Rojas Pinilla
Dates/courses: 1985, Cadet Arms Orientation
Info: Disappearance, 1987: Implicated in the abduction and disappearance of Ramón Salvador Angarita Solano from his home in the Santander department. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: First Lieutenant William Fernando Rubio Moreno
Dates/courses: 1986, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Murder, 1988: Implicated in the murder of three woodcutters in Magdalena Medio. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Jaime Ruiz Barrera
Dates/courses: 1970, Military Intelligence Officer Course
Info: Assassination of Colombian attorney general, 1988: Implicated in the assassination of Colombian attorney general Carlos Mauro Hoyos. Torture, murder, 1979: Ordered the assassination of Claudio Medina Caycedo and the disposal of his corpse. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Lieutenant Colonel Francisco E. Ruiz Florian
Dates/courses: 1976, Tactical Officer, Small Unit Infantry
Info: Assassination, 1986: Obstructed investigations into the revenge-killing of communist Gustavo Alfonso Macias. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA,1992)

 

Name: Captain Marco Antonio Salazar Duque
Dates/courses: 1976, Small Unit Infantry Tactics
Info: Paramilitary (MAS) activity: Investigations by the attorney general and others indicated that Salazar Duque participated in the military/paramilitary death squad MAS, and was personally responsible for the assassination of at least one individual. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Juan Carlos Salazar Salazar
Dates/courses: 1980, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Illegal detention, torture, 1988: Participated in the detention and torture of 19 individuals, one of whom sustained permanent damage to both arms. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Juan Salcedo Lora
Dates/courses: 1979, SOA Guest Instructor; 1971, Special Maintenance Orientation
Info: Illegal detention, 1988: Ordered the illegal and clandestine detention of Manuel Reyes Cárdenas. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Rafael Samudio Molina
Dates/courses: 1988, SOA “Hall of Fame”; 1970, SOA Guest Instructor
Info: Massacre at the Palace of Justice, November 7, 1985: Oversaw the Army massacre at the Palace of Justice following an attempt by the M-19 to take it over. The Army under his command set the building ablaze, resulting in the needless and horrifying deaths of many of the hostages. Other hostages were killed in Army crossfire, or, as some suspect, direct assassination. Even the hostages who lived through the horrifying ordeal were not safe; some were killed before exiting the palace and others were arrested and disappeared immediately upon leaving the building. Taped conversations between Samudio Molina and his commanders in the building establish that at no time did Samudio Molina act as an agent of the civilian government, but rather used the situation to prove the brutality of the Colombian military and to eliminate individuals, including Supreme Court justices, who were not staunch enough allies of the Colombian Army. (POJ) Samudio Molina has also been implicated in paramilitary activities since 1978. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Humberto Sanchez Rey
Dates/courses: 1990, Advanced Combat Officer Course; 1982, Cadet Arms Orientation
Info: Assassination of Unión Patriotica presidential candidate, 1987: Implicated in the drug-financed assassination of Jaime Pardo Leal, Unión Patriotica presidential candidate. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Manuel Sanmiguel Buenaventura
Dates/courses: 1962, Counterinsurgency Operations
Info: Urabá massacre, 1988: Implicated in the massacre of twenty banana workers. Torture, 1979: Participated in the torture of Olga L?pez and Augusto Lara Sánchez. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: First Lieutenant Carlos Eduardo Santacruz Estrada
Dates/courses: 1983, Cadet Arms Orientation
Info: Segovia massacre, 1988: Implicated in the early evening massacre of 43 unarmed people, including children, in a Segovia park. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Colonel Ramón de Jesús Santander Fuentes
Dates/courses: 1986, Command and General Staff College (Distinguished graduate)
Info: Massacre, 1989: Implicated in the military/paramilitary massacre of a judicial commission investigating military/paramilitary cooperation. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Major José Ismael Sierra Sierra
Dates/courses: 1976, Small Unit Infantry Tactics
Info: Disappearance, 1982: Covered for those who disappeared Gustavo Albeiro Muñoz Hurtado. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992

 

Name: Major Jairo Solano
Dates/courses: 1976, Tacticas de Infanteria de Unidades Pequeñas
Info: Ordered killing, 1992: He ordered the death of Dr. Adalbulo in 1992. (Colombia’s Killer Networks)

 

