There Are No Dead Here
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John, Ivonne, Anne, and Karin McFarland, Carla Saenz, John Tisdale, Patricia Foxen, David McNaught, Jackie Robb, Bill and Robin Robb, Patrick Pearce, and María del Carmen Vega consistently showed interest in this project, even after several years of hearing me talk about it.
My beloved parents, George McFarland and Rosario Sánchez-Moreno, taught me to appreciate challenging places and to value standing on principle. They never failed to encourage me, even when they were afraid for my well-being. I could not have asked for more enthusiastic readers and listeners, or for better role models.
Phelim, you, more than anyone else, believed in this book and accompanied me on this journey. Your love and joyful partnership have made the past five years of writing not only easy, but also the happiest chapter of my life so far.
Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno is the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, the leading organization in the United States advocating for an end to the war on drugs. Previously, she held several positions at the international organization Human Rights Watch, including as its senior Americas researcher, covering Colombia from 2004 to 2010, and as codirector of its US program. McFarland grew up mostly in Lima, Peru, during that country’s internal war. She has written widely on drug policy and human rights issues, and is a frequent voice in the media. She lives in Brooklyn.
Photograph © 2017 George Baier IV
Main Characters
PROLOGUE
Rodrigo Zapata: Former paramilitary, close to Vicente Castaño, serving time in Itagüí prison.
PART I
Velásquez Family
Iván Velásquez: Chief prosecutor for Antioquia and other states in the late 1990s, and later assistant justice on the Colombian Supreme Court and lead investigator in the parapolitics cases.
María Victoria Velásquez: Iván Velásquez’s wife, also a lawyer, from Medellín.
Catalina Velásquez: Iván and María Victoria’s eldest child.
Laura Velásquez: Iván and María Victoria’s youngest child.
Víctor Velásquez: Iván and María Victoria’s second child.
Valle Family, Colleagues, and Friends
Jesús María Valle: A prominent human rights activist in Medellín, a member of the Permanent Human Rights Committee of Antioquia, and a councilman from Ituango, who was reporting collusion between paramilitaries and the military in Ituango in 1996 and 1997.
Magdalena Valle: One of Jesús María Valle’s sisters.
Nelly Valle: Jesús María Valle’s sister and receptionist.
María Victoria Fallon: A friend of Jesús María Valle, a fellow member of the Permanent Human Rights Committee of Antioquia, and a lawyer representing survivors from the El Aro massacre in a suit before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
Patricia Fuenmayor: A friend of Jesús María Valle and a fellow member of the Permanent Human Rights Committee of Antioquia.
Beatriz Jaramillo: A friend of Jesús María Valle and fellow member of the Permanent Human Rights Committee of Antioquia.
Gloria Manco: A close friend and colleague of Jesús María Valle.
FARC Leaders
Pedro Antonio Marín (aka “Manuel Marulanda” or “Tirofijo”): The FARC’s most senior commander.
El Aro Massacre
Amparo Areiza: Daughter of shopkeeper Marco Aurelio Areiza, who was murdered in the El Aro massacre; a contact of Jesús María Valle.
Miladis Torres: A survivor of the El Aro massacre in Ituango, Antioquia, in 1997.
Wilmar Torres: Miladis’s little brother.
Governor’s Office
Álvaro Uribe: Governor of Antioquia (1995–1997); president of Colombia (2002–2010); senator in Colombia (since 2013).
Pedro Juan Moreno: Chief of staff to Álvaro Uribe in the Antioquia governor’s office.
Military Officers
General Alfonso Manosalva: Commander of the Fourth Brigade of the Colombian Army until his death in April 1997.
General Carlos Alberto Ospina: Commander of the Fourth Brigade of the Colombian Army after Manosalva’s death. He went on to become commander of Colombia’s armed forces from 2004 to 2007.
PART II
Attorney General’s Office and CTI
Diego Arcila: Investigator and wiretapping expert at the Antioquia CTI in the late 1990s.
