Colombian ex-president asks for forgiveness over civilian killings

Agencies | Rio de Janeiro

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Colombia's former President Juan Manuel Santos on Friday asked for forgiveness for the killings of thousands of civilians at the hands of the military between 2002 and 2008, the Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) reported.

"That should never have happened, I acknowledge that and I ask for forgiveness, from the depths of my soul, from all the mothers and their families, who became victims of this horror," Santos told the country's truth commission.

Santos was defence minister from 2006 to 2009 and president from 2010 to 2018.

The Colombian military killed at least 6,402 civilians between 2002 and 2008 and passed them off as enemy guerilla fighters to meet quotas and receive bonuses, according to the Special Justice for Peace (JEP).

Santos, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016, said the pressure to produce enemy casualties and the rewards for doing so were undoubtedly incentives for the killings.

However, he would not call them systemic killings.

Colombia suffered more than 50 years of armed conflict between its military, left-wing guerilla groups and right-wing paramilitaries.

More than 220,000 people lost their lives during the civil war and millions of people were displaced in the country.

In 2016, the largest rebel organization FARC signed a treaty with Santos' government and laid down their arms.

The establishment of the JEP and the truth commission were agreed in the treaty as a means to guarantee peace.

A group of mothers whose sons were killed, called the "Mothers of Soacha," have been fighting for justice for their children.

After Santos' comments, they demanded: "a meeting, so that Juan Manuel Santos can look us in the eye."

"For more than 13 years we have shouted that our sons were not guerrillas. Finally, we've heard it from his own mouth."