Massacre in the Clock Tower of Cartagena: 20 years of impunity – Other Cities – Colombia

On Thursday, August 13, 2003, at 12:15 in the morning the Torre del Reloj Público in Cartagena was the scene of a massacre.

A motorcycle with two men arrived at that time in the morning and parked in the Plazoleta de los Mártires. One of the men crossed Avenida Venezuela and walked to where a group of women were sitting on a bench in Plaza de la Paz and fired several shots. Four women were murdered, including two minors.

(Also: The drama of a Colombian who fights for his life in Canada, after a stroke)

Last Friday night, the Clock Tower was the scene of a sit-in by women and city authorities so as not to forget this multiple crime that continues in impunity.

The four young women were murdered in the middle of the social cleansing that was around Cartagena in those days

In dialogue with ELTIEMPOthe former paramilitary chief Uber Banquez, aka Juancho Dique, today a lawyer and peace manager, but at the time of the massacre, the commander of the Héroes de los Montes de María bloc of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, assured that it involved four sex workers who were murdered in the midst of the social cleansing that haunted Cartagena in those dark daysand under which Hundreds of street dwellers, sex workers, drug addicts and LGBTI youth were murdered for all the neighborhoods.

“I ordered the massacre of four women in the Clock Tower of Cartagena. This crime was committed by my order, in the midst of the social cleansing of that time, personnel under my command did it, and I accepted the fact before the courts,” said Banquez, who today is looking for the relatives of the victims to offer forgiveness. public, in addition, to offer their repentance for hundreds of crimes outside the walls of the Colonial City, whose bodies, in many cases, were thrown into the Canal del Dique.

(Also: Mayor of Ibagué on the fan: “He does not represent the followers of Tolima”)

“Today I apologize for this fact to the families of these young women and for the crimes for the so-called social cleansing that we could have committed in neighborhoods like Olaya Herrera, Pozón, La Candelaria, La María, Bazurto and Nelson Mandela, among many of Cartagena. Banquez says.

“Massacre would have been paid to paramilitaries, but they never convicted the presumed mastermind,” Dau

“Today, February 13, is the exact date on which 20 years of this femicide are commemorated; some paramilitaries have been sentenced for these acts, but The person who is presumed to be the mastermind was never convicted. On February 10, an event was held in which different women’s organizations raised their voices in protest demanding justice, so that this crime does not go unpunished, we cannot forget this situation,” said the mayor of Cartagena, William Dau.

A report from Vice. com indicates that the four victims of that night of February 13, 2003 were: “Lourdes Lara Champen, 20 years old, who lived with her two children in the Fredonia neighborhood; Ofelia Correa Torres, 17 years old, resident in sector 11 de Noviembre, from the Olaya Herrera neighborhood; Hendy Smith Pérez, 17, who lived with her family in the El Pozón neighborhood, and Betsevit Espitia, 27, who lived with her partner in the Olaya Herrera neighborhood.

According to this publication, the massacre it would have been paid to the paramilitaries by a city businessman who claimed that the young people used scopolamine to steal tourists.

“This case is evidence that prostitution in Cartagena is not a recent issue and is in the hands of paramilitaries and mafia networks that have always governed the city,” said Ana María González, the city’s Interior Secretary.

(You may be interested: Woman gave her boyfriend a home and he injured her and killed her 4-year-old daughter)

The violence that harassed the popular neighborhoods moved to the historical and tourist heart of the city

The legal team of the District of Cartagena carries out a process before the courts so that the multiple murder is declared a crime against humanity and does not prescribe.

“The important thing is that with the crime against humanity the crime does not prescribe. It is very hard to remember the 20 years of this massacre and no progress has been made. This process is in justice in peace and an imputation is expected. We hope that it is defined and that the relatives receive justice and there is a fair sentence”, added the former paramilitary chief.

This multiple crime was a turning point in the violence that Cartagena experienced in those difficult years because the daily violence that harassed the popular neighborhoods moved to the historical and tourist heart of the city.

(It is worth reading: The indigenous leader murdered in Nariño had been kidnapped in a high-end car)

“Today women are no longer alone, no more femicides, no more violence against women. We tell women who are in prostitution that they must get out of there, there is a network that supports them,” says Inés María Mercado, director of the Empodérate Foundation who accompanies sex workers and victims of violence.