The United States announced sanctions on Friday against retired Colombian general Mario Montoya, who is accused of being involved in a case of extrajudicial executions of civilians who were falsely presented as guerrillas killed in combat.
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The resolution implies that Mario Montoya and his family are prohibited from traveling to the United States, the State Department indicated.
Montoya was an army commander since 2006 and one of the soldiers closest to the then president, the right-wing Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010). In 2008 he resigned, harassed by the scandal of the executions that, according to him, were committed behind his back.
“The United States will continue its efforts to support lasting peace in Colombia that recognizes the needs of victims and survivors,” the department said in a statement.
In 2023, Colombia’s special peace court charged Montoya with crimes against humanity for his responsibility in the death or disappearance of 130 civilians who were falsely reported as guerrillas killed in clashes, the case that later became known as one of the “false positives.”
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In its statement, the State Department also highlighted that it supports the peace agreement signed in 2016 between the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and the government of President Juan Manuel Santos, Nobel Peace Prize winner.
This reduced violence in Colombia, torn for decades by an armed conflict in which agents of the State, guerrillas, paramilitary groups and drug trafficking gangs.
However, some dissident groups continued to operate and have since grown stronger in weapons and numbers of combatants.
These factions dispute with other illegal organizations control of key territories for coca leaf production and illegal mining.
AFP
