The Massacre of Trujillo ( es, Masacre de Trujillo) was a series of murders perpetrated between 1988 and 1994 in the town of Trujillo, Valle del Cauca Department in southwestern

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

paramilitaries A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

and the

Cali Cartel The Cali Cartel ( es, Cartel de Cali) was a drug cartel based in southern Colombia, around the city of Cali and the Valle del Cauca. Its founders were the brothers Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela. They broke away fr ...

with the complicity of active members of the Colombian military and police. Some 245 to 342 people, including unionists and suspected guerrilla supporters, were tortured and dismembered. Among the more gruesome murders was the decapitation and castration of Father Tiberio Fernandez, the local Jesuit priest. The murders were seen as a warning to other pro-guerrilla elements. Most of the corpses were thrown into the waters of the

Cauca River The Cauca River () is a river in Colombia that lies between the Occidental and Central cordilleras. From its headwaters in southwestern Colombia near the city of Popayán, it joins the Magdalena River near Magangue in Bolivar Department, and ...

Judicial Proceedings

The Colombian government declared itself guilty of

negligence Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as ...

and the

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the IACHR or, in the three other official languages Spanish, French, and Portuguese CIDH, ''Comisión Interamericana de los Derechos Humanos'', ''Commission Interaméricaine des Droits de l'Homme'' ...

was also notified of the case. Some members of the Cali Cartel accused of participating in this massacre were Henry Loaiza-Ceballos "aka The Scorpion" and Juan Carlos Ortiz Escobar "aka Knife". The case was first officially acknowledged and investigated in the mid-1990s under Colombian President Ernesto Samper (1994–1998); however, no one was ever tried for the killings. Declassified U.S. government documents suggest that the United States government regarded this and other human rights investigations under President Samper as lacking resolve. On March 19, 2008, the

Attorney General of Colombia The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia ( es, Fiscalía General de la Nación; literally "General Prosecutorial Office of the Nation") is the Colombian institution part of the Colombian judicial branch of Government with administrative a ...

accused retired

Colombian Army The National Army of Colombia ( es, Ejército Nacional de Colombia) is the land warfare service branch of the Military Forces of Colombia. With over 361,420 active personnel as of 2020, it is the largest and oldest service branch in Colombia, ...

Major Alirio Antonio Urueña Jaramillo, former

Colombian National Police The National Police of Colombia (Spanish: ''Policía Nacional de Colombia'') is the national police force of the Republic of Colombia. Although the National Police is not part of the Military Forces of Colombia (Army, Navy, and Air Force), it ...

Lieutenant José Fernando Berrio and former Sergeant Aníbal Álvarez Hoyos for their involvement with a paramilitary group during the massacre. A juicio dos ex oficiales y un sargento por masacre de Trujillo (Valle), ocurrida hace 18 años
/ref> In March 1990, Major Urueña was the acting commander of the Palacé Battalion in Buga which was engaging in counterinsurgency operations against the ELN guerrilla, Lieutenant Berrio Velásquez was acting commander of the police station in Trujillo and former Sergeant Álvarez Hoyos was in charge of the Sijin in

Tuluá Tuluá (), is a city located in the heart of Valle del Cauca, Colombia. A major industrial and commercial center, it is the region's fourth-largest city after Cali—the department capital— Buenaventura and Palmira. Founded around 1741 by Jua ...

. The case was re-opened in 2008 following the publication of an independent report by the Historical Memory Group.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trujillo Massacres in 1988 Massacres in 1989 Massacres in 1990 Conflicts in 1988 Conflicts in 1989 Conflicts in 1990 Massacres in Colombia 1980s in Colombia 1990s in Colombia Colombian conflict