Perspectivas / Perspectives

El juez Promiscuo Penal Municipal de Pueblo Rico, municipio donde ocurrieron los hechos, decidió enviar a prisión a los soldados involucrados.

Bogotá, Jun.26 (EFE).– Los siete soldados acusados de violar a una niña indígena del pueblo embera-chamí en el departamento de Risaralda (centro) aceptaron cargos por el delito de acceso carnal abusivo, seis de ellos en calidad de autores y uno más como cómplice, informó este jueves el fiscal general, Francisco Barbosa.

«El día de hoy la Fiscalía General de la Nación le imputó cargos a siete soldados regulares que presentaban su servicio militar obligatorio (...) se les solicitó también medida de aseguramiento en establecimiento carcelario como presuntos responsables del delito de acceso carnal abusivo con menor de 14 años agravado», dijo Barbosa en una rueda de prensa en Cali (suroeste).

From South Africa to Rwanda to Guatemala, nations have confronted their ugly pasts with government commissions and panels that unearthed secrets and meted out judgment.

Pretoria, June 15.– In the 1990s, trauma came uninvited alongside the triumphant entry of democracy into parts of Africa, Latin America and elsewhere, along with the Soviet Union’s collapse. The oppressive machinery that eccentric dictators fine-tuned through human rights abuses continue to wreak havoc today. 

South Africa, fresh from its abhorrent past as a haven of segregation regulated by the white-minority government, was the first to boldly confront that trauma headlong. Nelson Mandela, who served a 27-year jail sentence on his way to becoming the first president in the post-apartheid era, established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1994. Guatemala, Nigeria, Rwanda and other countries followed suit. Those countries’ experiences show that commissions are hardly a cure-all, but it’s a path worth considering as the United States encounters its own demons amid nationwide protests.