Colombian authorities on Thursday refuted claims by the United Nations Commission on Enforced Disappearances (CED) that 20,000 unidentified bodies are stored in a hangar at Bogota's El Dorado International Airport.
For two weeks, the UN CED delegation visit He traveled to Colombia in late November to investigate the country's decades-long forced disappearance crisis. The group met with dozens of local government authorities, civil society organizations and victims, according to a UN press release.
“Although enforced disappearances began in Colombia around the 1940s, they are not just a crime of the past. They continue to occur every day across the country, under different circumstances,” the group said.
The delegation asserted that there were discrepancies between agency records regarding the number of victims of enforced disappearance, with reported figures received by the organization ranging from 98,000 to 200,000. The CED said the reported discrepancies “make it impossible to determine the true extent.”
At the end of the visit, the UN group held a press conference on Thursday, where members shared some of their preliminary findings and stressed that enforced disappearances in Colombia are “not a crime of the past.” The group added that the Colombian state's existing material and human resources are “not sufficient to meet the demand.”
“Enforced disappearances are not crimes of the past. Over the past two weeks, the people we have interviewed have provided us with a picture of a society overwhelmed by disappearances, which continue to occur every day across the country,” said the United Nations Mission. said one, Juan Pablo Albán. said.
In addition to other findings, the United Nations group says thousands of unidentified bodies are “in poorly managed cemeteries and storage facilities, including a hangar at Bogota's airport, where approximately 20,000 unidentified bodies are currently stored.” “I'm asleep,” he claimed. The full CED report is expected to be published in April 2025.
Colombian authorities immediately rejected CED's claims. Forensic Medicine Research Institute presents an overview statement Shortly after, the facility claimed it was “not aware of the existence of such a hangar and has not received a request from any authority to investigate and analyze such an incident.”
The Colombian Attorney General's Office responded immediately. launch Inspection of El Dorado International Airport in Bogota. According to the Attorney General's Office, no such bodies were found in the airport hangar through inspection by local authorities.
Tito Perilla, advisor to the Colombian Human Rights Ombudsman's office, told reporters: “After visiting 27 hangars, we found that these hangars are used for boarding commercial passengers, repairing aircraft, storing equipment for ground operations, etc. at the airport.'' We were able to confirm that they are specialized in their work.” .
Other Colombian authorities also disputed the UN group's claims on Friday morning. Mayor of Bogota Carlos Fernando Galan explained In remarks to reporters, he called the allegations “very serious.”
Galan said his office had no information about the U.N. report's claim that there were 20,000 bodies in an airport hangar, and that the international organization would clarify the claim and provide further evidence. He emphasized that it was necessary.
“I think it is very important that the United Nations, in this case the mission that came to Colombia, provides support to make such a statement, because there is nothing in the judgment of the local authorities, the Attorney General. There's no indication, there's no element.'The fact that the authorities, the coroner's office, the police, the airport have it tells us there's some substantiation to this information.” said Galan.
Colombian Interior Minister Juan Fernando Cristo issued a message on social media thanking the United Nations for its work in Colombia, calling it “the cornerstone of peacebuilding,” but calling the organization a “foundation for peacebuilding.” asked for clarification.
“Given the transparency of public opinion, this is a very serious and unverified statement,” Crist said.
Colombian radio station La FM reported On Friday morning, it said it had received an email from UN media officer Vivian Kwok stating that the members of the CED delegation were not UN employees.
“Please note that the Commission on Enforced Disappearances is a monitoring body comprised of independent human rights experts from around the world. They are not UN employees,” the email said.
Christian K. Caruso is a Venezuelan writer who chronicles life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
