The United States government may revoke the visas of other military personnel involved in alleged human rights violations, a measure ten days earlier applied to three uniformed officers for the same reason, as announced by that country’s Secretary of State Anthony Was. Blinken.
According to information provided by journalist Daniel Coronel for the W radio station, the ban was initially imposed on retired colonels Publio Hernán Mejia Gutierrez and Juan Carlos Figueroa Sánchez and General Iván Ramírez Quintero, who were once the most powerful figures in military intelligence. . The veto also extends to five relatives of these retired soldiers.
Through a statement, the Secretary of State stressed that this decision is due to the peace agreement signed by the government of Juan Manuel Santos with the FARC guerrillas in 2016 and the support of the United States government for transitional justice by the JEP (Special for Peace jurisdiction).
For this reason, the US government will apply this measure to servicemen who do not want to contribute substantially to the truth in a court of peace or who have not declared their ties to armed groups or the existence of procedures at the time of their processing. Residence Permit Permanent, known as Green Card.
According to Coronel’s information, one of those officers would be Luis Alfonso Plaza Vega, who currently resides in Florida and was acquitted of the disappearance of eleven people during the seizure of the Palace of Justice in 1985. It does not involve acquittal. The torture and disappearance of Magistrate Carlos Horacio Urán, for which Plaza Vega is facing trial in a court for the Southern District of the United States.
The United States government will be reviewing whether there was any lapse of information on his part in the processing of immigration documents that would permanently revoke his residence permit in the North American country.
Another case being evaluated is that of Colonel Jorge Luis Mejia Rojas, a former intelligence officer of the 17th Brigade, who was allegedly linked to the 1996 murder of Patriotic Union members in Antioquia’s Apartado.
Additionally, another officer who will be disqualified to enter the United States is Colonel Hector Alejandro Cabuya, who allegedly participated in 43 false positives in collusion with the Centaurs bloc of the AUC (United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia). Had taken.
The same will happen to Colonel Lino Sánchez Prada, former commander of the 2nd Mobile Brigade, accused of being a co-perpetrator of the Mapiripan massacre carried out by paramilitaries with the support of active members of the army in 1997.
Citizens who may also be sanctioned
Daniel Coronel also assured that a former member of the defunct Administrative Security Department (DAS) would be included in the list of possible sanctions for entering the United States: the lawyer Ricardo Villaraga Franco, who served as head of the judicial police of that intelligence agency. Worked as
Additionally, the Journalists note that potential decisions by the United States Government regarding visas for all of the individuals mentioned are based on the State Department’s relevant programs and assignment of foreign operations legislation. The measure has been sought to promote accountability on the part of uniformed officials and civilians who have links with paramilitary groups in the context of armed conflict in Colombia, and who in this sense have ordered or participated in torture, killings Have taken the disappearance of citizens. with Infobay
