Mother of Victim in Notorious Colombian Extrajudicial Killings Confronts Skeptic Congressman

A heated confrontation unfolded in Colombia’s Congress on November 13 after the mother of one of the victims of a series of notorious extrajudicial killings confronted a congressman who doubted the extent of the scandal.

The mother, named by local media as Jaqueline Castillo, had gone to Congress to respond to a video posted on November 6 by right-wing congressman Miguel Polo Polo.

In the video, Polo Polo can be seen tossing boots placed at the Capitol to honor the victims into a trash bag.

“Who paid those alleged peasants who came here to the Congress to mess Rafael Nunez Square, to put these boots as a worship for the 6,402 false positives?” he can be heard saying. “This figure is not supported, neither by the courts, nor by the Prosecutor’s Office […] These institutions haven’t even been able to give the names of 900 victims to back up these numbers. For this reason, these boots have to go to where they belong: to the trash can.”

The figure of 6,402 refers to the number of victims determined by a public inquiry in the so-called “false positives” scandal, in which the military is accused of killing civilians and passing their victims off as enemy combatant or guerrillas.

Polo Polo had also previously questioned the stated number of victims. Credit: Alfredo Mondragon via Storyful

Video transcript

A ru, una de las mams de los jvenes asesinados, entra al Congreso a rechazar a Miguel Polo Polo por ese acto de revictimizacin contra las mujeres.

Es increble que una persona como Miguel Polo Polo venga a rezar a las mujeres, a mujeres mayores.

Frente a eso, que es cuatro cuatro de la Miguel Polo Polo se atreve a Reti ZR, a los jvenes o a la familia de los jvenes asesinados en los ms llamados falsos positivos, porque son crmenes de Estado en la poca.

lvaro Uribe delante de la cara de las mams de jvenes vctimas, la burla.