Father of the three children murdered in Arauca asks that the whole truth be told

Sent by Humanidad Vigente

(Translated by Emily Hansen, CSN's Assistant Program Director)

 

Tuesday, November 9, 2010, 22:44

 

"To the military forces I say that I will neither forgive nor forget, and that we demand justice, because the massacre of my three children was not committed by just one military man. This crime was committed by several men," stated José Álvaro Torres in a letter written by him addressed to the public.

 

Letter of a father reclaiming justice

 

In my name and in the name of my family, I welcome the advancement of the investigations and I hope that they will be carried out through the final consequences and until the whole truth is known. I would like to clarify that this document was written by my own hand and that I asked the favor of a friend of mine to transcribe it to computer so that this letter could be sent to all of the spoken and written methods of communication and to public institutions.

 

I ask the Prosecutor General's Office, President Juan Manuel Santos and the Armed Forces to completely clarify the acts committed and to find all of those responsible for the crime and to punish them with the full weight of the law. To the national and departmental government I ask that the witnesses, the communities and the people who with so much bravery have denounced these horrendous acts be kept safe. Our demand is that this case not be met with impunity and that these acts never repeat themselves.

 

To the National Inspector General's office I ask that the investigations move forward more quickly with a disciplinary character, taking into account that the perpetrators are members of the Armed Forces. With respect to the pardon, I want to make it public, in my name and in the name of my family, that until the whole truth is known and effective justice has been realized, until the details of the crime committed have been made very clear and until those physically and intellectually involved with this horrendous act against my three children have been named, there will be no pardon. 

 

To the military forces I say that I will neither forgive nor forget, and that we demand justice, because the massacre of my three children was not committed by just one military man. This crime was committed by several men. If the crime was committed by just one man, then why are seven backpacks covered with blood, saliva and semen? Criminal Raúl Muñoz confessed that he sexually used the two girls, the thirteen-year-old and my daughter, but claims that they accepted his advances.  I ask the men at the Prosecutor General's office and the military men if they therefore think that my daughter also accepted her murder and that of her two younger brothers, who were my beloved children.

 

The statements made by an Army general that appeared in a newspaper that foreign organizations are controlling and manipulating me so that I will denounce and dirty the name of the Army are false. Wouldn't it be that with this murder committed by various military men that they themselves have sullied the name of the Army?

 

Finally, with immense pain in my soul and a scar that will never leave me, I thank the community of the rural area of Caño Temblador where I used to live, the nearby rural areas, the human rights organizations, the means of communication, public figures and the people who have expressed their solidarity with me and my family and who have helped me to denounce this tragedy that I have experienced and that I continue to live.

 

Thank you.

 

José Álvaro Torres

Father of the three murdered children

Tuesday, November 9, 2010, 23:08

 

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