A retired Colombian Army colonel accused former president Álvaro Uribe Vélez (2002-2010) of having authorized violating the sovereignty of Venezuelan territory to carry out operations against guerrilla groups, local media ‘W Radio’ reported, quoted by Sputnik.
“Within that Security Council, one of the things that most caught my attention was that, when they say on time that everything comes from Venezuela and basically President Uribe says, well get involved, I support that and I am the one who responds. Under that criterion… we do a first operation -in Venezuela- with the captain, today Colonel Javier López -who works in the institution-«, Colonel Santiago Herrera Fajardo sentenced, detailed the station.
The accusation against Uribe specifies WRadiusoccurred in a statement session by Herrera Fajardo before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP).
According to the retired colonel, the events occurred during the first Uribe government (2002-2006), the date on which the Uribe government said that members of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army ( ELN) were hiding in Venezuela
One of the military actions that Herrera specifies was one carried out in 2003, when five alleged guerrillas were killed in the operation, including a minor, a situation that was later discussed between the government and the United States embassy, according to the statement before the JEP.
«The Minister of Defense at that time called me at about 7 at night, he said that there was a flagrant violation of human rights and what I am telling you here I narrate to the Minister of Defense: this is an operation that was authorized under these criteria and this situation arose, the minor was dead in civilian clothing, he was promptly informed of that, and he told me that they were going to handle that situation directly with the embassy,” Colonel Herrera commented at the JEP.
Finally, the colonel narrates that this military action occurred near the Arauca River, a border area between the two countries and in which Army soldiers crossed the bodies of those killed from Venezuela.