J. Guillermo Escobar: A mentor to Iván Velásquez, friend to both Velásquez and Valle, and prosecutor working for Velásquez when the latter served as chief prosecutor in Antioquia in the late 1990s.
Jorge Fernández: Deputy to Gregorio Oviedo at the Antioquia CTI in 1998.
Pablo Elías González: Head of the national CTI in Colombia in the late 1990s.
Alfonso Gómez Méndez: Attorney general of Colombia in 1997–2001.
Gregorio Oviedo: Head of the CTI of Antioquia, working closely with Iván Velásquez, in 1997–1998. Led raid on Padilla parking lot. Married to Amelia Pérez.
Amelia Pérez: Prosecutor in the Human Rights Unit of Colombia’s attorney general’s office in the late 1990s. Married to Gregorio Oviedo.
Javier Tamayo: Prosecutor working in Velásquez’s office in the late 1990s.
Members of the ACCU or the Envigado Office
Diego Murillo Bejarano (aka “Don Berna” or “El Ñato”): Longtime drug trafficker, former associate of Pablo Escobar and member of Los Pepes, head of the Envigado Office, and eventually member of the AUC leadership.
Carlos Castaño: Commander of the ACCU in the late 1990s, and then of the AUC. Former member of Los Pepes.
Jacinto Alberto Soto (aka “Lucas”): Paramilitary detained during the Padilla parking-lot raid. Later found to be the main accountant for Carlos Castaño.
Gustavo Upegui: Businessman believed by investigators to be a leader of the Envigado Office.
Members of the Medellín Cartel
Pablo Escobar: Colombia’s most famous drug lord, head of the Medellín cartel in the 1980s, responsible for high-profile killings and bombings through the early 1990s. Killed in 1993.
Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha (aka “El Mexicano” or “The Mexican”): A member of the Medellín cartel.
Jorge Luis, Fabio, and Juan David Ochoa: Brothers from Antioquia who became members of the Medellín cartel. Their father, also Fabio, was known for raising horses.
PART III
Calderón Family
Ricardo Calderón: Investigative journalist for Semana magazine.
Mónica: Ricardo Calderón’s wife (pseudonym).
Former AUC Members
Vicente Castaño: A senior AUC commander. Carlos’s brother.
Luis Eduardo Cifuentes (aka “El Águila” or “The Eagle”): AUC leader in the region of Cundinamarca, where Bogotá is located.
Iván Roberto Duque (aka “Ernesto Báez”): A senior commander of the AUC.
Edwin Guzmán: Former paramilitary in the United States who made allegations against Iván Velásquez in 2007.
Carlos Mario Jiménez (aka “Macaco”): Commander of the Central Bolívar Block of the AUC.
Antonio López (aka “Job”): Demobilized paramilitary, senior leader of the Democracy Corporation of Medellín, and close adviser to Don Berna.
Salvatore Mancuso: A senior commander of the AUC; involved in the El Aro massacre.
José Orlando Moncada (aka “Tasmania”): Former paramilitary serving time in prison. In 2007 he became the subject of a scandal after a letter he had supposedly sent to President Uribe was made public. In the letter, Tasmania accused Iván Velásquez, the Supreme Court assistant justice, of trying to get him to implicate Uribe in a murder attempt.
Rodrigo Mercado Peluffo (aka “Cadena” or “Chain”): A midlevel AUC commander who operated in Sucre.
Rodrigo Tovar Pupo (aka “Jorge 40”): Senior commander of the Northern Block of the AUC from Valledupar, Cesar.
Former Colombian Presidents
César Gaviria: President of Colombia from 1990 to 1994, later secretary-general of the Organization of American States.
Andrés Pastrana: President of Colombia from 1998 to 2002.
Ernesto Samper: President of Colombia from 1994 to 1998.
Government Officials or Advisers to the Uribe Administration
José Obdulio Gaviria: Adviser to Álvaro Uribe since the 1980s.
