The Attorney General’s Office “No human remains were found in any of the hangars at Bogotá’s El Dorado airport after inspecting them this Thursday due to the alleged existence of some 20,000 bodies.”sheltered“in that place, as stated by the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances after a visit to the country.
He advisor to the Attorney General’s Office (Public Ministry) Delegate for Human Rights, Tito Perillaassured that in the inspection of the airport’s 27 hangars it was found that “correspond to places specific to airport operations” and “The presence of places equipped for the conservation of human remains was not evident.“.
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At the conclusion of a visit to Colombia this Friday, the UN Committee on Forced Disappearances said in a press conference in Bogotá that the delegation of that organization is “particularly concerned about the situation of the institutions“responsible for identify remains of missing persons in the country.
“Colombia finds thousands of unidentified bodies, in the soil, subsoil, but also in vaults and the so-called ‘swimming pools’“said the Committee.
El Dorado Airport
He then stated: “According to information provided to the delegation, around 20,000 unidentified bodies are also found in a hangar at the Bogotá airport.“.
The expert of the Carmen Rosa Villa Committee specified that this is information provided to them by the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences and that “They are not bodies found, they are bodies that are protected“, why not “There is another place to keep them“as long as they can be identified.
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However, after the visit to the El Dorado hangars ordered by the Attorney General’s Office, Perilla explained in a statement: “We were able to validate that activities related to airport operations, aircraft maintenance workshops and ground support equipment are carried out there.“.
Finally, he said that Directorate of Special Investigations of the Attorney General’s Office will yield “a report on the matter in the coming days“after analyzing the”result of the visit report“.
UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances
Legal Medicine Response
After hearing the report of the international organization, the Institute of Legal Medicine He stated in a statement that “does not know the existence of said hangar“and added that”has not received requests from any authority for the study and analysis of said cases“.
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The supposed existence of the hangar that stores 20,000 bodies was also unknown by Opaina company that has the concession to manage the El Dorado airport, the most important in Colombia.
“Faced with the news reported in some media about the alleged existence of a hangar with thousands of lifeless bodies, Opain, concessionaire of the El Dorado International Airport, allows itself to inform the public that it has no knowledge of these events. It is up to the authorities to clarify them.“Opain said in a statement.
The Mayor’s Office of Bogotá joined the previous ones and clarified “that until now there is no knowledge or indication of the existence of a hangar containing the aforementioned bodies“.
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According to the Search Unit for Persons Reported Missing (UBPD)in Colombia there are more than 111,000 missing people before 2016, the year in which the peace agreement with the FARC was signed, but the data varies and there is a gap after that date.
In fact, the UN Committee, which visited the country for the first time, also expressed concern about “that there is no reliable global vision of the dimension of forced disappearance; The figures communicated to the delegation range between 98,000 and 200,000 missing people in Colombia“.
EFE
