Caso colectivo 11.227

JORGE ENRIQUE SOTO Disappeared on July 15, 1986 along the highway Medellín - Bogotá. Place: the highway Medellín - Bogotá. Link with the UP: party militant and student leader.

The extermination of the Union Patriotica in Colombia.

On 12 March 1997, the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights opened against the Colombian State the case 11,227 about the extermination of the Colombian political party Patriotic Union and its supporters.

The Unión Patriótica was founded in 1985 during the peace process between the rebel groups FARC and ELN and President Belisario Betancur. The new party was meant to provide guerrilla members who chose a legal and peaceful path into politics with an avenue for participation. In return, the government was supposed to guarantee the Unión Patriótica the necessary conditions to engage in political activity. The emerging movement participated in the 1986 elections, achieving an unprecedented number of votes for a leftist party in the country. However, following the elections, political leaders and militants of the Unión Patriótica began to be murdered or disappeared. Between 1986 and 2006, two presidential candidates—Jaime Pardo Leal and Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa—along with 8 congress members, 13 deputies, 70 councilors, 11 mayors, and approximately 3,000 militants were assassinated by paramilitary groups and members of state security forces, including the army, police, and intelligence services. What initially seemed like isolated incidents gradually took shape as a systematic campaign to eliminate the party and instill fear among its supporters.
Pietro Paolini has tackled the most significant facts of this dramatic affair, reconstructing the stories of various cases of homicide, massacres, forced disappearance and exile filed with the Inter-American Court. Through different visual testimonies – put together by photographing the places where the events occurred, depicting landscapes and details, families and survivors, and collecting material obtained from the families themselves or public archives – Pietro Paolini has reconstructed the complex events, analysing their systematic and ferocious nature, and making every single affair humane and personal.

In 2022 the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights condemned the Colombian state for the extermination of the Union Patriotica.

BERNARDO JARAMILLO OSSA Murdered on March 22, 1990 in the airport of Bogotá, during the election campaign for the Presidency of the Republic. Place: Terminal Puente Aereo at International Airport El Dorado of Bogotá Link with the UP: President of UP from 1987 to 1990, presidential candidate for the UP in 1990, Senator of the Republic in 1990, UP Regional Deputy in Antioquia.

JOSÉ RODRIGO OROZCO Murdered on November 26, 1992 in front of his his home in Villavicencio. Place: The building Bonanza 1 in Carrera 24 with calle 35, Villaviciencio. Link with the UP: Mayor of the town of Puerto Rico for Up 1986 to 1988, Deputy Regional Meta UP in 1990-1992.

FRANCISCO WILIAM GOMEZ SUAREZ Murdered on November 11, 1988 during the massacre of Segovia where 43 people died and 45 were injured. Place: The main square of Segovia. Link with the UP: suporter.

FAMILIA PALACIO ROMERO Exterminated on August 18, 1991 in their house. Place: The Finca El Cafetal en Fusagasuga. Link with the UP: They were militants of UP.

GABRIEL JAIME SANTAMARIA Assassinated on October 27, 1989 in his office inside the building of the Regional Gouvernment of Antioquia in Medellín. Place: The office of the victim in the Regional Gouvernment of Antioquia. Link with the UP: President of the UP in the region of Antioquia in 1985. UP Regional Deputy since 1986.

MILLER CHACON Murdered on November 25, 1993 while was walking on the street. Place: The Crossroad between Carrera 10 with Calle 31Sur in Bogotá. Link with the UP: militant.

AÍDA AVELLA ESQUIVEL Survived a violent attack on May 7, 1996 in Bogotá, she had to live in exile for 16 years in Switzerland as a political refugee. Place : Highway North of Bogotà at the height of Calle 140. Link with the UP: President of UP from 1991 to 1996.

CARLOS KOVACS BAPTISTE Muredered on May 27, 1988 in the pizzeria Yango y Ringo in Villavicencio. Place: a praking where nefore was the pizzeria Yango y Ringo in Villavicencio. Link with the UP: Deputy UP in the region of Meta in the 1986-1988 period. President of the Regional Assembly from May 1988.

Victim: JORGE ENRIQUE SOTO Discovery location: House of Martha Soto, sister of the victim. Description: Photo of the victim with his mother and his siblings (right).

Victim: BERNARDO JARAMILLO OSSA Discovery location: Home of Bernando Jaramillo Zapata, son of the victim. Description: The watch worn by the victim during the murder.

Historical photo from the VOZ newspaper Archive.

Victim: CARLOS ENRIQUE RESTREPO Place of discovery: House of Vigilio Gomez, neighbor of the victim. Description: Drawing by Francisco Gomez, son of the victim's neighbor, made 8 days before the massacre in which Francisco himself (11 years old) lost his life. The subject perceived in a dream seems to portray the imminent massacre.

Victim: JOSÉ RODRIGO OROZCO Place of discovery: Home of Paola Garcia Mendez, daughter of the victim. Description: Notes written by the victim and found in his pockets on the day of the murder.

Victim: JULIO ALFONSO POVEDA Discovery location: House of Tullia Sofia Vargas de Poveda, wife of the victim. Bogota. Description: The bag that the victim had been using for several years, until the day of the attack.