The testimonies and other evidence provided by the Office of the Attorney General were decisive to prove the responsibility of Ovidio Isaza Gómez, son of the former head of the extinct Ramón Isaza self-defense group, for the forced displacement of a peasant family in a rural area of Victoria ( Caldas).
In this sense, the Circuit Court of La Dorada (Caldas) sentenced the defendant, alias ‘Roque’, to 105 months in prison (8 years and 9 months) and was ordered to pay a fine of 875 monthly minimum wages.
The investigation revealed that on April 1, 2002, about 70 armed men arrived at the Herrera Tamayos’ farm which was located on La Dorada road which leads to Norcasia (Caldas). Due to death threats, the head of the family was forced to leave the farm and to abandon his sentimental partner and his three-month-old son.
The man reported what happened in 2010 since after 8 years of search he could not locate his loved ones.
Thanks to the numerous evidence collected by a prosecutor from the Special Office against Human Rights Violations, in April 2019, alias Roque accepted that he ordered the displacement. He revealed that he ordered his subordinates to empty out the farm where the victims lived because it was located in the middle of a corridor used by self-defense groups in the area of Magdalena Medio to traffick substances and other illegal items.
According to the judge hearing the case, the untimely family disintegration caused by the criminal behavior of Ovidio Isaza Gómez caused great pain and suffering, therefore, the judge also ordered the defendant to pay 500 legal monthly minimum wages due to moral damages.
The Office of the Attorney General makes this information public for reasons of general interest.