On Monday, the Colombian authorities revealed more cases of the killing of minors in recent military bombings, bringing the number of victims to 15 since last August. These operations sparked strong criticism from President Gustavo Petro.
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Last week, the armed forces celebrated the bombing of a rebel camp in the Guaviare province (southern Colombia) in the Amazon, in which 19 fighters were killed. But the process ended in a scandal for the president.
The Office of the Public Defender, a human rights body, reported on Saturday that seven forcibly recruited minors were among the victims of the attack carried out on October 10.
The bombing revealed more cases that had not been known until then. Petro added five minors to the list on Monday: four were killed in a bomb attack on October 1 in Caqueta province (south) and another one last Thursday in Arauca (northeast), on the border with Venezuela.
“They are all victims of forced recruitment by criminals who dragged them into hostilities,” the president wrote on social media.
Later, the National Institute of Forensic Medicine and Forensic Sciences, a forensic body, confirmed that three more minors had died in a bomb attack in Guaviare on 24 August.
These events shocked the country, which has been mired in a conflict that has been going on for six decades with armed groups that recruit minors to join their ranks.
The Army and Police Crime Prosecutor’s Office announced in a statement on Monday that it had opened an investigation to “verify” whether the attack that occurred last week in Guaviare “is consistent with the principles and rules guiding the legitimate use of force by the public in the context of armed conflict.”
On Saturday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia expressed its “deep concern” over the deaths of the first seven children, which were publicly revealed.
Initially, President Petro defended himself, claiming that he had ordered the bombing to prevent rebels from ambushing a group of soldiers. He later lamented the “painful loss” of children on the X network.
“I will carry this pain on my conscience and I know that I will never be able to overcome the pain of their mothers, from whom I ask for forgiveness,” the president said.
Petro refused to stop the bombings despite a request from the Public Defender’s Office. Some senators are demanding the resignation of Defense Minister retired General Pedro Sanchez.
The air strikes were directed against a splinter faction of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) led by Ivan Mordesco, the country’s most wanted criminal.
In 2019, then-Defense Secretary Guillermo Botero resigned from his post amid criticism in Congress for ordering a bombing that killed children. Petro, who was an opposition senator in Ivan Duque’s right-wing government, called the attack a “war crime.”
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