Mario Iguarán: Attorney general of Colombia from 2005 to 2009.
Members of Congress
Álvaro Araújo: Senator from Cesar; brother of Foreign Minister María Consuelo Araújo; investigated in the parapolitics cases.
Rocío Arias: Representative from Antioquia; investigated in the parapolitics cases.
Muriel Benito: Representative from Sucre; among the first investigated in the parapolitics cases.
Miguel de la Espriella: Senator from Córdoba; investigated in the parapolitics cases.
Álvaro García: Senator from Sucre; among the first investigated in the parapolitics cases.
Yidis Medina: Representative from Santander. Her allegations about why she voted for a bill allowing President Uribe to run for a second term led to a scandal in 2008.
Jairo Merlano: Senator from Sucre; among the first investigated in the parapolitics cases.
Eric Morris: Representative from Sucre; among the first investigated in the parapolitics cases.
Gustavo Petro: Senator from Cundinamarca; former member of the M-19 guerrilla group. In 2007 he led a congressional hearing about paramilitary activity in Antioquia.
Mauricio Pimiento: Senator and former governor of Cesar; investigated in the parapolitics cases.
Eleonora Pineda: Representative from Córdoba; investigated in the parapolitics cases.
Mario Uribe: Senator from Antioquia; second cousin and close political ally of President Álvaro Uribe; investigated in the parapolitics cases.
Supreme Court Justices
María del Rosario González: Justice in the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court.
Álvaro Pérez: Justice in the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court. Velásquez worked directly for him until becoming the coordinator of the parapolitics investigations.
César Julio Valencia: President of the Colombian Supreme Court from 2007 to 2008.
DAS Officials
José Miguel Narváez: Deputy director of the DAS during Noguera’s directorship.
Jorge Noguera: Director of the DAS from 2002 to 2005. Investigated for conspiracy and other offenses related to paramilitary groups.
Witnesses in the Parapolitics Cases
Jairo Castillo Peralta (aka “Pitirri”): Former paramilitary who became a protected witness against paramilitaries and politicians in Sucre. He eventually fled to Canada. He became a witness in the Supreme Court’s parapolitics investigations.
Rafael García: Former IT director for the DAS under Noguera; convicted of various offenses. Provided extensive statements about ties between senior DAS officials and paramilitaries and criminal activity within the DAS.
Claudia López: Political analyst whose work on voting patterns in the regions where paramilitary violence had been most acute fed into the parapolitics investigations.
PART IV
Former Paramilitaries
Juan Carlos Sierra (aka “El Tuso”): Colombian drug lord who managed to join the paramilitary demobilization process and was later extradited to the United States.
Ferney Suaza: Demobilized paramilitary close to Job, who claimed that someone was trying to bribe him to accuse President Uribe of criminal activity.
DAS Officials
Alba Luz Flórez: DAS detective who became known as the “Mata Hari of the DAS” due to her role in spying on the Supreme Court.
María del Pilar Hurtado: Director of the DAS in 2007 and 2008.
Jorge Lagos: Director of counterintelligence in the DAS at the time of the 2009 surveillance scandal.
Martha Leal: Deputy operations director of the DAS during the Tasmania and Job scandals of 2007 and 2008.
Felipe Muñoz: Director of the DAS in 2009.
Fernando Tabares: Director of intelligence in the DAS at the time of the 2009 surveillance scandal.
Other Officials
Bernardo Moreno: Chief of staff to President Uribe.
General Óscar Naranjo: Chief of the National Police of Colombia from 2007 to 2012; vice president of Colombia since March 2017.
Juan Manuel Santos: Minister of defense of Colombia in 2006 to 2009, in the Uribe administration; president of Colombia since 2010.
General Mauricio Santoyo: Security chief for President Uribe.
Characters Related to the “Tasmania” or “Casa de Nari” Incidents
Diego Álvarez: Lawyer for Don Berna.