Name: Major Carlos Arturo Suarez Bustamante
Dates/courses: 1981, Tactical Officer, Cadet Arms Orientation
Info: Assassination, 1986: Commanded the company that conducted the revenge-killing of Gustavo Alfonso Macias Borja. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Celso Suarez Martínez
Dates/courses: 1975, Special Maintenance Administration
Info: Massacre at the Palace of Justice, 1985: Implicated in the disappearance of hostages who survived the Army’s brutal handling of the M-19 takeover of the Palace of Justice in Bogotá.(TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Major Luis Alberto Tobo Peña
Dates/courses: 1976, Small Unit Infantry Tactics
Info:Torture, assassination, 1984: Implicated in the torture and murder of communist Luis Fernando Lalinde. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Hugo Arturo Tovar Sanchez
Dates/courses: 1967, Tactical Officer, Cadet Orientation Course
Info: Clandestine detention, 1989: Ordered the illegal clandestine detentionof Argiro Alonso Avendano Palacio and Maricela Cuello Villamil.(TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Colonel Orlando Elain Tovar Trujillo
Dates/courses: 1979, SOA Guest Instructor; 1967, Cadet Orientation Course
Info: Torture, 1988: Implicated in the military operation in which 19 individuals were arrested and subsequently tortured. One victim sustained permanent damage to both arms. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Colonel Victor Manuel Trujillo Hoyos
Dates/courses: 1983-84, Guest Instructor
Info: Paramilitary death squad activity (MAS), 1981-82: Protected and aided the military/paramilitary death squad MAS while assigned to the Fifth Brigade. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: First Lieutenant Orlando Ulloa Gaitán
Dates/courses: 1980, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Assassination, 1987: Implicated in the drug-financed assassination of Unión Patriotica presidential candidate Jaime Pardo Leal. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Jairo John Uribe Cárdenas
Dates/courses: 1980 Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Paramilitary activity, 1986: Implicated in paramilitary activities, including assassinations and disappearances, in Llanos Orientales. Ramírez massacre, 1986: Implicated in the murder of 2 members of the Ramírez family, and the torture and murder of 4 others. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Colonel Alirio Antonio Urueña Jaramillo
Dates/courses: 1976, Small Unit Infantry Tactics
Info: Trujillo chain saw massacres, 1988-1991: From 1988 – 1991, at least 107 citizens of the village of Trujillo were tortured and murdered. An eye-witness said Major Alirio Antonio Urue?a tortured prisoners (including elderly women) with water hoses, stuffed them into coffee sacks, and chopped them to pieces with a chain saw. The eye-witness was soon disappeared; Major Urueña was promoted to Colonel. After intense international outcry, Urueña was dismissed from the Army in February 1995. (Associated Press, 2/7/95; TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Juan José Alfonso Vacca Parilia
Dates/courses: 1980, Guest Instructor
Info: Urabá massacre, 1988: Implicated in the massacre of 20 banana workers on the morning of March 4, 1988. Disappearance, 1988: Implicated in the disappearance of Manuel Reyes Cárdenas.
Assassination, 1987: Implicated in the assassination of Alvaro Garcás Parra, mayor of Sabana de Torres, Paramilitary activity (MAC), 1985: Created a military/paramilitary death squad known as “Muerte a Comunistas” (Death to Communists) Torture, 1979: During his tenure there, the Escuela de Caballeria was a torture center. Olga López Jaramillo was tortured there. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Cesar Augusto Valencia Moreno
Dates/courses: 1980, Orientacion para Ramas de Cadete
Info: Linked to death of Sergio Restrepo Jaramillo: Cpt. Valencia repeatedly pressured Jesuit Sergio Restrepo to change a mural painted on a church wall that depicted soldiers torturing a priest. Restrepo refused to do so, and was murdered a short time later by paid assassins who carried Army Intelligence cards. Eye witnesses state that shortly before the shots were fired, Valencia became nervous and went out onto the balcony as though expecting something to happen. When he heard the shots, he was visibly relieved and came back inside. (Aquellas muertes que hicieron resplandecer la vida, 1992)

 

Name: Captain Hugo Alberto Valencia Vivas
Dates/courses: 1980, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Segovia massacre, 1988: Implicated in the massacre at Segovia in which 43 people died, including several children. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Lieutenant Colonel Bayardo Vasquez Valdes
Dates/courses: 1977, Automotive Maintenance Officer
Info: Disappearance, 1989: Implicated in the disappearance of Sandra Vélez Vélez. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Lieutenant Alfonso Vega Garzon
Dates/courses: 1985, Orientacion de Armas de Combate
Info: Massacre, 1993: Implicated in the massacre of 13 people. (Colombia’s Killer Networks)

 

Name: Captain Freddy José Velandia Bottia
Dates/courses: 1980, Cadet Arms Orientation Course
Info: Torture, 1989: Commanded the patrol that detained and tortured a union leader and 2 banana workers over several days in March 1989. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: Colonel Carlos Velasquez
Dates/courses: 1976, Tacticas de Infanteria de Unidades Pequeñas
Info: Coup Plot, 1995: As commander of the 17th Brigade, Velasquez planned to seize Colombian President Samper during a visit to an army base in the northwest banana-growing region of Uraba and send him into exile in Panama. The attempt was called off after a general, one of Velasquez’s superiors, arrived unexpectedly at the base. Interior Minister Alfonso Lopez immediately announced an investigation and said that Velasquez would be punished. Prior to serving as a commander of the 17th Brigade, Velasquez headed an anti-drug unit that lead the search for the kingpins of the Cali cartel, but he was transferred after the leak of a video showing him in a motel room with a known female member of the cartel. (Reuters)

 

Name: General Jesús Maria Vergara Aragon
Dates/courses: 1971, Special Maintenance Orientation Course
Info: Fusagasugá massacre, 1991: Failed to investigate the massacre for days after it happened, insisting publicly that guerrillas were responsible for killing a peasant family and two other men. (Americas Watch Report: State of War Political Violence and Counterinsurgency in Colombia, 1993)

 

Name: General Nacim Yanine Díaz
Dates/courses: 1971, “O-7
Info: Disappearance, 1982: Implicated in the disappearance of 13 people between March and September of 1982. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)

 

Name: General Hernando Camilo Zuniga Chaparro
Dates/courses: 1978, Command and General Staff College;1968, Military Intelligence Officer Course
Info: Torture, 1988: Commanded the unit responsible for the torture of 19 people in June 1988, one of whom sustained permanent damage to both arms.
Clandestine detention, 1988: Ordered the clandestine detention of José Manuel Reyes Cárdenas.
Disappearance, 1985: Implicated in the disappearance of guerrillas and hostages following the M-19’s doomed attempt to takeover the Palace of Justice.
Torture, disappearance, 1977: Ordered the detention and torture of Omaira Montoya Henao and Mauricio Trujillo. Omaira Montoya Henao was never seen again. (TERRORISMO DE ESTADO EN COLOMBIA, 1992)