Henry Anaya: A lawyer who was recorded on video talking to Diego Álvarez and appearing to hold himself out as close to the Supreme Court.
Sergio González: Lawyer for El Tuso and Tasmania.
Notes and Sources
This book is largely based on my interviews over the course of five years (in some cases, more) with characters in the book and witnesses of the events described therein. I got to know both Iván Velásquez and Ricardo Calderón through my work as a human rights activist in Colombia between 2004 and 2010, and was in communication with them as many of the events in the book were unfolding. I also interviewed them extensively in later years. I conducted additional interviews with their family members, including María Victoria Velásquez, Velásquez’s children, and several of his siblings, as well as with Calderón’s wife, whom I have given the pseudonym “Mónica” in this book. Many of their colleagues and friends provided valuable information; these include, among others, Velásquez’s mentor and friend J. Guillermo Escobar; Gregorio Oviedo, the CTI chief in Medellín in the late 1990s; prosecutor Amelia Pérez; Supreme Court justices César Julio Valencia, María del Rosario González, Mauro Solarte, and Álvaro Pérez; several CTI investigators and prosecutors who worked with Velásquez in both Medellín and Bogotá, who would prefer to remain unnamed; Calderón’s editor, Alfonso Cuéllar, his colleague Rodrigo Pardo, and his fellow journalists Félix de Bedout and Daniel Coronell.
Jesús María Valle had already been killed by the time I started working on Colombia, but he is still loved and dearly remembered by many friends, colleagues, and community members who are grateful for his help. Walking around Medellín, one sees constant reminders of the mark he left on the city, from murals depicting his image at the University of Antioquia to schools bearing his name and a plaque at the prosecutor’s office—not to mention countless people who light up at the mention of his name. His sisters Nelly and Magdalena shared many of their memories about his life with me, as well as written records and photographs. So did Gloria Manco, his fellow activist, close friend, and lawyer. Patricia Fuenmayor, María Victoria Fallon, Beatriz Jaramillo, Amparo Areiza, Darío Arcila, Jesús Abad Colorado, Óscar Castaño, the late Carlos Gaviria, Jairo León Cano, and many others also shared details and stories that allowed me to reconstruct some of this remarkable character’s life and his final months.
Former president Álvaro Uribe never responded to multiple interview requests that I sent by email and fax between 2014 and 2016. In 2017, one of his staff members at the Centro Democrático political party said that Uribe had received my requests, but was unable to take an interview because he was recovering from surgery. Uribe never responded to another meeting request that I sent a few weeks later, when he was once again appearing in the media. Nor did he send a response to a detailed questionnaire asking for his take on the various events described in this book. However, his close adviser, José Obdulio Gaviria, granted me two interviews, including one that lasted approximately four hours, in 2014. I obtained additional insights about Uribe’s life and actions from some of his friends and from officials who worked with him in Antioquia and Bogotá, including Fabio Echeverri, Jaime Jaramillo Panesso, Alberto Rendón, General Óscar Naranjo, former attorney general Mario Iguarán, and others who asked not to be named. I have also relied on reports in the media and Uribe’s autobiography
, No Lost Causes (New York: Celebra, 2012), for the quotations attributed to him in the book.
Several former Colombian officials shared additional contextual information about the country’s history and the events described in the book. These officials include former Colombian presidents César Gaviria and Ernesto Samper, former attorney general Alfonso Gómez Méndez, former deputy attorney general and then Constitutional Court justice Jaime Córdoba Trivino, former CTI chief Pablo Elías González, former inspector general Carlos Gustavo Arrieta, former senator Rafael Pardo, and others who asked not to be named.
I interviewed former paramilitary commanders Raúl Hasbún and Rodrigo Zapata at Itagüí prison, and exchanged emails with Diego Murillo Bejarano (“Don Berna”), who is in prison in Miami, Florida. As part of my Human Rights Watch work, I had in previous years interviewed Antonio López (aka “Job,” now deceased) and several other paramilitaries who participated in the demobilization process.